Mapping semantic information in virtual space: dimensions, variance and individual differences

✍ Scribed by S.J WESTERMAN; T CRIBBIN

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 252 KB
• Volume: 53
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1071-5819
• DOI: 10.1006/ijhc.2000.0417

✦ Synopsis

This paper reports two studies investigating the computer-based representation of the semantic information content of databases using object location in two-and threedimensional virtual space. In the "rst study, the cognitive demands associated with performing an information search task were examined under conditions where the &&goodness of "t'' of the spatial-semantic &&mapping'' was manipulated. The e!ects of individual di!erences in spatial ability and associative memory ability also were considered. Results indicated that performance equivalence, between two-and three-dimensional interfaces, could be achieved when the two-dimensional interface accounted for between 50 and 70% of the semantic variance accounted for by the three-dimensional solution. A second study, in which automatic text analysis was used to generate two-and three-dimensional solutions for document sets of varying sizes and types, supported the conclusion that, for the purpose of information search, the amount of additional semantic information that can be conveyed by a three-dimensional solution does not outweigh the associated additional cognitive demands.