BASEMENT.ORG

There's been some sporadic press of late about how the U.S. Snowboarding Team listened to their iPod's while competing at this year's Winter Olympics. One of hte athletes summed it up best: "You're not over-thinking, and that's the best way to perform the harder tricks and maneuvers."

Ever watch one of those surgery documentaries? Notice how the surgeon is casually rambling on while he's toying around with someone's heart? How can they be so casual? Shouldn't he be...concentrating?

There are some widely accepted theories within the realm of cognitive psychology that say "no, he in fact shouldn't be." Once we learn stuff and become "experts" we store that knowledge away in long-term memory. Unlike our immediate consciousness, which finds us fumbling around and "thinking too much," long-term memory is highly efficient. Our actions flow out of that knowledge in an almost rhythmic pace, unencumbered by the unnecessary ramblings of our immediate awareness.

As designers, it's worthwhile to think about how we can present information and controls that quickly stick to long-term memory. The more "work" someone has to do to learn something, the longer they're going to fester in the noisy world of short-term thinking. There are a lot of variables at play. The intelligence of the user. The pre-requisite "expertise" a user possesses. But the one thing we can control is the interface itself, and it's our job to do what we can to reduce cognitive load.

So don't blame those hotshot snowboarders. They're just trying to bypass the clutter and tap into a rhythmic flow. They're trying to think less. Any time a design can do that, it's a home run.

[A nice summary article on cognitive load theory is available here.]