Display object alignment may influence location recall in unexpected ways
This challenges implicit design assumptions in human-computer interaction, though it is incremental as it tests a rarely examined idea with specific user groups.
The study tested whether aligned versus eccentrically arranged layouts affect location recall in a brainstorming interface with 96 college students, finding that eccentric layouts improved incidental exact recall but led to frequent near-miss errors to aligned objects, with marginal performance advantages for females.
There is a presumption in human-computer interaction that laying out menus and most other material in neat rows and columns helps users get work done. The rule has been so implicit in the field of design as to allow for no debate. However, the idea that perfect collinearity benefits creates an advantage for both either search and or recall has rarely been tested. Drawing from separate branches of cognitive literature, we tested a minimal brainstorming interface with either aligned or eccentrically arranged layouts on 96 college students. Incidental exact recall of recently worked locations improved in the eccentric condition. And in both conditions there were frequent near-miss recall errors to neighboring aligned objects and groups of objects. Further analysis found only marginal performance advantages specifically for females with the eccentric design. However, NASA-TLX subjective measures showed that in eccentric, females reported higher performance, less effort, and yet also higher frustration; while males reported lower performance with about the same effort, and lower frustration.