So when was the last time someone referred to their brain as the computer between their ears? Well according to Michael Spivey, Associate Professor of Psychology at Cornell, the results may be similar but the processes your brain uses is very different than that of a computer. While a computer looks for complete pieces of information before begin to process, the human brain seems to work on info in a continuous fashion. When asked to select between two objects on a computer screen human subjects seemed to process the data while it was still being received. When selecting between two objects with similar names, like candle and candy, they began the selection process while still receiving the the word. Read the article for more info. So when we design products for people using a computer as a model for how our users think is likely a bad assumption. When designing products for people it is important to understand how they will deal with those products. A while back Mark recommended the book "blink" which is all about how people think. Check it out.