Varying Color Intensity to Represent Time Decay in Visual Icons

Abstract

The U.S. Army is developing a number of digital command and control systems that convey complicated information through the use of visual icons. The purpose of the current research was to test a method to identify time lapses in the display of such information. Eighteen U.S. Military Academy cadets enrolled in a general psychology course volunteered to participant in the experiment. Using a between groups design, the participants were assigned to one of three groups. Each group was tested with three, four, or five color intensities of icons and the time and accuracy of responses were recorded. The results indicated that the number of color intensities used to code elapsed time in a visual icon affected identification time, with five color intensities resulting in significantly longer detection times than when three color intensities were used. There was no significant difference among the three groups is accuracy of responses. Implications for the display of time-sensitive information on command and control systems are discussed.