A cognitively based methodology for evaluating human performance in the computer-aided design task domain

This article describes a methodology for evaluating human performance in the computer aided design (CAD) task environment. The methodology is based primarily on cognitive theoretic frameworks that are consistent with processes presumed to underlie human design activities. The motivation for its development stems from rapid software and hardware advances in CAD systems and our relative lack of understanding of how these enhancements affect human design performance for (1) fundamentally different types of tasks and (2) different levels of complexity for a particular task. This methodology is currently being applied to computer aided architectural design, an area where artificial intelligence (AI), enhanced geometric modelling and other system features are being debated in terms of their usefulness in aiding the human's design activities.