Test your basic knowledge |

Design Principles

Subject : engineering
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. An action or ommission of action yielding an unintended result.






2. A phenomenon of visual processing in which certain line orientations are more quickly and easily processed and discriminated than other line orientations.






3. Memory for recognizing things is better than memory for recalling things.






4. Elements that are similar are perceived to be more related than elements that are dissimilar.






5. A technique used to asociate a stimulus with an unconscious physical or emotional response.






6. A phenomenon of memory in which items presented at the beginning and end of a list are more likely to be recalled than items in the middle of a list.






7. A method of managing system complexity that involves dividing large systems into multiple - smaller self- contained systems.






8. The tendency to see attractive people as more intelligent - competent - moral and sociable than unattractive people.






9. A strategy for managing information complexity in which only necessary or requested information is displayed at any given time.






10. Tendency to perceive a set of individual elements as a single - recogniable pattern - rather than multiple - individual elements.






11. All products progress sequentially through four stages of existence: introduction - growth - maturity - and decline.






12. People understand and interact with systems and environments based on mental representations developed from experience.






13. A technique used to modify behavior by reinforcing desired behaviors - and ignoring or punishing undesired behaviors.






14. A property in which a form is made up of parts similar to the whole or to one another.






15. The tendency to perceive objects as unchanging - despite changes in sensory input. (such as perspective - lighting - color or size)






16. The tendency for people to perform better or worse based on the expectations of another.






17. The act of measuring certain sensitive variable in a system can alter them - and confound the accuracy of the measurement.






18. Using more elements than is necessary to offset the effects of unknown variables which may cause a system failure.






19. A tendency to see people and things iwth baby- faced features as more naive - helpless - and honest than those with mature features.






20. A method of creating imagery - emotions - and understanding of events through an interaction between a storyteller and an audience.






21. The quality of system output is dependent on the quality of system input.






22. A relationship between variables in a system where the consequences of an event are fed back in order to modify the event in the future.






23. A preference for a particular ratio of waist size to hip size in men and women. Men prefer 0.7 in women. Women prefer 0.9 in men.






24. Elements perceived as either figures (objects of focus) or ground (the rest of the perceptual field)






25. A technique for preventing unintended actions by requiring verification of the actions before they are performed.






26. The debgree to which prose can be understood - based on the complexity of words and sentences.






27. A ratio within the elements of a form - such as height to width - approximating 0.618.






28. The designs that help people perform optimally are often not the same as the designs that people find most desirable.






29. A phenomenon of memory in which noticeably different things are more likely to be recalled that common things. (AKA Isolation/Novelty Effect)






30. Beauty in design results from purity of function. Interpreted in 2 ways: A description of beauty or a prescription for beauty.






31. A technique for bringing attention to an area of text or image.






32. A phenomenon of memory in which information that is analyzed deeply is better recalled than information that is analyzed superficially.






33. The process of using spatial and environmental information to navigate to a destination.






34. It is often preferable to settle for a satisfactory solution - rather than pursue an optimal solution.






35. The relative ease with which a destination - idea - or concept may be reached.






36. The visual clarity of text - generally based on the size - typeface - contrast - text block - and spacing of the characters used.






37. An activity will be pursued only if its benefits are equal to or greater than the costs. (ie. How much reading is too much to get the point of a message?)






38. The ratio of relevant to irrelevant information in a display. The highest possible signal- to- noise ratio is desirable in design.






39. Adjusting parts of a device in relation to each other to create a sense of unity and cohesion.






40. A process of repeating a set of operation until a specific result is achieved.






41. The usability of a system is improved when similar parts are expressed in similar ways.






42. 80% of the effects generated by any large system are caused by 20% of the variables.






43. Pictures are remembered better than words.






44. A method of presentation in which information is presented in descending order of importance. (Critical information presented first).






45. The use of more elements than necessary to maintain the performance of a system in the event of failure of one or more of the elements.






46. A state of mental focus so intense that awareness of the 'real' world is lost - generally resulting in a feeling of joy and satisfaction.






47. Elements that are close together are percieved to be more related than elements that are farther apart.






48. Patients experience treatment effects based on their belief that a treatment will work.






49. An original model on which something is patterned






50. An ability to detect threatening stimuli more efficiently than nonthreatening stimuli.