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






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






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






4. The level of control provided by a system should be related to the proficiency and experience levels of the people using the system.






5. An action or ommission of action yielding an unintended result.






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






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






8. Pictures are remembered better than words.






9. A phenomenon in which mental processing is made slower and less accurate by competing mental processes.






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






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






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






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






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






15. 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.






16. An original model on which something is patterned






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






18. 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.






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






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






21. 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.






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






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






24. 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?)






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






26. A tendency to assume that a system that works at one scale will also work at a smaller or larger scale. (2 kinds: Load assumptions and Interaction assumptions)






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






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






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






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






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






32. A technique that influences decision making and judgement by manipulating the way information is presented.






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






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






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






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






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






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


39. A method of illustrating relationships and patterns in system behaviors by representing two or more system variables in a controlled way.






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






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






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






43. Designs should help people avoid errors and minimize the negative consequences of errors when they do occur.






44. 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.






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






46. 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.






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






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






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






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