Cognitive Content Strategy

Cognitive Content Strategy

by @TylerTate

Two dimensions of cognitive style.

Cognitive styles are the stable attitudes, preferences, and habitual strategies that determine how an individual processes information.

Holist

Serialist

Serialists are detail-oriented craftsmen.

Holists are big-picture visionaries.

Serialists spend on average 50% more time, visit almost twice as many pages, and click 50% more links than holists.

Serialists spend on average 50% more time, visit almost twice as many pages, and click 50% more links than holists.But, expert serialists are just as effective as expert holists. The gap is between novices.

1. Use microcopy to help novices become experts

Holist

Serialist

Holist

Serialist

Verbaliser Imager

Dual Coding Theory: visual and verbal information are processed differently and along distinct channels with the human mind creating separate representations each.

1. Use text and imagesA study by Mayer & Simms found a 30% rise in effective problem solving when verbal and visual instruction were given at the same time (compared with providing one followed by the other).

2. Visualise complex informationPresenting aggregate data in visual form helps the user understand the information landscape more quickly and intuitively than could text.

3. Use concrete language.“Concrete words, phrases, sentences, and texts have been found to be more imageable, comprehensible, memorable, and interesting than abstract language units.” – Sadoski

4. You should be as concise as possibleA study by Riding and Sadler-Smith found that a 40% reduction in word count combined with greater use of visual illustrations improved student’s test scores from 67% to 82%.

Holist

Serialist

Verbaliser Imager

“There are some universal cognitive tasks that are... so deep and profound that it is worthwhile to understand them in order to design our displays in accord with those tasks.”– Edward Tufte

★Cognitive Styles on UX Magazinehttp://uxmag.com/design/cognitive-styles

★Learning Styles on Johnny Hollandhttp://johnnyholland.org/2011/06/16/learning-styles-the-cognitive-side-of-content/

★Information Seeking on the Webby Kyung-Sun Kim (2001)http://tinyurl.com/kyungsun

★Type of Instructional Material, Cognitive Style and Learning Performanceby Riding & Sadler-Smith (1992)

★For Whom Is a Picture Worth a Thousand Words? by Mayer & Sims, 1994http://tinyurl.com/mayersims

Cognitive Content Strategy

by @TylerTate

Two dimensions of cognitive style.