This proposal is funded under the Research Initiation Awards (RIA) Program Announcement, NSF 88-99. The research builds on a cognitive model to provide a scientific basis for understanding how people perceive and process information from graphic displays. Phase 1 proposes to model ocular scanning behavior using knowledge about the graphic display and the goal structure of the task. The goal is to measure the similarity among sequences of eye movements used to answer questions posed to a range of graphic displays. Phase 2 of this research explores errors people make processing information from complex information displays. The studies examine when working memory overload occurs, what information is lost, and how overload influences performance accuracy. The resulting model will provide a research tool for understanding visual cognition and perception. It will also provide designers a metric for measuring display quality, working memory constraints, and information processing time.
