Non-linear redundant mapping of contrast in multivariate glyph displays
Date
2017-07Author
Sivagnanasundaram, Navaneethan
Advisor
Chaparro, AlexMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Although capable of independent action for standard tasks, automated systems
still need monitoring and support from human managers. In order for a single observer to
effectively monitor large groups of these systems a summary display is necessary. This
provides a top-level glance across a group of systems, allowing prioritization of actions.
An effective tool for implementing this type of display is data visualization. Glyphs are a
graphical method to summarize different information for a specific entity in a compact
fashion. They use different aspects of their components (e.g. size or orientation) to
represent real world information about a system (e.g. amount of fuel or direction of
movement). By applying knowledge from visual attention and perception research,
guidelines can be proposed for glyph usage. This dissertation focused on the use of
contrast as a non-linear redundant cue to enhance perception of values in a specific range
within a particular glyph feature. This method was tested to see if it would provide faster
visual search across a set of glyphs when the observer was trying to find the glyph that
had the most or least of a variable. Results suggest that using contrast in this manner is an
effective means to improve performance. This effect however is moderated by several
factors. For example, the number of the observed glyphs that are showing data in that
range at one time as well as dynamic changes in the values being observed can degrade
the effect. Overall, this application of contrast shows potential as a highlighting method
for data variables where the monitoring of a small range of values could provide
observers an advantage. Future research should investigate application of this method in
more complex real world simulations to test if the results of this basic visual attention
task generalize.
Description
Thesis (Ph.D.)-- Wichita State University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Psychology