Investigating fundamental features of complexity in animation processing
Category
Paper Conference
Authors
Boucheix, J-M., Porte, L., Lowe, R.K.
Year
2020
Title
Investigating fundamental features of complexity in animation processing
Journal / book / conference
EARLI SIG2, Comprehension of Text and Graphics. Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic. Online Conference, August 31-September 2.
Abstract
Complexity of dynamics has been found a moderating factor in meta-analysis on the benefit of animation over static graphics. Complexity is a multifaceted notion. This presentation reports an investigation of the effect on information extraction of combining two different classes of temporal change exhibited by an animation’s constituent entities. The experiment (N=25) tested the effect on recall of processing one by one or simultaneously: translation (change in position) and transformation (change in form). In order to process such depictions, viewers need to extract information not only about the extrinsic changes (movement of an entity along its path) but also about the entity’s co-occurring intrinsic changes (various shapes it forms as it traverses that path). Results showed that performance for entities exhibiting a single class of temporal change was superior to that for entities exhibiting combinations of change classes. Processing simultaneously shapes transformations and dynamic paths was challenging, if not impossible.