IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i8p4525-d790005.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How Do Older Adults Process Icons in Visual Search Tasks? The Combined Effects of Icon Type and Cognitive Aging

Author

Listed:
  • Jianfeng Wu

    (Industrial Design and Research Institute, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310023, China)

  • Dongfang Jiao

    (School of Design and Architecture, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310023, China)

  • Chunfu Lu

    (Industrial Design and Research Institute, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310023, China)

  • Chengmin Li

    (School of Arts, Zhengzhou Technology and Business University, Zhengzhou 451400, China)

  • Xiaofang Huang

    (College of Art and Communication, China Jiliang University, Hangzhou 310018, China)

  • Suzan Weng

    (School of Design and Architecture, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310023, China)

Abstract

Considering the differences in cognitive aging among older adults, this study examined how older adults process different types of graphic icons in visual search tasks. Fifty-four medical-related icons, including flat icons (FIs), FIs plus text (FIs + text), skeuomorphic icons (SIs), and SIs plus text (SIs + text), were created. The participants were divided into two groups—cognitively normal (CN) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI)—to complete a visual search task. According to the eye-tracking data of the participants, the search performance of the CN group was significantly better than that of the MCI group. In terms of icon types, all older adults performed better at searching for the combinations of icon and text, especially SI + text, which showed the smallest difference in the search performance between the MCI and CN groups. All older adults performed poorly when searching for FIs. The findings of this study considered the differences in cognitive aging among older adults and provided a useful reference for the icon and interface design of graphical user interfaces.

Suggested Citation

  • Jianfeng Wu & Dongfang Jiao & Chunfu Lu & Chengmin Li & Xiaofang Huang & Suzan Weng, 2022. "How Do Older Adults Process Icons in Visual Search Tasks? The Combined Effects of Icon Type and Cognitive Aging," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-13, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:8:p:4525-:d:790005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/8/4525/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/8/4525/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sheng-Cheng Huang & Randolph G. Bias & David Schnyer, 2015. "How are icons processed by the brain? Neuroimaging measures of four types of visual stimuli used in information systems," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 66(4), pages 702-720, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chengmin Zhou & Fangfang Yuan & Ting Huang & Yurong Zhang & Jake Kaner, 2022. "The Impact of Interface Design Element Features on Task Performance in Older Adults: Evidence from Eye-Tracking and EEG Signals," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-24, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hye-Jin Jeon, 2020. "The Mechanism of Empathy and Relationship Commitment Through Emojis: Path to Perspective Taking, Inner Imitation, Emotional Empathy, and Relationship Commitment," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(4), pages 21582440209, November.
    2. Nuwan Waidyanatha & Lutz Frommberger, 2022. "Comprehension and appropriateness of complex mobile pictographs for crisis communication," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 114(1), pages 583-604, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:8:p:4525-:d:790005. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.