Human Computer Interaction · Week 05

Feedback Cycles & Levels of Design

Action, interaction, effect and feedback; feedback cycles everywhere; the bridges of execution and evaluation; Norman's 7 questions from the designer's and user's side; visceral, behavioural and reflective design.

ITE37525 videos · 37 min📄 Week 05 - Interaction Cycle & Design Levels.pdf

▶Lecture videos

Click any timestamp — here or inside the notes — to jump the video to that moment. Your position is remembered.

Feedback Cycles

What a feedback cycle is, with the kettle, volume and bank-transfer examples, and why we learn through feedback.

00:01Feedback cycles form when people interact with the world 00:37Feedback on the effect, not the effect itself 01:29Example 1: boiling water in a kettle 02:59Example 2: adjusting the sound-system volume 03:43Example 3: online bank money transfer 06:09Ubiquitous: everywhere and almost invisible 06:39Why feedback cycles matter: we learn through them

Effect of Actions

Action vs interaction, effects on both parties, and missing feedback in an online lecture.

00:00What is feedback? A response to an action or interaction 00:51Interaction = the effect of an action between two or more objects 02:07Example: the lecturer talking to students 03:36"Causes effect on one another"04:51No feedback in an online lecture (mics muted, cameras off)05:40Why feedback is important: did my intention succeed?

The 7 Questions – Designer's Perspective

The seven diagnostic questions a designer asks.

00:00Feedback cycles and learning 00:53Perceive, interpret, compare with the goal 02:28Gulf of Execution 03:21Gulf of Evaluation 04:06Why feedback cycles matter: bridging the gulfs 06:44The designer designs, users use 07:42Design should guide the user 09:17Norman's seven questions for designers 10:58What actions are possible? Mapping from intention to action 12:36Mapping from system state to interpretation

The 7 Questions – User's Perspective

The same seven stages as questions in the user's mind.

00:00End of designer's questions: interpret and compare with goal 00:40User's perspective: What do I want to do?01:14What alternatives are there? What can I do?01:53How do I do it? What happened? What does it mean?02:52Is it okay? These questions help both users and designers

Levels of Design

Visceral, behavioural and reflective levels and how sensory input flows through them.

00:02Norman's three levels of design 00:36Visceral: closest to physical action and senses 01:48Behavioural is interpretative; reflective is high-level thought 02:31Flow from sensory input to motor output 03:59Reflective isn't directly bound to sensory input or motor output

1Action, interaction, effect, feedback

These four words are easy to mix up:

Term	Meaning	Lecture example: the lecturer talking
Action	Something one party does	The lecturer talks
Interaction	The effect of an action carried out between two or more objects, causing effects on one another 00:51	Students hear it and process it (senses → perception → cognition)
Effect	The change caused by the action	Students learn something. The lecturer is affected too: they keep wondering whether students understand 03:36
Feedback	A response that informs the actor about the outcome of their action 00:00	Missing: mics muted, cameras off, chat unread, so there's no synchronous feedback 04:51

Why feedback matters 05:40

"If I see what has happened to you based on my action, then I know exactly whether my intention was successful." Without feedback, the actor can't tell whether the action worked.

Effect ≠ feedback 03:43

The lecturer insists you separate them:

Pressing volume-up is the interaction.
The volume increasing is the effect.
Hearing the louder sound is the feedback.

Feedback is information about the effect, not the effect itself 00:37.

2Feedback cycles are everywhere

Feedback cycles form when people interact with the world (anything and everything around us) 00:01. They're so common we rarely notice them: they're ubiquitous.

🧪 Try it — Trace a feedback cycle

Adaptive learning principle 06:39

People learn through feedback cycles. Act → observe the consequence → evaluate → adjust future behaviour. A success message confirms your actions were right. An error message also teaches you that something was wrong. Either way, the next interaction improves 07:17.

Ubiquitous computing (sensors + hardware + ML/AI, everywhere and almost invisible) is a special area of HCI and human-centred computing 06:09.

3Norman's model revisited: the two bridges

Mapping Norman's 7 stages between the user's goal and the world (the physical system) gives two bridges:

Bridges of execution and evaluation — Figure 5.1: The bridges of execution and evaluation

🌉 Bridge of Execution (goal → world)

Plan: form a strategy for the goal
Specify: map it to concrete interface actions
Perform: physically operate the controls

🔍 Bridge of Evaluation (world → goal)

Perceive: sense the status change
Interpret: work out what the feedback means
Compare: check the outcome against the goal

The bridges are how the gulfs of execution and evaluation (Week 2) get crossed.

4The 7 questions — designer & user perspectives

Designer's seven questions — Figure 5.2: The designer's seven questions on the action cycle (how easily can one…)

User's seven questions — Figure 5.3: The same seven stages as questions in the user's mind (What do I want to do? … Is it okay?)

The same 7 stages become questions. Designers use them to audit an interface; users ask them (subconsciously) while interacting 02:52.

Stage	🛠 Designer asks (how easily can the user…)	🙋 User asks
1. Goal	…determine the function of the device?	"What do I want to accomplish?"
2. Plan	…tell what actions are possible?	"What are the alternatives?"
3. Specify	…map intention to physical controls (natural mapping)?	"What can I do now?"
4. Execute	…perform the action (click, swipe, press)?	"How do I do it?"
5. Perceive	…perceive the state change (clear feedback)?	"What happened?"
6. Interpret	…understand what the state means?	"What does it mean?"
7. Evaluate	…confirm the state meets the goal?	"Is this okay? Have I done what I set out to do?"

Stages 1–4 are the execution phase; stages 5–7 are the evaluation phase.

🧪 Try it — Audit a device with the 7 questions

Device

5Norman's three levels of design

Norman maps the action cycle onto three levels of cognitive processing 00:02:

Level	Nature	Governs (action cycle)	Design concerns	Example: a smartphone
👁️ Visceral	Immediate, subconscious sensory response; closest to physical action and senses 00:36	Execution (performing) and perception	First impressions: look, beauty, feel, sound	Sleek glass, colour, the satisfying click
⚙️ Behavioural	Practical use, interpretative 01:48	Action specification and interpretation	How well it works: usability, responsiveness, ergonomic efficiency	Fast unlock, smooth scrolling, easy camera
👑 Reflective	Conscious, highest-level thought; reflecting on what was received	Goal and final evaluation	Meaning: self-image, pride of ownership, brand loyalty, satisfaction looking back	"I'm proud to own this brand", memories

How the levels interact 02:31

Sensory input first reaches the visceral level and also the behavioural level. The behavioural level combines visceral and reflective input to interpret. The reflective level is pure thought and is not directly bound to sensory input or motor output 03:59. Motor output is driven through the behavioural and visceral levels together.

Reframed as depth of thinking

Levels as metacognition, deliberation, reaction — Figure 5.5: Reflective = metacognition, behavioural = deliberation, visceral = reaction

⚡ Reaction (visceral): reflexes, immediate capture🤔 Deliberation (behavioural): forming actions, decoding feedback🧠 Metacognition (reflective): thinking about one's own thinking

Tier	Level	Description
Lowest	Reaction (visceral)	Subconscious reflexes and immediate sensory capture tied to the physical world
Middle	Deliberation (behavioural)	Forming specific action sequences and decoding feedback to finish the task
Top	Metacognition (reflective)	Thinking about one's own thinking: judging strategies, solving new edge cases, emotional fulfilment

Balanced feedback

Feedback should clearly inform without being distracting, noisy or intrusive.

Exam focus

Expect:

"Explain feedback cycles with examples" (kettle, volume, bank transfer)
"List Norman's 7 questions from the designer's and user's perspectives"
"Explain the visceral, behavioural and reflective levels with an example product"

6Quick revision sheet

Concept	Remember it as
Interaction	Effect of an action between 2+ objects, affecting one another
Feedback	Information about the effect, returned to the actor
Effect vs feedback	Volume increases (effect) vs you hear it louder (feedback)
Examples	Kettle whistle · volume · bank "success/failed" · ATM · robots
Why	We learn through feedback cycles, so the next interaction improves
Bridge of execution	Plan → Specify → Perform
Bridge of evaluation	Perceive → Interpret → Compare
Designer's 7 Qs	How easily can the user determine function / tell actions / map / perform / perceive / interpret / evaluate
User's 7 Qs	What do I want? Alternatives? What can I do? How? What happened? What does it mean? Is it okay?
Visceral	Look and feel; reaction
Behavioural	Usability; deliberation
Reflective	Meaning, pride, brand; metacognition

?Self-check quiz

10 questions on this week. Answer them all, then press Check my answers. Your best and latest scores are saved and shown on the subject page.

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