Participants kept track of rapidly changing information in a two-session experiment which investigated how altering the spatial characteristics of a display influences performance in a complex memory task. Participants took advantage of spatial resources in the display when they were available at both encoding and retrieval. Participants trained with spatial support showed poor transfer when spatial information was removed as a retrieval cue. Results suggest that the spatial distribution of displayed data can aid keeping track when spatial support is consistently available at both encoding and retrieval, and when the support provided in training is also available in the transfer display.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
DetweilerM.C.HessS.M.EllisR.D. (in press). The effects of display layout on keeping track of visual-spatial information. In RogersW.FiskA. D.WalkerN. (Eds.), Aging and skilled performance. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
2.
EndsleyM.R. (1994). Toward a theory of situation awareness in dynamic systems. Human Factors, 37, 32–64.
3.
HessS.M.DetweilerM.C. (1995). The effects of response alternatives on keeping-track performance. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society–39th annual meeting (pp. 1390–1394). Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
4.
HessS.M.DetweilerM.C.EllisR.D. (1994). The effects of display layout on monitoring and updating system states. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society-38th annual meeting (pp. 1336–1340). Santa Monica, CA: The Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
5.
SarterN.B.WoodsD.D. (1994). How in the world did we ever get into that mode? Mode error and awareness in supervisory control. Human Factors, 37, 5–19.
6.
SchneiderW. (1988). Micro Experimental Laboratory: An integrated system for IBM PC compatibles. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers, 20, 206–217.
7.
SegalL. D.AndreA. D. (1985). Changing technology in control room design: Is one graphical interface worth 1000 indicators? In Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society–39th Annual Meeting (pp. 1435–1439). Santa Monica, CA: The Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
8.
VenturinoM.MillerS.L.ErcolanoK.A.JosephsonK. (1995). Interference and Information Organization in Dynamic Memory. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society–39th Annual Meeting (pp. 1430–1434). Santa Monica, CA: The Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
9.
VenturinoM.RomanoN.J.MillerS.L.MurphyM.CoffeyT.M. (1994). Dynamic memory: Keeping track of continually changing information. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society–38th Annual Meeting (pp. 1336–1339). Santa Monica, CA: The Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
10.
WoodsD.D. (1991). The cognitive engineering of problem representations. In WeirG.R.S.AltyJ.L. (Eds.), Human-computer interaction and complex systems (pp. 169–188). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
11.
WoodsD.D.RothE.M. (1988). Aiding human performance: I. Cognitive analysis. Le Travail Humain, 51, 39–64.
12.
YntemaD.B.MueserG.E. (1960). Remembering the present states of a number of variables. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 60, 18–22.
13.
YntemaD.B.MueserG.E. (1962). Keeping track of variables that have few or many states. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 63, 391–395.
