Abstract
How we organize elements when reading a table was examined in a psychological experiment using a modified spatial-cuing paradigm. Table-like stimuli consisting of 16 square elements arranged in a four-by-four matrix form were used. Participants were instructed to discriminate whether the presented stimuli could be read as containing either one element or two elements in accordance with the induced reading direction. The results showed that when two elements were presented along with the induced direction, it was easier to read as such than when two elements were presented orthogonal to the induced direction. Although there was no contour line in the stimuli, participants were able to mentally segment and organize them into global units lying in the particular direction, which was instrumental to reading the tables efficiently.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Cleveland, W.S., McGill, R.: An experiment in graphical perception. International Journal of Man-Machine Studies 25(5), 491–500 (1986)
Spence, I.: Visual psychophysics of simple graphical elements. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 16(4), 683–692 (1990)
Gattis, M., Holyoak, K.J.: Mapping conceptual to spatial relations in visual reasoning. Journal of Experimental Psychology 22(1), 231–239 (1996)
Pinker, S.: A theory of graph comprehension. In: Aritificial Intelligence and the Future of Testing, pp. 73–126. L. Erlbaum Associates (1990)
Carpenter, P., Shah, P.: A model of the perceptual and conceptual processes in graph comprehension. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied 4(2), 75–100 (1998)
Peebles, D., Cheng, P.C.: Modeling the effect of task and graphical representation on response latency in a graph reading task. Human Factors 45(1), 28–46 (2003)
Egly, R., Driver, J., Rafal, R.D.: Shifting visual attention between objects and locations: Evidence from normal and parietal lesion subjects. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 123(3), 161–177 (1994)
Roelfsema, P.R., Lamme, V.A.F., Spekreijse, H.: The implementation of visual routines. Vision Research 40, 1385–1411 (2000)
Roelfsema, P.R.: Cortical algorithms for perceptual grouping. Annual Review of Neuroscience 29, 203–227 (2006)
Ullman, S.: Visual routines. Cognition 18, 97–159 (1984)
Duncan, J.: Selective attention and the organization of visual information. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 113(4), 501–517 (1984)
Kramer, A.F., Jacobson, A.: Perceptual organization and focused attention: the role of objects and proximity in visual processing. Perception & Psychophysics 50(3), 267–284 (1991)
Bertin, J.: Semiology of Graphics: Diagrams, Networks, Maps. The University of Wisconsin Press, Madison (1973)
Tufte, E.R.: Envisioning information. Graphics Press, Cheshire (1990)
Cleveland, W.S.: The Elements of Graphing Data. Hobart Press, Summit (1994)
Kosslyn, S.M.: Elements of Graph Design. W. H. Freeman and Company, New York (1994)
Brainard, D.H.: The psychophysics toolbox. Spatial Vision 10(4), 433–436 (1997)
Masson, M.E.J., Loftus, G.R.: Using confidence intervals for graphically based data interpretation. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology 57(3), 202–220 (2003)
Jansen, A.R., Marriott, K., Yelland, G.W.: Comprehension of algebraic expressions by experienced users of mathematics. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 56A(1), 3–30 (2003)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Sugio, T., Shimojima, A., Katagiri, Y. (2012). Psychological Evidence of Mental Segmentation in Table Reading. In: Cox, P., Plimmer, B., Rodgers, P. (eds) Diagrammatic Representation and Inference. Diagrams 2012. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 7352. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-31223-6_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-31223-6_16
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-31222-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-31223-6
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)