Designing for Multi-Tasking Environments: Multiple Monitors vs. Multiple Windows

Abstract

Complex semi-automated processes, from aircraft flight management to command and control, typically require a large number of displays. Multiple, overlapping windows provide one method of coping with multiple displays. Multiple monitors provide another method. With the advent of good flat panel displays for real monitors and with the advent of Head Mounted Display (HMD) technology for creating virtual monitors, multiple monitors become a promising possibility even in cramped environments like cockpits and shipboard control rooms. To determine the true value of multiple monitors (real or virtual) we must understand their capabilities and integration with human cognitive and perceptual abilities, then design for their ultimate use. In the first experiment, we found that accessing information distributed across an array of monitors was at least as effective as locating and managing windows on a single monitor. In the second experiment, we found that a task that requires only infrequent monitoring can be moved to a secondary, peripheral monitor without disrupting performance on that or any other concurrent task. In future experiments, we plan to compare these results to results from HMD-based systems.