Visual Thinking with an Interactive Diagram

  • Authors:
  • Colin Ware;Anne T. Gilman;Robert J. Bobrow

  • Affiliations:
  • University of New Hampshire,;University of New Hampshire,;BBN Technologies Corporation,

  • Venue:
  • Diagrams '08 Proceedings of the 5th international conference on Diagrammatic Representation and Inference
  • Year:
  • 2008

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Abstract

To investigate the process of reasoning with an interactive diagram, we recorded eye movements and mouse clicks of 28 users as they investigated social relationships in a 313-node network diagram. The MEgraph application used to display this network combines techniques such as topological range searching and motion highlighting to enable interactive exploration of complex network diagrams. Long-term memory encoding was assessed with a surprise recall protocol one week later, with and without lightweight visual history traces. Frequent video-game players relied more on peripheral vision, moving their gaze less often. History support was also associated with more efficient visual strategies. History traces improved users' ability to reconstruct prior work on retest.