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






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






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






4. A tendency to interpret ambiguous images as simple and a complete unit - versus complex and incomplete. (Gestalt principle of perception).






5. Teachers treat students differently based on their expectations of how students will perform.






6. A Gestalt law of organization; elements arrange in a straight line or a smooth curve are perceived as a group - and are interpreted as being more related than elements not on the line or curve.






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






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






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






10. The use of simplified and incomplete models of a design to explore ideas - elaborate requirements - refine specifications - and test functionality.






11. A point of physical or attentional entry into a design. (Minimal Barriers - Points of Prospect - Progressive Lures)






12. The distressing state of thought caused by recognizing an inconsistency between behavior/thought and value/belief.






13. 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.






14. A diagram that describes the general pattern followed by the eyes when looking at evenly distributed - homogeneous information.






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






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






17. A sequence of numbers in which each number is the sum of the preceding two.






18. A tendency to prefer faces in which the eyes - nose - lips and other features are close to the average of a population.






19. There are five ways to organize information: Category - time - location - alphabet - and continuum.






20. A technique used to teach a desired behavior by reinforcing increasingly accurate approximations of the behavior.






21. A method of reorganizing information to make the information simpler - more meaningful and easier to remember. (ie. First Letter - Keyword - Rhyme - Feature Name)






22. A term used to describe a set of data - that when plotted - forms a symmetrical - bell- shaped curve.






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






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






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






26. The deliberate use of a weak element that will fail in order to protect other elements in the system from damage.






27. The use of pictorial images to improve the recognition and recall of signs and controls.






28. A tendency to see objects and patterns as 3D when certain visual cues are present.






29. The greater the effort to accomplish a task - the less likely the task will be accomplished successfully.






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






31. 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.






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






33. Successful products typically follow four stages of creation: requirements - design - development - and testing.






34. 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.






35. A tendency to prefer environments with unobstructed views (prospects) and areas of concealment and retreat (refuges).






36. The process of organizing information into related groupings in order to manage complexity and reinforce relationships in the information.






37. A tendency to interpret shaded or dark areas of an object as shadows resulting from a light source above the object.






38. The ratio of face to body in an image that influences the way the person in the image is perceived. (High = intelligent / Low = physical)






39. The time required to move to a target is a function of the target size and distance to the target.


40. The tendency for people to behave differently when they know they are being studied






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






42. The time it takes to make a decision increases as the number of alternatives increases.


43. A technique of composition in which a medium is divided into thirds - creating aesthetic positions for the primary elements of a design.






44. A process in which similar characteristics evolve independently in multiple systems.






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






46. A relationship between controls and their movements or effects. When th effect corresponds to the expectation - the mapping is considered to be good or natural.






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






48. Tendency to form an overall positive impression of a person on the basis of one positive characteristic






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






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