Psychology : Research

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Banner ads hinder visual search and are forgotten.(2004) Burke, M., Gorman, N., Nilsen, E., & Hornof, A.. Extended Abstracts of ACM CHI 2004: Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, New York: ACM, 1139-1142.

ABSTRACT
Banner ads persist on the Internet in spite of evidence against their efficacy. Many ads include animation in an attempt to increase their attentional capture. An experiment was conducted to examine how various banner ads affect the visual search of news headlines on the Web, and whether participants could recall the ads they saw. The results both support and contradict the notion of "banner blindness," the idea that people ignore banner ads. Participants could not recall the ads that they saw, but those ads did distract the users and significantly increased search times. The most surprising result is that recall was especially bad for animated banners. This paper examines issues of attentional capture in an applied domain and provides guidance for web designers.

Exploring the divide between two unified theories of cognition: modeling visual attention in menu selection. (1999) Erik Nilsen, Jake Evans  Lewis & Clark College, Portland, OR
Source: Conference on Human Factors in Computing System
CHI '99 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 288 - 289  
Year of Publication: 1999
ISBN:1-58113-158-5

ABSTRACT
Two cognitive modeling efforts (EPIC & ACT-R) have proposed computational models of a simple menu selection task involving searching for a single digit in an unordered, pull down menu. This paper presents an empirical study which extends the menu selection task in two dimensions (distance between menu items and whether the items are digits or words). Each of these manipulations should make a difference in selection time according to one of the models but not the other. An analysis of response times reveals that both factors produce significant differences in the direction predicted by the cognitive models. The magnitude of these differences, however, are smaller than predicted (7% for distance and only 3% for word vs. digit). Implications for future modeling of visual attention is briefly addressed.

Signal Detection Analysis of WWW Search Engines
Presented at Microsoft's "Designing for the Web: Empirical Studies" Conference, October, 1996.

(Carsten Schlichting, Erik Nilsen (1996))

A comparative evaluation of several popular WWW search engine s (AltaVista, Excite, InfoSeek, and Lycos) is reported. Five faculty members generated a list of four to six keywords for a focused research topic. After running the keywords through the search engines, subjects evaluated the first ten WWW sites found by each search engine and rated their quality. Signal Detection analysis yields two scores for each search engine. One score (d') measures the sensitivity of the search engine in finding useful information. The other score (beta) measures how conservative or liberal the search engine is in determining which sites to include in its output. The results highlight the overall poor performance of the current technology and provides an objective research methodology for analyzing future developments.

 

Reducing Visual Stress Symptoms of VDT Users With Prescription Eyeglasses
(Erik Nilsen, David Fencsik, Aidan Smith, Linda Solares, Scott Stratton, (1995))

The use of Video Display Terminals (VDT' s) in modern information processing environments is associated with a variety of visual stress symptoms including eye strain, headaches, blurry vision and neck/shoulder pain. This study evaluates a method of prescribing computer specific glasses to impro ve vision and reduce symptoms. Thi rty-seven computer users who suffer from VDT related visual symptoms wore two pairs of prescription eyeglasses for two weeks each in a double blind crossover experiment. The experimental glasses were prescribed using a Gaussian image testing device and t he control glasses were prescribed using a standard paper Snellen chart. Data was collected on the frequency and severity of symptoms in their regular work environment as well as in a controlled laboratory setting. R esults indicate that the experimental eyeglasses were preferred overall (p<.05).

 

Studying the Movement of High Tech Rodentia: Pointing and Dragging
(Oryx Cohen, Shawna Meyer, Erik Nilsen, (1993))

This study compares se ven input devices (mouse, touchscreen, two trackballs, mousepen, touchpad, and joystick) performing a star tracing task. Along with the device comparisons, the difference between moving with the selector button pres sed (dragging) or with the button relea sed (pointing) is examined. Recent work has found that dragging is slower and more error prone than pointing when using a mouse, stylus or trackball [1,2,3]. In the present study, 28 subjects used all seven input devices for both dragging and pointing t asks. Highly significant device differences were found for both speed and accuracy (p's <.001). The touchscreen and mouse were the best devices and the joystick and touchpad were the worst. The fastest devices a lso produced the fewest errors. The main effect for the button position was also significant, (p's <.005) with dragging being slower and more error-prone than pointing. However, there was a significant interaction between input device and button positi on. For one of the devices, the mousepen, dragging was actually faster and less error prone than pointing. What is different about the mousepen? Some possibilities are considered along with how these results can be applied to the design of input devic es and interaction techniques.

 

Device Comparisons for Goal-Directed Drawing Tasks
(Shawna Meyer, Oryx Cohen, Erik Nilsen, (1994))

This study compares five input devices (mouse, mo usepen, trackball, stylus, and touchscreen) on a series of goal-directed tasks using a drawing program. Striking performance differences are found for the touchscreen when compared with a previous study using a standard, isolated, laboratory task. The study also looks at the impact of device to screen mapping (absolute vs. relative) and device orientation (horizontal vs. vertical). Performance and preference data point towards an advantage for horizontal relative input devices.

 

The Growth of Software Skill: A Longitudinal Look at Learning & Performance
(Erik Nilsen, HeeSen Jong, Judith S. Olson, Kevin Biolsi, Henry Rueter, & Sharon Mutter, (1993))

This research follows a group of users over time (16 months) as they pr ogress from novice towards expert in their use of Lotus 1-2-3. Quantitative and qualitative measures of performance are compared with expert users having over three years of experience. The results indica te that the motoric aspect of performance is rel atively stable over time, while improvement in the cognitive component of the skill is dependent on details of the interaction dialogue. This work fills a gap between the work on skill learning and skille d performance. Implications for the Keystroke Level Model of skilled performance are discussed as well as suggestions for designing the interaction dialogue to facilitate the development of expertise.