Effects of computer icons and figure/background area ratios and color combinations on visual search performance on an LCD monitor

This study investigated the effects of figure/background color combinations, the type of computer icon and the figure/background area ratio on visual search performance on a liquid crystal display (LCD) screen. Participants had to search for the target item in a circle stimulus array, which had a diameter of 20 cm and included one target and 19 distracters. Results showed that these three independent variables significantly affected the visual search performance. The search times for EMAIL and SAVE computer icons were significantly shorter than that for a PRINT computer icon. Visual search performance was better for computer icons with a 90% figure/background area ratio than for a 70% ratio. However, no difference in search time between 90% and 50% ratios or between 70% and 50% ratios was observed. Color combinations also significantly affected the visual search performance and white/yellow and white/blue color combinations for the figure/background resulted in better performance than black/blue and black/yellow combinations. However, no difference in search time was observed for participants with and without esthetic training. The implications of the results are applicable to design icons for the interfacing of computers and communication information.     

Design of icons for use by Chinese in mainland China

The objective of this study was to investigate the impacts of cultural differences in cognitive abilities between the American and Chinese users on their performance with icon displays. The goal was to provide insight for software developers whose products might have potential Chinese users. The key factor in this study was the presentation mode of icon displays, which could be alphanumeric elements only, pictorial elements only, or a combined mode (both elements). An experiment was conducted with 30 American and 30 Chinese subjects. The subjects performed recognition tasks using different presentation modes. Results indicate that for the American subjects there were advantages to alphanumeric and combined modes, compared to the pictorial mode, in terms of performance time and errors. For Chinese subjects, there were advantages to pictorial and combined modes, compared with alphanumeric mode; their initial error rate also was lower using a combined mode than when using an alphanumeric one.     

Iterative process of design and evaluation of icons for interactive TV menu

This paper shows an iterative process of design and evaluation of icons for future interactive TV services. In doing the RNRT (French National Network of Research in Telecommunications) iTV project, we tried to generate icons easy to identify, associate and memorise for 32 categories and services of our iTV system.

Through an iterative process, the Multiple Index Approach was applied until an acceptable icon set was achieved. In addition to existing evaluation criteria such as the intuitiveness, associativeness, preference and suitability with subjective certainty of users, we emphasised the importance of the learnability measured by recall tests.

As a conclusion, we propose a methodology of icon design and evaluation for information appliances that integrate unfamiliar features with common users.     

Iterative process of design and evaluation of icons for interactive TV menu

This paper shows an iterative process of design and evaluation of icons for future interactive TV services. In doing the RNRT (French National Network of Research in Telecommunications) iTV project, we tried to generate icons easy to identify, associate and memorise for 32 categories and services of our iTV system.

Through an iterative process, the Multiple Index Approach was applied until an acceptable icon set was achieved. In addition to existing evaluation criteria such as the intuitiveness, associativeness, preference and suitability with subjective certainty of users, we emphasised the importance of the learnability measured by recall tests.

As a conclusion, we propose a methodology of icon design and evaluation for information appliances that integrate unfamiliar features with common users.     

Interaction of textual and graphical information in locating web page widgets

Current models of web navigation focus only on the influence of textual information and ignore the role of graphical information. We studied the differential role of text and graphics in identifying web page widgets classified into two kinds: textual and graphical. Four different versions of web pages were created by systematically removing textual and graphical information from each page. The task of the participants was to locate either textual or graphical widgets on the displayed web page. Results show that for any widget, the task-completion time and the number of clicks were significantly less in web pages with graphics than in those with no graphics. This demonstrates the importance of graphical information. However, textual information is also important because performance in locating graphical widgets under no-graphics conditions was better when text was present than with no text. Since, for identifying graphical widgets, text and graphics interact and complement each other, we conclude that cognitive models on web navigation should include the role of graphical information next to textual information.     

Interacting with VDL-based structured icons on crisis map for emergency coordination: Interactive design and experimental demonstration

Accurate and timely information sharing among multiple participants is one of the crucial factors for collaboration in crisis management. The icon-based map was frequently applied as an effective means for crisis interaction and collaboration. However, former studies only regarded the icons as supplementary visualization components during the whole crisis collaboration process. In this paper, the concept of a structured-icon-relied interactive method was proposed to directly integrate all kinds of crisis and coordination information through icons on the crisis map. Moreover, structured icons are supposed to explicitly show the correlation among crisis information and to improve the interactive experience of information search. The effectiveness of this interactive method was verified by a controlled experiment with three sub-tasks for simulated crisis rescue. The results of the experiment showed that the design of the crisis map based on structured icons had a positive impact on collaborative decision-making and crisis interaction. The dynamic characteristics of the structured icon could represent the temporal and spatial attributes of crisis information and enhance users’ crisis coordination ability. The study aims to enrich the theory of crisis information visualization and interaction based on structured iconic representation. In practice, this research could optimize the design of a crisis collaboration system based on the icon as well as the interaction between people, crisis information, and collaborative system, which in turn provides accurate and timely rescue decisions.     

From action icon to knowledge icon: Objective-oriented icon taxonomy in computer science

Icon plays a critical role in computer interface design. Studies on icon taxonomy explain the way in which various types of icon represent the objects and provide designers creation rules by which icons are more in line with users’ cognitive psychology. However, along with larger and larger use of icons, the previous classification criterion causes the boundary between categories blur. What’s more, Single classification standard is not able to well illustrate the icons applied in today’s computer applications. The purpose of this paper is to present an objective-oriented icon taxonomy which proposes to categorize icons into action icon and knowledge icon. To assess this proposition, we analyzed a sample of icons that applied in computer interface and suggest precise application domains to both action icon and knowledge icon categories. The results of this practice manifested that action icon and knowledge icon implied a high relation with applied environment and explicated the development trace of computer icons. This work is one of the first to point out the notion of knowledge icon and to highlight the importance of objective of icon application. Findings in this paper could enrich icon use in computer interface design, especially provides possible way to improve online knowledge sharing by visual tool like icon.     

An empirical comparison of textual and graphical data structuredocumentation for Cobol programs

The author presents the results of an experimental investigation into the comparative usefulness of textual tools and graphical tools for the program understanding phase of Cobol program maintenance. Both novice and experienced programmers are used as subjects. The results show a slight superiority for graphical tools when they are used by less experienced programmers. They cast doubt on the importance of rigid adherence to program design methodologies for experienced programmers and on the extensibility of experiments using relatively inexperienced student subjects     

Matching of graphical symbols in line-drawing images using angular signature information

In this paper, a method for matching complex objects in line-drawings is presented. Our approach is based on the notion of -signatures, which are a special kind of histogram of forces [17,19,28]. Such histograms have low time complexity and describe signatures that are invariant to fundamental geometrical transformations such as scaling, translation, symmetry, and rotation. This article presents a new application of this notion in the field of symbol identification and recognition. To improve the efficiency of matching, we propose using an approximation of the -signature from Fourier series and the associated matching.Received: 7 October 2002, Accepted: 1 December 2002, Published online: 4 July 2003     

Use of auditory icons as emergency warnings: evaluation within a vehicle collision avoidance application

In the context of emergency warnings, auditory icons, which convey information about system events by analogy with everyday events, have the potential to be understood more quickly and easily than abstract sounds. To test this proposal, an experiment was carried out to evaluate the use of auditory icons for an invehicle collision avoidance application. Two icons, the sounds of a car horn and of skidding tyres, were compared with two conventional warnings, a simple tone and a voice saying ‘ahead’. Participants sat in an experimental vehicle with a road scene projected ahead, and they were required to brake in response to on-screen collision situations and their accompanying warning sounds. The auditory icons produced significantly faster reaction times than the conventional warnings, but suffered from more inappropriate responses, where drivers reacted with a brake press to a non-collision situation. The findings are explained relative to the perceived urgency and inherent meaning of each sound. It is argued that optimal warnings could be achieved by adjusting certain sound attributes of auditory icons, as part of a structured, user-centred design and evaluation procedure.     

Influence mechanism of icon semantics on visual search performance: Evidence from an eye-tracking study

Explicit icon semantics can reduce the difficulty of understanding complex visual information. Optimizing the icon semantics and text semantics of icons can effectively improve the cognitive performance of digital interfaces. This paper adopts visual search tasks to study the effects of different combinations of icon semantic familiarity and the presence or absence of text on icon search performance under horizontal and vertical layouts. The behavioral experiment results show that under two layouts: 1. The main effect of icon semantics is significant, and the search performance increases with the increase of semantic familiarity. 2. The main effect of text is significant, and the search performance is negatively correlated with the addition of text. The eye movement experiment found that the semantic familiarity of icons had a significant impact on average fixation time. Furthermore, the number of fixation points changed significantly after the text variable was added. Therefore, there was no significant difference in the number of fixation points in the horizontal layout, and icon semantics was the main influencing factor in visual search. In the vertical layout, there was no significant difference in average fixation time, and text was the main influencing factor of visual search. The results show that the semantic familiarity of icons and different combinations with or without text significantly affect visual search performance in horizontal and vertical layouts. This paper provides a theoretical reference for the combination of icons and text in interface design.     

The effects of color combinations,luminance contrast,and area ratio on icon visual search performance

The visual search of icons in a digital interface plays an important role in human-computer interaction. In this behavior study about the visual search of graphic symbols, the effects of the color combination, luminance contrast, and icon area ratio were investigated. A total of 28 participants (12 men and 16 women, ages ranging from 20 to 28 years, Mean = 22.4, SD = 1.7) were asked to perform an icon search task. Participants’ icon search accuracy and response times were measured as a function of the following independent variables: three levels of area ratios, four background colors, four foreground colors, and three levels of luminance contrast. The results showed that although there was no significant main effect of luminance contrast on the icon search accuracy, participants responded more quickly to medium luminance contrast than low or high luminance contrast. Similarly, the medium or low area ratio was more conducive to the participants identifying icons. Moreover, a strong interaction was observed between the effects of luminance contrast and icon area ratio. The icon search performance of the high luminance contrast improved significantly as the figure/background area ratio decreased. Icon color combinations also significantly affected visual search performance. White on black, yellow on black, turquoise on black, white on red, yellow on red, and white on purple resulted in better performance than other color combinations. The findings of this study provide useful guidelines for designing more efficient and user-friendly icons and interfaces in the future.     

Development of measurement instrument for visual qualities of graphical user interface elements (VISQUAL): a test in the context of mobile game icons

User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction - Graphical user interfaces are widely common and present in everyday human–computer interaction, dominantly in computers and smartphones. Today,...     

基于光谱角分类器遥感影像的自动分类和精度分析研究

遥感影像是地球表面一定区域景观和覆盖的客观记录和形象显示。选择黑河弱水流域作为自动分类的典型研究区,利用该区域的Landsat 7ETM+遥感影像结合地面实况调查数据,寻找土地利用/覆盖类型自动分类的训练样本,运用光谱角分类方法对ETM+图像进行自动分类。通过分类图像与地面真实样本数据对比分析,获得适用于荒漠地表遥感影像自动分类的可行性方法,并且进一步讨论了混淆矩阵计算的分类误差,研究了以Kappa分析为基础的精度评价。     

改进的SSDA图像匹配算法

在目前的图像匹配中,SSDA实时性好,但对图像灰度的线性变化非常敏感.鉴于此,提出一种基于SSDA(序贯相似度检测算法)的新算法.新算法提出差值矩阵的概念,消除了灰度线性变化的影响.首先将两幅图像同行的相邻像素进行灰度差值计算,获得差值矩阵,再将差值矩阵的元素按照隔点提取的方式进行序贯相似度计算,阈值自适应更新,获得最小阈值的子图像即为匹配图像.实验结果表明,该方法对图像灰度的线性变化有良好的鲁棒性,便于实时性的实现.     

An experimental research study on the effect of pictorial icons on a user-learner’s performance

This experimental counterbalanced repeated measures study on the effect of three types of icons (abstract, pictorial and drawing) on the learning and performance of two types of learners (abstract and concrete) was conducted during the Spring 2000–Spring 2001 semesters at the University of Central Florida. The counterbalanced lesson followed by a counterbalanced and completely randomized quiz on three levels was field tested in the Spring–Summer 2000 on 37 UCF graduate students and final tested in the Fall 2000–Spring 2001 on 53 UCF graduate student subjects. A general linear model repeated measures ANOVA revealed that icon type had a significant effect on the learning and performance of both types of learners. Pictorial icons resulted in best scores. No significant interaction was found between icon type and learner type even though on a matched condition, abstract learners with abstract icon resulted in better scores than when concrete learners were matched with concrete (pictorial and drawing) icons. Implications for future research are drawn as well as practical applications identified in the field of teaching, learning, training and performance.     

Development and validation of icons varying in their abstractness

Icons are used widely in human-computer interfaces. The level of abstractness-concreteness of an icon and its effect upon performance is of widespread interest. The authors have devised a quantitative measure for abstractness based on the complexity of the icon. They test their metric against subjective judgments of abstractness as identified by two different groups of subjects. After ranking two sets of ‘abstract’ and ‘concrete’ icons, the authors examined how well the icons were matched to the Pascal constructs that they represented. Further experiments were conducted using different groups of subjects to check whether correct matching of the icons with constructs was influenced by context. In summary the authors found that their metric was a good match for subjective measures of abstractness-concreteness. They also found that there is a better identification of concrete icons than abstract icons. Finally, it was shown that context does affect the correct identification of icons.     

Modeling, analyzing, and synthesizing expressive piano performance with graphical models

Trained musicians intuitively produce expressive variations that add to their audience’s enjoyment. However, there is little quantitative information about the kinds of strategies used in different musical contexts. Since the literal synthesis of notes from a score is bland and unappealing, there is an opportunity for learning systems that can automatically produce compelling expressive variations. The ESP (Expressive Synthetic Performance) system generates expressive renditions using hierarchical hidden Markov models trained on the stylistic variations employed by human performers. Furthermore, the generative models learned by the ESP system provide insight into a number of musicological issues related to expressive performance. Editor: Gerhard Widmer     

整车建模和转向性能分析

转向性能研究中一般会更多地关注方向盘力矩的变化。所以,转向系统对分析精度起决定性影响,必须建立详尽的模型来描述其内部特性,如惯性、刚度、摩擦、阻尼和助力曲线,这些因素对方向盘力矩变化有非常显著的影响,以致影响转向性能。本文阐述了在AMESim软件中建立液压助力转向系统和整车模型的过程。首先提出了一种新的计算转向阀过流面积的方法,以获得真实的转向助力特性,然后建立了包含这个比较详尽的转向系统的整车动力学模型,用于转向性能研究,最后选用了几种实车道路试验结果来验证此模型的准确性。