UI&us is about User Interface Design, User Experience design and the cognitive psychology behind design in general. It's written by Keith Lang, co-founder of Skitch; now a part of Evernote.  His views and opinions are his own and do not represent in any way the views or opinions of any company. 

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Monday
Sep142009

Was Clippy 6?

I think Clippy, the Microsoft helpful annoying animated Office assistant paperclip was about age 6.

This is an interesting TED talk from MIT's Rebecca Saxe. Researcher Rebecca Saxe describes our brains dedicated region for understanding what other people are thinking, and explains "It's not until age 7 that we get what looks more like an adult response." [Interesting note: her research is using high strength magnetic fields to slightly alter our perception of others]

Understanding what other people want is hard work—it takes us humans 7 years of life to get to the point that we understand the intentions and beliefs of others at an 'adult level'. Will we see another Clippy in the next decade?


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Reader Comments (1)

Having a 4 year old and a 1 year old, I found this very interesting.

Also, as she said at the end, she's not studying "the defendant but the jury." "Justice" becomes entirely arbitrary once you analyze it at this neurological level. Really makes me think.

September 16, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterAndreas
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