A framework for unpacking cognitive benefits of distributed complex visual displays

Area of Science:

• Human-Computer Interaction
• Cognitive Science
• Information Visualization

Background:

• Information is often organized spatially, either side-by-side (stacked) or layered (distributed).
• Understanding the cognitive and usability trade-offs between these display formats is crucial for effective interface design.
• Existing research lacks a unified framework to analyze these trade-offs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a theoretical framework decomposing display advantages/disadvantages into information internalization, access, and externalization costs.
• To develop and validate an eye-tracking analytic technique for measuring these costs.
• To investigate how stacked versus distributed displays impact these costs in a complex data interpretation task.

Main Methods:

• A theoretical framework was developed to define information internalization, access, and externalization costs.
• An eye-tracking methodology was employed to quantitatively measure these costs.
• Thirty-eight scientists-in-training performed a data interpretation task using either stacked or distributed displays.

Main Results:

• Display format significantly impacted all three cost factors (internalization, access, externalization).
• Stacked displays increased information internalization and externalization costs.
• Stacked displays decreased information access costs, while distributed displays showed the opposite pattern.

Conclusions:

• The developed framework precisely characterizes the trade-offs between stacked and distributed information displays.
• Eye-tracking analysis provides a robust method for measuring these trade-offs.
• Findings offer empirical guidance for optimizing user interface design based on task requirements and display organization.