Evidence for Shifting Cognitive Strategies when Icons Appear in Unexpected Locations

OBJECTIVE

The present study examines the cognitive effects of placing icons in unexpected spatial locations within websites.

BACKGROUND

Prior research has revealed evidence for cognitive conflict when web icons occur in unexpected locations (e.g., cart, top left), generally consistent with a dynamical systems models. Here, we compare the relative strength of evidence for both dual and dynamical systems models.

METHODS

Participants clicked on icons located in either expected (e.g., cart, top right) or unexpected (e.g., cart, top left) locations while mouse trajectories were continuously recorded. Trajectories were classified according to prototypes associated with each cognitive model. The dynamical systems model predicts curved trajectories, while the dual-systems model predicts straight and change of mind trajectories.

RESULTS

Trajectory classification revealed that curved trajectories increased (+11%), while straight and change of mind trajectories decreased (-12%) when target icons occurred in unexpected locations (p < .001).

CONCLUSION

Rather than employing a single cognitive strategy, users shift from a primarily dual-systems to dynamical systems strategy when icons occur in unexpected locations.

APPLICATION

Potential applications of this work include the assessment of cognitive impacts such as mental workload and cognitive conflict during real-time interaction with websites and other screen-based interfaces, personalization and adaptive interfaces based on an individual's cognitive strategy, and data-driven A/B testing of alternative interface designs.

Mood moderates the effect of aesthetic appeal on performance

Aesthetically appealing stimuli can improve performance in demanding target localisation tasks compared to unappealing stimuli. Two search-and-localisation experiments were carried out to examine the possible underlying mechanism mediating the effects of appeal on performance. Participants (N = 95) were put in a positive or negative mood prior to carrying out a visual target localisation task with appealing and unappealing targets. In both experiments, positive mood initially led to faster localisation of appealing compared to unappealing stimuli, while an advantage for appealing over unappealing stimuli emerged over time in negative mood participants. The findings are compatible with the idea that appealing stimuli may be inherently rewarding, with aesthetic appeal overcoming the detrimental effects of negative mood on performance.

Participatory design for selection of icons to represent daily activities of living for a vision-based rehabilitation-cum-assistance system for locked-in patients

Purpose: The majority of rehabilitation systems for locked-in patients are used for therapeutic purposes. However, round-the-clock assistance and support are essential after discharge from hospitals or nursing homes. This inspired us to develop a round-the-clock rehabilitation-cum-assistance system operated by eye gazes of locked-in patients. To do this, we aimed to identify the essential daily activities of living for locked-in patients and represent these activities using the most universally acceptable icons/images on the interface for the rehabilitation-cum-assistance system.Method: Activities were selected from available conventions and literature with advice from a local physiotherapy centre. Simple arithmetic averages and weighted averages of recognition rates for different icons representing different daily activities were calculated as per ISO 3864. Universal acceptability of the icons was compared based on responses from 72 locked-in patients across five different age groups. The final icons or images were then selected.Results: Three icons were categorized as identifiable with overall average recognition rates above 66.7%. Icons with average recognition rates 30-60% were considered to have "medium" recognisability and 21 icons were in this category. The average recognition rates of six icons were below 30% and were not acceptable. An overall recognition efficiency of 91% was achieved for participants from all age groups.Conclusions: The most preferred and unambiguous icons or images representing the essential daily activities of living were identified for use on the interface of our rehabilitation-cum-assistance system for round-the-clock operation.Implications for rehabilitationPerforming some of the daily activities by locked-in patients himself/herself is essential for self-independence as well as measures the level of regular improvement.Assistive technologies have huge potential for application for the purpose, especially the vision-based systems.Present technology is useful for development of a vision-based rehabilitation-cum-assistance system for 24 × 7 assistance for the locked-in patients.A new approach for real-time, user-based field evaluation of icons representing daily activities of living using statistical method of averaging of the recognition rates.

Malala and the politics of global iconicity

The article presents a case analysis of Malala Yousafzai's transformation into a global injustice icon after she was shot in 2012 by the Pakistani Taliban for advocating for girls' right to education. The analysis focuses on the political aspects of this process and is divided into three parts. The first looks at factors that facilitated Malala's iconization as she was undergoing medical treatment and was unable to participate in her iconization. The second part starts when Malala enters the global public sphere and begins to actively contribute to the iconization process. The third part identifies de-iconizing resistance to Malala from Pakistani actors who see her iconization as a symbolic colonization in which Malala has become a vehicle of the West. Theoretically, the article is located within cultural sociology, but expands it in a political and global direction.

Eye contricks

Pictorial images are icons as well as eye-cons: they provide distillations of objects or ideas into simpler shapes. They create the impression of representing that which cannot be presented. Even at the level of the photograph, the links between icon and object are tenuous. The dimensions of depth and motion are missing from icons, and these alone introduce all manner of potential ambiguities. The history of art can be considered as exploring the missing link between icon and object. Eye-cons can also be illusions—tricks of vision so that what is seen does not necessarily correspond to what is physically presented. Pictorial images can be spatialised or stylised; spatialised images generally share some of the projective characteristics of the object represented. Written words are also icons, but they do not resemble the objects they represent—they are stylised or conventional. Icons as stylised words and spatialised images were set in delightful opposition by René Magritte in a series of pipe paintings, and this theme is here alluded to. Most of visual science is now concerned with icons—two-dimensional displays on computer monitors. Is vision now the science of eye-cons?

Designing informative warning signals: Effects of indicator type, modality, and task demand on recognition speed and accuracy

An experiment investigated the assumption that natural indicators which exploit existing learned associations between a signal and an event make more effective warnings than previously unlearned symbolic indicators. Signal modality (visual, auditory) and task demand (low, high) were also manipulated. Warning effectiveness was indexed by accuracy and reaction time (RT) recorded during training and dual task test phases. Thirty-six participants were trained to recognize 4 natural and 4 symbolic indicators, either visual or auditory, paired with critical incidents from an aviation context. As hypothesized, accuracy was greater and RT was faster in response to natural indicators during the training phase. This pattern of responding was upheld in test phase conditions with respect to accuracy but observed in RT only in test phase conditions involving high demand and the auditory modality. Using the experiment as a specific example, we argue for the importance of considering the cognitive contribution of the user (viz., prior learned associations) in the warning design process. Drawing on semiotics and cognitive psychology, we highlight the indexical nature of so-called auditory icons or natural indicators and argue that the cogniser is an indispensable element in the tripartite nature of signification.