Looking but not seeing: implications for HCI

ABSTRACT

Motivation: In this paper we report on part of a study to understand how information layering techniques can be used to reduce change blindness. Change blindness, in general, is the failure of the human to detect changes to information that occur within his or her visual field. There are several variants of failures of visual awareness known as: Change Blindness, Inattentional Blindness, Repetition Blindness, and Comparison Blindness. Failure or delays in observing changes in complex, dynamic and safety critical systems by, say, operators can lead to disastrous outcomes. Hence, drawing together the different reasons reported in the literature can provide us with a first step towards developing design techniques for reducing change blindness in the hope that we can contribute to better and safer systems.

Research Approach: We reviewed 21 key studies on the different forms of change blindness reported in the literature between 1976 and 2005. Using an Emergent Themes Analysis approach, we identified five effects that arise across the different forms of change blindness, and the likely effects that designers need to consider when designing visual interfaces to reduce change blindness.

Findings/Design: These five effects are (i) the effect of rate of change, (ii) the effect of eccentricity, (iii) the effect of conspicuity, (iv) the effect of significance, and (v) the effect of task's relevance. We also discuss the implications these effects have on information design.

Research limitations/Implications: These effects were identified through a review of key literature. Not all effects occurred in every form of change blindness. The effects represent the variety of effects that a designer should be aware of that can cause change blindness to occur.

Originality/Value: This paper provides a summary of the different forms of change blindness, and highlights their effects in a way relevant to design.

Take away message: In designing displays to reduce the effect of the various forms of change blindness, it is necessary to factor these effects into the information design.

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