Effects of 2D Geometric Transformations on Visual Memory
Heidi Lam, Ronald A. Rensink, Tamara Munzner, Department of Computer Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver BC, Canada.

Proceedings of the ACM Symposium on Applied Perception in Graphics and Visualization (APGV 2006)   [pdf]
[SIGGRAPH, Boston, MA, USA. July 2006.]

Abstract

We examined the effects of geometric transformations and their interactions with background grids on visual memory to provide interface design guidelines. We studied scaling, rotation, rectangular fisheye, and polar fisheye transformations. Based on response time and accuracy results, we defined a no-cost zone for each transformation type within which performance is unaffected. Results indicated that scaling had no effect down to at least 20% reduction. Rotation had a no-cost zone of up to 45 degrees, after which the response time increased to 5.4 s from the 3.4 s baseline without significant drop in accuracy. Interestingly, polar fisheye transformations had less effect on accuracy than their rectangular counterparts. The presence of grids extended these zones and significantly improved accuracy in all but the fisheye polar transformations. Our results therefore provided guidance on the types and levels of nonlinear transformations that could be used without affecting performance, and provided insights into the roles of grids on visual memory and transformations.

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