Effective factors of icons searching performance based on visual attention capture for the nuclear power plants

Abstract

AbstractWith the rapid development of digital and intelligent information systems, the display of visual information on interfaces has become an important challenge in the field of human‐computer interaction, as well as the human‐computer interface of nuclear power plants. This paper examines effective factors affecting visual attention capture based on icons related to the human‐computer interface of nuclear power plants. Experiments were conducted on multiple factors of visual search tasks with reference to information features to analyze information display factors affecting visual cognitive performance. The experimental results showed that the three factors, icon shape, feature display, and target position, have a great effect on information searching performance. The main effect of reaction time on three factors all reached a significance level congruent with the effect on fixation time and pupil response. Eye gaze indexes of feature display factors presented an increasing trend, which indicates that the information block spends more time on cognitive processing than icon features in the human‐computer interface of nuclear power plants. Pupil diameter was dilated when searching icons under difficult visual cognition conditions, and when searching information blocks, pupils were dilated more than searching single icons. Therefore, shape highlighting of data icons in the human‐computer interface of nuclear power plants can effectively improve the attention capture of the operator's visual search, and the ease of icon discrimination is an influential factor in visual attention capture.