Abstract
A fundamental purpose of a display format is to allow the human operator to construct and maintain an accurate representation of reality. In order for display designers to know how to portray spatial information, one must understand how humans represent and use spatial relationships. The purpose of this study was to determine the effective use of four different types of spatial display formats in the performance of a spatial discrimination task. Forty subjects initially viewed a display portraying simulated radar returns representing the relative position of two other aircraft (in formation), and then chose which of two spatial alternatives portrayed the true spatial relationship viewed previously. Results showed that subjects” ability to discriminate between the spatial alternatives was adversely affected by the type of display format used, and the degree of distortion of the true spatial relationships. The results are interpreted in terms of the resolution of one's mental representation of spatial relationships.
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