A Study on the Intuitive Design of Target Search Tasks under Time and Information Pressure

Abstract

In modern warfare, operators of radar equipment are confronted with a large amount of information in a short period of time that they must process to make decisions. Such conditions often lead to human error, resulting in the loss of the best operational opportunities and putting themselves at a disadvantage. To address this issue, in this paper, we presents three intuitive designs for radar display interface icons, namely image schema, stereotypes, and expert intuition. Based on event-related potential techniques and eye-movement techniques, a modified sample delay matching task experimental paradigm is used to investigate the advantages and mechanisms of three intuitionistic designs with varying time pressures and numbers of tasks. The experimental results showed: (1) When representing the attributes of a target, image schema are most suitable for expressing the motion attributes of the target, such as speed and height, whereas stereotypes are most suitable for expressing fixed attributes, such as target threat. (2) Tasks with high time pressure are more difficult, leading to higher error rates; the reaction time of a single task should be no less than 4000 ms. (3) When multiple attributes of the target need to be observed at the same time, the same type of expression should be used. (4) Rational use of color to represent the target attributes can effectively reduce the cognitive load of people searching for the target.