Abstract
The papers that make up this special issue of Human Technology have been elicited as a
response to the growing interest in user experience and second-wave HCI (human–computer
interaction), also known as post-cognitivist HCI. User experience, in particular, has shifted
the focus of research interest away from cognition per se to, for example, affect (e.g.,
Norman, 2004); fun (e.g., Blythe, Monk, Overbeeke, & Wright, 2003), pleasure (e.g., Jordan,
2000), and aesthetics (e.g., Tractinsky & Lavie, 2004), thus begging the question, where does
this leave cognition? To judge from the submissions to this special issue, cognition in HCI is
alive, well, and positively thriving. Indeed cognition is proving to be a remarkably robust
theoretical framework that is expanding and adapting to a growing understanding of how
people use, interact with, and think about interactive technology.