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






2. Pictures are remembered better than words.






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






4. 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.






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






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






7. Repeated exposure to stimuli for which people have neutral feelings will increase the likeability of the stimuli.






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






9. There are three ways to organize materials to support a load or to contain and protect something: Mass structures - frame structures - and shell structures.






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






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


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






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






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






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






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






17. People tend to prefer savanna- like environments to other types of environments. Open areas - scattered trees - water - and uniform grassiness rather than other natural environments such as desert - jungle - and complex mtns.






18. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






31. An original model on which something is patterned






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






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






34. A Gestalt principle of organization holding that aspects of perceptual field that move or function in a similar manner will be perceived as a unit






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






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






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






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






39. A property of visual equivalence among elements in a form.






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






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






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






43. 80% of the effects generated by any large system are caused by 20% of the variables.






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






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






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






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






48. 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.






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






50. A method of limiting the actions that can be performed on a system.