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I remember my dad telling me about how when he was in grad school in the mid-late eighties—for cognitive psychology with plans to go into Human Computer Interac

I remember my dad telling me about how when he was in grad school in the mid-late eighties—for cognitive psychology with plans to go into Human Computer Interaction—they needed to give mouse training and proficiency tests to folks before they could participate in experiments. Hearing that struck me as so strange since I have no recollection of ever learning to use a mouse—I had always assumed it was just completely intuitive.

wpietri 8y ago
When my nephew was 6 months old, I spent a week babysitting him during the days. We did a bunch of things, but the main thing that interested him was learning to put things in his mouth. Especially the bottles I was feeding him with. He'd try over and over and over. Nipple on cheek. Nipple on chin. Nipple on neck. Drop bottle entirely. Nipple in eye. (Do not want!) And once in a great while, nipple in mouth. Then he'd suck for a while and start over again. We learn so much that we forget even learning. If he could have talked and he'd asked me how to put something in his mouth, I couldn't really have told him. I just did it. I think about that a lot when dealing with students, junior programmers, etc. It's so easy for me to think, "How could they not know that?!?" When the real question is how I managed to forget learning.
- mysterydip 8y ago
  Agreed. My 3 year old daughter wants to play her PBS games on my computer, but is still frustrated by the mouse control. This could be a generational thing too, as the more intuitive option to her is to touch the screen where she wants (like the tablets and phones do). There's definitely a level of abstraction with the mouse that most of us have long forgotten.
- taneq 8y ago
  Yeah, that old saw "the only intuitive interface ever devised is the nipple" kind of falls down when you see a newborn infant struggling with it. There's no such thing as an intuitive interface, only an interface which follows already-familiar conventions.

wpietri 8y ago

When my nephew was 6 months old, I spent a week babysitting him during the days. We did a bunch of things, but the main thing that interested him was learning to put things in his mouth. Especially the bottles I was feeding him with. He'd try over and over and over. Nipple on cheek. Nipple on chin. Nipple on neck. Drop bottle entirely. Nipple in eye. (Do not want!) And once in a great while, nipple in mouth. Then he'd suck for a while and start over again. We learn so much that we forget even learning. If he could have talked and he'd asked me how to put something in his mouth, I couldn't really have told him. I just did it. I think about that a lot when dealing with students, junior programmers, etc. It's so easy for me to think, "How could they not know that?!?" When the real question is how I managed to forget learning.

mysterydip 8y ago
Agreed. My 3 year old daughter wants to play her PBS games on my computer, but is still frustrated by the mouse control. This could be a generational thing too, as the more intuitive option to her is to touch the screen where she wants (like the tablets and phones do). There's definitely a level of abstraction with the mouse that most of us have long forgotten.
taneq 8y ago
Yeah, that old saw "the only intuitive interface ever devised is the nipple" kind of falls down when you see a newborn infant struggling with it. There's no such thing as an intuitive interface, only an interface which follows already-familiar conventions.