Change Blindness: Detecting Icon Position Change in Military Information Displays

Abstract

Designers of military systems, such as Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below (FBCB2), are concerned that “change blindness” may cause users to miss information updates. In the current study, participants monitored an FBCB2 display and reported the changes they detected. Results indicate that participants were not more likely to detect icon position changes (moves), when they were large, 17.5 mm moves (control moves), opposed to when they were gradual moves (a series of 10 smaller, 1.75 mm moves). But, when moves were correctly detected, response times were faster for control moves than they were for gradual moves. These findings may help clarify how attributes of a change (here, gradual vs. control moves) influence change blindness in military information displays.