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Easing Overburden
(Platform)


Closure - humans like to know when a task has been accomplished, since it means that they are free to forget and move on to the next stage. This lets the user know they are on course and brings relief whilst halting emotional drain. Such closure may come in the form of cues, making memory more effective especially for novices, and when incorporating stages into the game play. Effective memory is also helped by reinforcement - such as in double-coding. For instance, the word elephant is remembered easily as it forms a strong visual image. However, less familiar pictures may be read incorrectly owing to their obscurity - the eraser on earlier Macintoshes was interpreted by many as a gold block! Generally visual reminders decrease errors.

Irrelevant information overtaxes the users memory. This may come in the form of visual or noisy distractions from machine which interfere with cognitive processing. Empirical evidence shows computer generated messages such as, "You�re doing great!" to be distracting. Be aware of a user�s current sub-goal, their current response, and state of PC.



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