The Effects of Display Layout on Monitoring and Updating System States

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Abstract
Information-display issues are described in the context of a complex memory-updating task similar to Yntema's (1963). Subjects performed the updating task with two types of graphic interfaces. In one condition, the interface provided invariant spatial information which could be used to support task performance; in the second condition, the same information was presented in a single spatial location. The results suggest that 1) the mapping effect (one-to-many vs. many-to-one) found by Yntema did not occur when the response sets being updated were composed of the same response alternatives; 2) the type of screen layout used to support the updating task had a large impact on both accuracy and time to respond; and 3) the type of screen layout used interacted with the task's cognitive demands, including length of lag between an update and a response, and the number of variables being monitored. These results suggest that the design of information displays requires consideration of the abstract representational requirements of the task being supported.

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