The Personal Equation of Complex Individual Cognition during Visual Interface Interaction

Abstract

Abstract. This chapter considers the need for a better understanding of complex human cognition in the design of interactive visual interfaces by surveying the availability of pertinent cognitive models and applicable research in the behavioral sciences, and finds that there are no operational models or useful precedent to effectively guide the design of visually enabled interfaces. Further, this chapter explores the impact of individual differences, and in particular, inherent differences such as personality factors, on complex cognition. Lastly, it outlines how knowledge of human individuality, coupled with what is known about complex cognition, is being used to develop predictive measures for interface interaction design and evaluation, a research program known as the Personal Equation of Interaction. . . .

Adjustable properties of visual representations: Improving the quality of human‐information interaction

“…For instance, in the context of geovisualization and visual analytics, Fabrikant () has recently stated that “we still know little about the effectiveness of graphic displays for space‐time problem solving and behavior, exploratory data analysis, knowledge exploration, learning, and decision‐making” (p. 2009). Green and Fisher () have also recently observed that “there is still a lack of precedent on how to conduct research into visually enabled reasoning. It is not at all clear how one might evaluate interfaces with respect to their ability to scaffold higher‐order cognitive tasks” (p. 45).…”

“…While examining the importance of metadata in scientific communication and discovery, Willis, Greenberg, and White () argue that discipline‐specific metadata schemes have contributed to establishing artificial barriers to data discovery and reuse across disciplines, and, furthermore, such schemes interfere with interdisciplinary scientific progress. Just as the development of metadata schemes and the process of ontological analysis are of vital importance for research, design, evaluation, and communication in some well‐established disciplines, ontological analysis of the domain that encompasses the intersection of humans, information, VRs, interaction, computational tools, and complex cognitive activities is necessary if we are to develop a more scientific approach to this area of research—a need suggested by multiple researchers (e.g., Green & Fisher, ; Meyer et al., ; Thomas & Cook, ). Moreover, to design and evaluate CASTs in a systematic fashion, models and frameworks that are based on such analyses are needed.…”

Sense-making Strategies for the Interpretation of Visualizations—Bridging the Gap between Theory and Empirical Research

“…It should be pointed out, however, that this system has scarcely been used to evaluate information visualization systems, probably due to the fact that the model is fairly restrictive and only represents very specific kinds of activity sequences. The model also only represents more abstract activities, which makes it difficult to test it empirically [22].…”