Physiological Responese Measrement to Identify Online Visual Representation Designs

This research involved the identification and validation of text-related visual display design principles from the literature. Representations were designed and developed that illustrated the intent of each visual display design principle included in the study. The representations were embedded in a research intervention and included validated examples of accurate displays of each principle and examples with varying degrees of inaccuracies. The representations were created based on design theories of human cognition: perceptual, attention memory, and mental models [1][2][3][4][5], and presented via a monitor in a controlled research environment. The environmental controls included space appropriate to the experiment, constant temperature, consistent lighting, management of distractions including sound, monitoring of operation of the measurement device and the use of standardized instructions. Bertin’s seven visual variables: position, size, color, shape, value, orientation and texture, were also examined within the design principles [6]. The result of the independent samples t test did not find significant differences between good and poor visual designs for all images across subjects. However, the results of the paired-samples t test found significant mean differences between Bertin’s principles for color, value and orientation of visual designs across subjects. The findings support future online instructional designs and investigate the implications for the design of online instruction.