Strength of Component Principles for Direction-of-Turn Stereotypes of Three-Dimensional Display/Control Arrangements

Abstract

It was shown by Hoffmann (1990) that the strength of component principles determining the stereotype for control rotation with linear displays could be readily determined in cases where the control was in the same plane as the display. The work was extended to the case of three-dimensional display/control relationships, where the rotary control is not in the same plane as the display. Two experiments are reported, one using paper and pencil tests and the other simulated diplays and controls. The strength of the component principles are determined for each of these. It was found that (i) the paper and pencil tests gave a good prediction of data obtained with the simulated displays in cases where Warrick's principle was applicable, except that the strength of several of the principles varied slightly from those with the hardware; (ii) strong stereotypes were found for cases in which Warrick's principle was applicable, but not in cases where the axis of the control was parallel to the direction of motion of the display; (iii) in all cases where Warrick's principle was applicable, the stereotypes were reversible, whereas in a number of the tests where Warrick's principle could not be applied this was not the case. As in the case of planar display/control arrangements, the component strengths of the various principles can be linearly added to obtain the strength of the stereotype for any given relationship between display and control. The approach gives a better understanding of the values found for stereotypes with different arrangements of displays and controls.