An Analysis of First Impression in the Reading of Electrical Schematic Diagrams

Abstract

The initial impression of electronic troubleshooters of schematic diagrams was studied in a series of two experiments. In one experiment the time available to the subjects to view the information was restricted to 12 seconds and in the second experiment the subjects could look at the material as often and as long as they wished. The characteristics of the first element redrawn were: (1) the same elements were consistently selected, (2) the element was chunked with other elements, (3) the element was in a branch instead of a loop, (4) the element was along the exterior of the element and (5) the element was active more often than would be expected from the number of active elements in the circuit.