Effects of Concurrent Information Load on Serial and Simultaneous Visual Display Formats

Abstract

RAP-COM (rapid-communication) displays have been shown to have useful potential human-computer interactions involving high information transfer rates (cf., Matin and Boff, 1988). Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the relative effectiveness of serial and simultaneous presentation of information via computer automated visual displays. Serial display formats involved rapid sequential presentation of discrete frames of information in a single spatial location. Whereas simultaneous formats consisted of presenting equivalent information in the same temporal frame, but in different spatial locations. The effectiveness of these two display formats were compared for different conditions which systematically varied concurrent information load. Surprisingly, the results indicated that in all of the variations of the tasks, simultaneous display formats were associated with faster and more accurate performance. These findings suggest that is difficult to make apriori predictions regarding performance advantages associated with automated displays.

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