Visual search experiment on text characteristics of vital signs monitor interface
Xiaoteng Tang, Jun Yao, He-Fan Hu
Abstract
In order to correctly read and interpret interface information shown on the interface of vital signs monitor, the challenging problems of misreading and misinterpreting the information must be addressed. Therefore, a visual search experiment that the text characteristics of the interface is carried out in this study to categorize parameterized information and encode parameterized numbers on a monitoring interface. The interface of a centralized vital signs monitor is simulated, and target searching of information objects is carried out in an experiment with three sets of characteristic variables: font size, background and text color, and spacing and location of the parameterized information. The experimental results show that the relative spacing of the information elements on the interface should be not too large or small. When the spacing is 30px, 38px, 46px, and 86px, the visual search process requires a long period time and it is easy to misinterpret the information. With an increase in the spacing, the plotted visual search response to different font sizes is a V-shape, while the rate of accuracy becomes an inverted V-shape. Compared to a font size 35pt and 55pt, a font size of 45pt results in the highest search efficiency and rate of accuracy. However, the background color has no significant effect on target searching in terms of reaction time. The findings show that the results in this study can be used as a guideline for the interface design of visual monitoring systems with diverse characters and spacing.