Computer Menu Task Performance Model Development

Abstract

This report provides a review of literature on computer menu interface design and related performance factors. Implications for the design of the user/system interface for aircraft simulator instructional support systems are considered. A criterion-based search model that makes predictions as to how the number of alternatives on menu pages affects the search process and the pattern of errors that will result is evaluated. The literature on theoretical and empirical work suggests two additional factors that are recommended for inclusion into the search model; (a) user-perceived relationships among target items sought and menu alternatives available for selection, and (b) the probability of an omission situation where the target items is not subsumed under any of the alternatives available for selection. An experiment was conducted to test the effect that all three of these factors have on menu task performance. Results showed that all three factors significantly influenced menu search and response accuracy. A two-criterion menu model was proposed as a means to explicate the performance results of the menu experiment.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 01, 1990
Accession Number
ADA230278

Entities

People

  • Byron J. Pierce
  • Norwood Sisson
  • Stanley R. Parkinson

Organizations

  • University of Dayton

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accuracy
  • Air Force
  • Cognition
  • Databases
  • Flight Simulators
  • Information Processing
  • Information Retrieval
  • Information Science
  • Probability
  • Psychology
  • Simulations
  • Simulators
  • Students
  • Task Performance And Analysis
  • Teaching Methods
  • Training
  • Training Devices

Readers

  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Database Systems and Applications
  • Instructional Design and Training Evaluation.