Visual Display Representation of Multidimensional Systems: The Effect of Information Correlation and Display Integrality

Abstract

This study provides data regarding the use of object displays and schematic face displays to present dynamic, multivariate system information. Twelve subjects detected and diagnosed failures in a system whose variables were intercorrelated. Three visual, analog displays–a bar graph display, a pentagon, and a schematic face display–represented the system. These displays differed in the degree of integrality of their component features. Detection performance yielded a speed/accuracy tradeoff with little evidence of superiority for any of the displays. However, diagnosis performance showed a superiority of the more separable display. This superiority was attributed to showed a superiority of the more separable display. This superiority was attributed to the fact that diagnosis required subjects to focus attention directly on a single attribute, a focusing that benefitted from a display that separated the attributes from each other.