Using Motion to Visualize Flow Facilitates Monitoring in Process Control

Abstract

In this experiment, we examined the use of motion in displays to illustrate power transactions in a large-scale electrical power network. Participants located and selected the selling and buying nodes for a single power transaction in each trial based on patterns in power flow between the nodes in the network, and they designated an arbitrary power flow path from the seller to the buyer in trials where they were not directly connected. Participants performed the tasks using interactive displays indicating power flow with stationary arrows, arrows moving at a uniform speed, and arrows moving at a speed proportional to power flow. The two motion displays supported faster selection times, fewer errors, and lower workload than the no-motion display. Selection times and error rates were slightly lower in the proportional-motion display than in the uniform-motion display, but the differences were not significant. These results indicate that motion used in displays to indicate flow among system components can significantly improve performance in tasks that require detection of specific flow patterns.