Visual Display Representation of Multidimensional Systems: The Effect of Information Correlation and Display Integrality

Abstract

This research note provides data on the use of object and schematic face displays to present dynamic multivariate system information. Twelve subjects detected and diagnosed failures in a system whose variables were intercorrelated. Three visual analog displays (a bar graph display, a pentagon, and a schematic face display) represented the system. These displays differed in the degree of integrality of their component features. Detection performance yielded a speed/accuracy tradeoff with little evidence of superiority for any of the displays. Diagnostic performance showed a superiority for the more separable display, however. This superiority was attributed to the fact that diagnosis required subjects to focus attention directly on a single attribute, a focussing that benefited from a display which separated the attributes from one another. The results of the study are discussed in a broader context of other studies which looked at the proximity of information. The data also demonstrated the promise of the schematic face display as a means of displaying dynamic system information.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 1987
Accession Number
ADA188655

Entities

People

  • Christopher Dow Wickens
  • Elizabeth J. Casey

Organizations

  • University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accuracy
  • Air Force
  • Cognition
  • Cognitive Workload
  • Computer Graphics
  • Computers
  • Damage Detection
  • Data Displays
  • Display Systems
  • Engineering
  • False Alarms
  • Human Factors Engineering
  • Information Processing
  • New York
  • Probability
  • Psychology
  • Social Sciences

Fields of Study

  • Psychology

Readers

  • Human-Computer Interaction (HCI).
  • Psychometric Testing or Psychological Assessment.
  • Theoretical Analysis.