Research Review Proposal

HCI 450 – Lawler

DePaul University Summer II 2001

Jeffrey Absher xxx-xx-xxxx

Review Topic:

The effect of color as a distraction or enhancement during scans of a printed page for a target.

Possible experiments to look for:

• No highlighting/coloring of targets within monochrome text.
• Colored targets (such as hyperlinks) against monochrome text versus colored targets on a page of multicolor text.
• No highlighting/coloring of targets within multicolor text, no specific highlighting
• No highlighting/coloring of targets within monochrome text with other false targets highlighted.

Possible SourceArticles:

Carter, Robert C.

US Naval Biodynamics Lab, New Orleans, LA.

Title

Visual search with color.

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance. Vol 8(1), Feb 1982, 127-136.

Abstract

Conducted 3 experiments (78 undergraduates) to discover how rapidly people can find a particular target when they know the color of the target. Ss searched for specific-colored 3-digit numbers among other 3-digit numbers on a circular display screen. Search time increased dramatically (and approximately linearly) as the number of display items of the target's color increased from one to all of the items on the display. Search time also increased with the number of items not of the target's color, if the color of these background items (BIs) was sufficiently similar to that of the target. If the color of those BIs was dissimilar to that of the target, then the BIs had no effect. An effect of patterned vs random placement of target-colored items was also demonstrated. (43 ref) ((c) 1997 APA/PsycINFO, all rights reserved)

Barbur, J. L; Forsyth, P. M.

The effective contrast of coloured targets and its relation to visual search.

Source

Visual search. (pp. 319-328). London, England UK: Taylor & Francis. xv, 428 pp.

Abstract

(from the chapter) in this study we have measured the "effective contrast" of coloured targets using a psychophysical technique which requires the subject to discriminate between the perceived contrast of an achromatic target and that of a coloured target

the aim of this study was to evolve an improved method of assessing and selecting colours for use in visual displays / the efficient use of colour is important for coding and grouping operations, and for enhancing the conspicuity of objects in search tasks ((c) 1997 APA/PsycINFO, all rights reserved)

D'Zmura, Michael.

U California, Irvine, USA.

Color in visual search.

Vision Research. Vol 31(6), 1991, 951-966.

Abstract

In experiments using the visual search paradigm suggested by A. M. Treisman and colleagues (1977; see PA, Vols 63:4685 and 75:9652), colored targets popped out of displays under conditions in which the standard red-green, yellow-blue, and black-white mechanisms could not directly mediate detection. Results suggest that observers possess chromatic detection mechanisms tuned to intermediate hues such as orange as well as to hues characterizing the standard color-opponent mechanisms and that these mechanisms, as a group, form a fine-grained representation of hue within the central visual field. Spatially-parallel search is mediated by a single mechanism that is spectrally sensitive to the target chromaticity but insensitive to the distractor chromaticities. Different mechanisms are used to detect a single target in a way that depends on distractor chromaticities. ((c) 1997 APA/PsycINFO, all rights reserved)

Hughes, Philip K; Creed, David J.

Defence Science & Technology Organization, Aeronautical & Maritime Research Lab, Vict, Australia.

Eye movement behaviour viewing colour-coded and monochrome avionic displays.

Ergonomics. Vol 37(11), Nov 1994, 1871-1884.

Special Issue - Cognitive ergonomics

Abstract

Extended the eye movement (EM) study of L. C. Walrath and R. W. Backs (1989) to determine whether redundant color coding (CC) offered advantages to searching for a target coded by both location and shape in horizontal situation indicator displays. Aspects of W. A. Macdonald and B. L. Cole's (see PA, Vol 75:25073) study were replicated to include measures of EM behaviors as dependent variables. In Exp 1, 8 participants located and reported alphanumeric information associated with the active waypoint on the displayed flightpath. Initial display fixations were more accurately directed to the target information when it was redundantly CC compared with when it was coded by shape and relative positional codes. Fewer fixations and a shorter time were required to locate the CC target and report relevant information. In Exp 2, there was no advantage of a colored display when Ss' task was to count all displayed waypoint symbols on a flight path. ((c) 1997 APA/PsycINFO, all rights resrvd