Icon Familiarity Affects the Performance of Complex Cognitive Tasks

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether and how users' familiarity with symbols affects the performance of complex cognitive tasks which place considerable demands on working memory resources. We combined a modified math task paradigm with our previous icon familiarity training paradigm. Participants were required to complete a mathematical task involving icons to test their ability to perform complex cognitive tasks. The complexity of the task was manipulated using three independent variables: icon familiarity (high-frequency vs. low-frequency), whether or not the equation requires substitution (substitution vs. no-substitution), and the number of steps required for solution (one step vs. two steps). The results showed that participants performed better on the equation-solving task when it used icons they were more extensively trained on. Importantly, icon familiarity interacted with the complexity of the task and the familiarity effect on performance (accuracy and response time) became greater when the complexity increased. These findings provide evidence that familiarity affects not only the ease of information retrieval but also the ease of subsequent processing activities associated with these information, which extends our understanding of how familiarity affects working memory. Moreover, our findings have practical implications for improving interaction efficiency. Before the operators formally use a digital system, they need to learn the precise meaning of those complex or unfamiliar symbols in a certain context as much as possible.

Usability of novel major TraumaApp for digital data collection

“…No true assessment could be made about improvement in use of the Trauma App over time, as each participant only used it for 20–25 min. Previous studies of digital system use suggests that development of familiarity with the icons and images used in an application is required to improve operating efficiency [ 21 ]. This indicates that users may benefit from instruction on the TraumaApp but the addition of iconography would potentially increase the training demand.…”

Design Considerations of Task-Driven Icons for Point-of-Care (POC) Documentation In Long-Term Care (LTC) Settings

“…Familiarity reflects the frequency with which icons are encountered [McDougall]. Icon usability studies validated that familiarity has been considered the usability of icons (Salman et al, 2012;Shen et al, 2020). It is evident that user performance improves dramatically as a result of learning.…”

Usability of Novel Major TraumaApp for Digital Data Collection

“…No true assessment could be made about improvement in use of the Trauma App over time, as each participant only used it for 20-25 minutes. Previous studies of digital system use suggests that development of familiarity with the icons and images used in an application is required to improve 21 This indicates that users may benefit from instruction on the TraumaApp but the addition of iconography would potentially increase the training demand. Twenty of the 24 app users reported that they became more familiar with the app as they used it, although this is not supported by the data in Figure 4.…”