Julie Bauer Morrison

Animation: can it facilitate?

Graphics have been used since ancient times to portray things that are inherently spatiovisual, like maps and building plans. More recently, graphics have been used to portray things that are metaphorically spatiovisual, like graphs and organizational charts. The assumption is that graphics can facilitate comprehension, learning, memory, communication and inference. Assumptions aside, research on static graphics has shown that only carefully designed and appropriate graphics prove to be beneficial for conveying complex systems. Effective graphics conform to the Congruence Principle according to which the content and format of the graphic should correspond to the content and format of the concepts to be conveyed. From this, it follows that animated graphics should be effective in portraying change over time. Yet the research on the efficacy of animated over static graphics is not encouraging. In cases where animated graphics seem superior to static ones, scrutiny reveals lack of equivalence between animated and static graphics in content or procedures; the animated graphics convey more information or involve interactivity. Animations of events may be ineffective because animations violate the second principle of good graphics, the Apprehension Principle, according to which graphics should be accurately perceived and appropriately conceived. Animations are often too complex or too fast to be accurately perceived. Moreover, many continuous events are conceived of as sequences of discrete steps. Judicious use of interactivity may overcome both these disadvantages. Animations may be more effective than comparable static graphics in situations other than conveying complex systems, for example, for real time reorientations in time and space.

The effect of animation on comprehension and interest

Although animations are believed to be effective in learning and teaching, several studies have failed to confirm this. Nevertheless, animations might be more attractive and motivating. Fourth and sixth grade students learned the operation of a bicycle pump from graphics that were: (i) presented simultaneously; (ii) presented successively; (iii) self-paced, or (iv) animated. The presentation mode affected evaluation of perceived comprehensibility, interestingness,enjoymentandmotivation,butnotcomprehensiontestscore.Fourthgraderswhowere lowinneedforcognitionratedtheanimationsasmoreenjoyableandmotivating,whereassixth graders rated self-paced graphics as more interesting and motivating. The evaluations of sixth graders correspond to results of many studies on learning. Animations are not more effective than equivalent static graphics in learning, and they are not seen as more motivating by sixth graders.

Three Spaces of Spatial Cognition

As we move about and interact in the world, we keep track of different spaces, among them the space of navigation, the space immediately around the body, and the space of the body. We review research showing that these spaces are conceptualized differently. Knowledge of the space of navigation is systematically distorted. For example, people mentally rotate roads and land masses to greater correspondence with global reference frames, they mentally align roads and land masses, they overestimate distances near the viewpoint relative to those far from it. These and other distortions indicate that the space of navigation is schematized to elements and spatial relations relative to reference frames and perspective. The space around the body is organized into a mental framework consisting of extensions of the major axes of the body. Times to report objects around the body suggest that the relative accessibility of the axes depends on their perceptual and functional properties and the relation of the body to the...

The (in)effectiveness of animation in instruction

Animated graphics have been increasingly adopted to teach complex systems, encouraged by the preconception that realism is effective. Nevertheless, the evidence has been discouraging as to their effectiveness. By the Conceptual Congruence Hypothesis, graphics should be effective in conveying concepts that are literally or metaphorically spatial. By extension, animated graphics should be effective in conveying change in time. This hypothesis was investigated by comparing three interfaces that presented text, text plus static graphics, or text plus animated graphics. Evidence was obtained for the static version of the Conceptual Congruence Hypothesis. Graphics were more effective than text in some cases, especially for participants with low spatial ability, but animation did not further increase effectiveness.

Bodies and their parts

How do we think about the space of bodies? Several accounts of mental representations of bodies were addressed in body part verification tasks. Animagery account predicts shorter times to larger parts (e.g., back < hand). Apart distinctiveness account predicts shorter times to more discontinuous parts (e.g., arm < chest). Apart significance account predicts shorter times to parts that are perceptually distinct and functionally important (e.g., head < back). Because distinctiveness and significance are correlated, the latter two accounts are difficult to distinguish. Both name-body and body-body comparisons were investigated in four experiments. In all, larger parts were verified more slowly than smaller ones, eliminating the imagery/size account. Despite the correlation between distinctiveness and significance, the data suggest that when comparisons are perceptual (body-body), part distinctiveness is the best predictor, and when explicit or implicit naming is involved, part significance is the best predictor. Naming seems to activate the functional aspects of bodies.

Space, Time, and Story

Abstract Life presents as a continuous multimodal barrage on all our senses. From that, we abstract events, discrete units characterized by completion of goals and peaks of action. Effective communication of sequences of events in explanations and narratives is similarly segmented, and linked globally by overall themes and locally by anaphora. Visuospatial explanations and narratives, notably diagrams, comics, and gestures, rely on congruity of mappings of elements and relations of ideas to space and marks in space. Just as we design visuospatial discourse, we design the world: Our design actions in space create diagrams in the world, patterns, piles, rows, one-to-one correspondences, and the like, that express abstractions, categories, hierarchies, dimensions, and more, a circular process termed spraction .