A Cognitive Model for Understanding Graphical Perception

Abstract

This article describes a computer program, UCIE (Understanding Cognitive Information Engineering) that simulates graphical perception. UCIE predicts response time to answer a question posed to a graphic display from assumptions about the sequence of eye fixations, short-term memory capacity and duration limits, and the degree of difficulty to acquire information in each glance. An empirical study compared actual performance to UCIE predictions over a range of display types and question types. The results yielded some support for the cognitive model. A zero-parameter model explains 37% of the variance in average reaction times (N = 1,128). However, the zero-parameter model only explains about 10% of the individual variation in reaction times across 28 subjects (N = 15,200). Although this is an important start to understand how we interpret visual displays for meaning, additional research is needed to explain individual differences in performance.