Browsing by Author "Alonso, Diane L."
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Item Apparency of Contingencies in Pull Down Menus(1998-10-15) Alonso, Diane L.; Norman, Kent L.In many computer interfaces the underlying structures and contingencies are often hidden from the user's view. Users high in Spatial Visualization Ability (SVA) are able to quickly determine and manage the contingencies of these relationships and are not severely affected by this problem. Low SVA users, however, have difficulty visualizing these contingencies and often get lost. We examined the performance of 160 undergraduate students to determine whether revealing hidden contingencies through visual cues would facilitate low SVA users enabling them to approach the level of performance of high SVA users on a computerized path-finding task. It was found that using color and displaying paths improved performance, however, there is no indication that it is more beneficial to low than high SVA users. (Also cross-referenced as UMIACS-TR-97-43)Item Apparency of Contingencies in Single Panel Menus(1998-10-15) Alonso, Diane L.; Norman, Kent L.What we see is not always what we get. This is the problem when the underlying structure of an interface is hidden from the user's view. Users high in Spatial Visualization Ability (SVA), are quick to learn the contingencies of these relationships and are not hindered by this problem. Low SVA users, however, have difficulty visualizing these contingencies and often get lost. We examined data for 97 undergraduate students to determine whether revealing hidden contingencies though visual cues would facilitate Low SVA users, enabling them to approach the level of performance of High SVA users on a computerized path finding task. It was found that increasing interface apparency does seem to benefit all users, but particularly those with Low SVA. (Also cross-referenced as CAR-TR-824)