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Accommodating individual differences in searching a hierarchical file system

1988; Academic Press; Volume: 29; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/s0020-7373(88)80072-5

1879-3614

Kim J. Vicente, Robert C. Williges,

Data Visualization and Analytics

Individual differences among users of a hierarchical file system were investigated. The results of a previous experiment revealed that subjects with low spatial ability were getting lost in the hierarchical file structure. Based on the concept of visual momentum, two changes to the old interface were proposed in an attempt to accommodate the individual differences in task performance. The changes consisted of a partial map of the hierarchy and an analogue indicator of current file position. This experiment compared the performance of users with high and low spatial abilities on the old verbal interface and the new graphical interface. The graphical interface resulted in changes in command usage that were consistent with the predictions of the visual momentum analysis. Although these changes in strategy resulted in a performance advantage for the graphical interface, the relative performance difference between high and low spatial groups remained constant across interfaces. However, the new interface did result in a decrease in the within-group variability in performance.