Minimize Forgetting through Review:Utilizing the working of WM & LTM

10 next next next minutes day day week

with continuous periodic reviews

Recall without reviews

Recall with reviews at intervals

100%

Prob

abili

ty o

f rec

all

Summary key facts about the human brain

• The brain is hard wired to see things in learned ways (e.g., visual illusions)

• Our Working Memory has limited capacity (7 plus or minus 2 bits), and has certain natural biases (e.g., Primacy, von Restorff and Recency Effects) - - the rest is quickly forgotten

• The brain processes information slowly when we don’t have the immediate answer (e.g., How many capital letters in the English alphabet are curved

• The brain can be easily tricked (remember SWEET which you thought you saw but was not there)

• Beliefs and emotions rather than evidence (rational slowed down thinking), is often the case when it comes to making decisions (e.g., Magic Eggs story, Basil Hitting his car)

• Subconscious and Unconscious factors have a major influence on our behaviour (e.g., tone of voice, touch experiments)

What is social science and how is it different from engineering science?

The difference is between the nature of matter and the mind.

Matter behaves according to physical laws (laws of science); humans do not simply react to events and experiences, they interpret them.

However, there is much similarity in how people behave in situations, as this reflects common brain architecture, human processing and needs. But within this commonality there is much variation.

Both commonality and variation is of interest to social scientists

What are the core Social Sciences and how do they differ?

Psychology:• What is the structure of the mind,

its components and how they work?

• What is personality?• What is the nature of

intelligence?• How does learning occur?• What causes deviance?

Sociology• What is the basis of the

organization of human societies and how do they differ and change?

• How does home background influence educational attainment?

• What causes deviance?

How might these disciplines be connected, and what questionsdoes this raise?

Learning Outcomes

• Explain the relationship between perception, beliefs and behaviour

• Analyze the structure of subjective experience

• Identify what is distinctive about understanding human behaviour from a social science perspective

• Reframe engineering problems from a social science perspective

“We forget that beliefs are no more than perceptions, usually with a limited sell by date, yet we act as though they were concrete realities”

(Adler, 1996, p.145)

Beliefs

How the Mind Works(The Structure of Subjective Experience)

Sounds hard and freaky, lah

Reality is a Personal Construction of the Mind

SensesTheMap

DeletionsDistortions FILTERS

Beliefs Emotions Memory Personality

Our Maps result from sensory information from the environment, our pastexperiences - mediated by 4 main Filters. Hence the Map is NOT the Territory

“Life is mostly a matter of perception and more often misperception”

Dave Logan

Reframing Engineering Scenarios/ Problems Using a Social Science Perspective

• Identify the key learning points (from the experiments conducted in the sessions, and key input) relating to how humans interpret and make meaning of the world around them

• Analyse how these aspects of human functioning can influence what people Perceive and Believe, and how this can effect how they Behave

• In the 4 scenarios presented, answer each questions provided in no more 30 words

• As a group, select one aspect of the local environment, or engineering artefact and identify ways in which it might be modified or improved to enhance the users experience. Explain how this will work in practice and what aspects of ‘human behaviour’ are being influenced.

The Problem of slow liftsA company had many complaints about the slowness of their lifts. However, when they looked at the costing of increasing their lift speeds, it accounted to over $200,000. However, a psychologist solved the problem for less than $5,000. What solution did the psychologist adopt and how does this work?

The Problem of slow liftsA company had many complaints about the slowness of their lifts. However, when they looked at the costing of increasing their lift speeds, it accounted to over $200,000. However, a psychologist solved the problem for less than $5,000. What solution did the psychologist adopt and how does this work?

Dark workrooms

From an economic perspective putting Dark film over windows reduces the loss of air conditioning and may save costs

However, is this really saving money, or are there much greater costs that result from such so called cost saving measures

How might a psychologist look at this scenario and what analysis might he/she offer?

What’s in a toothpaste?

An advertising executive was fed up with the glossy advertising of a toothpaste brandand decided just to focus on what made the brand better in terms of cleaning teethand avoiding gum disease. Once released the sales dropped by 20%.

How might a social scientist interpret this finding, and what does it tell us about Perception and behaviour?

Bad impacts more than Good on human perception

• Research shows that a single cockroach will completely wreck the appeal of a bowl of cherries, but a cherry will do nothing at all to enhance the appeal of a bowl of cockroaches

• Similarly in relationships, it may take many years to develop a strong friendship with someone, but it can be ruined with a single action

• What are the implications of this for the design of engineering products?

The Chilli Crab Syndrome

For my first 3 weeks in Singapore, I ate chilli crab every night. However, IHave only eaten it some 2-3 times in the past 17 years.

How might you explain this from a social science perspective?

What implications does this have the design of engineeringProducts?