Reducing the user's cognitive burden using an improved navigational interface

This research analyzed navigational interfaces for computer applications. In particular, the focus was on a new interface to reduce the cognitive burden placed on a user by the navigational elements of an application. The improved paradigm placed the burden of navigation on the application and away from the user. The research used a 3D (virtual reality) electronic commerce (EC) application as a computer synthetic environment, and evaluated the virtual reality interface in the terms of the cognitive burden. The new navigational paradigm is called autonomic navigation. The improved interface, called “Autonomic Navigation, a Discoursive Interface,” or ANDI, employed components of the autonomic navigational paradigm and an audio input and output interface to permit the user to focus on the application domain and reduce the distraction that occurs when searching for and selecting pop-up menu trees or other with multi level interface tools.; One of the measures used to determine the effectiveness of autonomic navigation was the calculated reduction of the cognitive burden for ANDI. The utilization of ANDI within a 3D electronic commerce domain showed that ANDI reduced the cognitive burden on the user for navigation tasks.; Data collected during the experiment, coupled with results of the Questionnaire for User Interface Satisfaction (QUIS), show that ANDI was preferred overall to the traditional navigational interface.