Design of Graphic Displays in Computerized Systems.

The users mental model of a computerized, perceptual database system was investigated in three experiments. The system consisted of a database of multidimensional sounds, command to search the database, and one of three separate displays two graphic displays for training, an alpha-numeric display for testing. The graphic displays presented different conceptualizations of the database training with a different graphic display was predicted to cause the formation of a different mental model of the system. The results of three experiments indicated that users trained with one graphic display identified two-dimensional sounds with significantly lower latency Experiment 1 than users trained with the second graphic display. For three-dimensional sounds these findings with both displays this interaction disappeared Experiment 3. The results indicate that display design can influence the users mental model of a system and that this has implications for performance with the system. Keywords man machine systems. Author