The basic premise of this research is investigating the effect of layout on the comprehension and cognitive load of the viewers in the information graphics. The term ‘Layout’ refers to the arrangement and organization of the visual and textual elements in a graphical design. The experiment conducted in this study is designed based on two stories and each one of these stories is presented with two different layouts. During the experiment, eye-tracking devices are applied to collect the gaze data including the eye movement data and pupil diameter fluctuation. In the research on the modification of the layouts, contents of each story are narrated using identical visual and textual elements. The analysis of eye-tracking data provides quantitative evidence concerning the change of layout in each story and its effect on the comprehension of participants and variation of their cognitive load. In conclusion, it can be claimed that the comprehension from the zigzag form of the layout was higher with a less imposed cognitive load.

This study investigates the "color combination effect" and the "sequence of pictures and text effect" in the "Integrated Model of Text and Picture Comprehension" (ITPC) on the formation of the mental model and cognitive load in both desktop and mobile devices. These effects are studied using an experiment including scientific contexts with specific color combinations and different picture and text sequences. The participants of this experiment are graduate students from different fields of science in Universiti Sains Malaysia. Four tasks are assigned for each participant in each phase and every task includes a scientific context accompanied with visualization. After each task the participant is asked to answer a set of questions related to the context. Eye-tracking methods are adopted to record gaze data of the participants while reading each context. Analysis of the gaze data and the percentage of the correct answers to the questions indicate that the sequence of picture and text and use of color in the visualizations results in reduction of the cognitive load of the participants.

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