Description
Foundations of Human-Computer Interaction: Designing for Cognitive Alignment reframes human-computer interaction (HCI), usability, and user-centered design by focusing on the conditions under which cognition stabilizes over time. It provides an integrated account of HCI by bringing together cognitive science, neuroscience, and design principles to explain how systems shape perception, regulate attention, and support stable reasoning across repeated encounters. This approach ensures that graduate and undergraduate students not only understand core theoretical frameworks but also recognize how design decisions influence reasoning, decision-making, and cognitive effort in real-world contexts. The book emphasizes structured learning and iterative design processes, making the material accessible to both novices and advanced learners. It also addresses contemporary challenges such as AI-driven systems, adaptive interfaces, and large-scale personalization, offering a framework for understanding how misalignment emerges as instability—seen in repetition, delayed decisions, fragmented attention, and unresolved effort—and how design can support clarity, recovery, and trust in responsible ways- Repositions HCI beyond usability, introducing cognitive alignment as the problem of how cognition stabilizes—or fails to stabilize—over time- Reveals the behavioral infrastructure of interaction, showing how reinforcement, conditioning, and feedback loops shape persistence and action- Frames design as shaping cognitive and motivational conditions, where attention, emotion, and scaffolding support or disrupt stable reasoning- Recasts evaluation as breakdown and recovery analysis, focusing on how systems preserve clarity, confidence, and continuity in real-world use- Extends the framework to AI-driven and adaptive systems, showing how personalization and scale intensify instability and cognitive strain- Advances HCI as professional stewardship, introducing temporal accountability, predictive accountability, and cognitive sovereignty as core design obligations
Table of Contents
Part 1: Cognitive Grounding: Architecture of Alignment1. Foundations: From Usability to Cognitive Alignment2. Conditioned by Design: The Behavioral Architecture of Digital Platforms3. From Perception to Anticipation: The Cognitive Architecture of Interaction4. From Networks to Regulation: The Neurobiological Architecture of StabilityPart 2: Designing for Cognitive and Emotional Alignment5. Modeling Cognition: Thresholds for Alignment6. Narrative Scaffolds: Designing for Continuity7. Design Thinking: Sustaining Alignment under Uncertainty8. Prototyping as Rehearsal for AlignmentPart 3: Evaluating Alignment in Practice9. Expert Review: Early Safeguards for Alignment10. Usability Testing: Anticipating Strain and Resilience11. Quantitative Evidence: Signals of Alignment12. Qualitative Evidence: Anchoring MeaningPart 4: Governing Cognitive Contracts: Time, Prediction, Sovereignty, Stewardship13. Temporal Accountability: Governing the Rhythms of Time14. Predictive Accountability: Governing Futures15. Cognitive Sovereignty: The Right to Reflection16. Professional Stewardship: Sustaining Cognitive Alignment
