Analysis of the Cognition Involved in Spreadsheet Software Interaction

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Abstract
This article analyzes details of the cognition involved when people use spreadsheet software, a task that is both a major microcomputer application and a cognitively intense task. This task is analyzed in terms of the GOMS model (Card, Moran, & Newell, 1983), to test the generality of the model and to extend its set of parameters. We found that people using two seemingly similar spreadsheet applications, Lotus 1-2-3 and Multiplan, require very different amounts of time to accomplish the same tasks. Experienced users of Lotus 1-2-3 took far longer to complete the same four tasks than experienced Multiplan users did. It was found that some of additional time was due to the fact that Lotus 1-2-3 offers users a choice of two general methods to enter formulas. Lotus requires that the user decide which to use; this decision takes time. And, when the users type the address of the cell in which values reside instead of using the cursor to point to it, they pause a long time before typing each entry. Presumably th...

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