The advantage of the color-code modality versus alphanumeric- and symbol-code

This study describes an experiment designed to investigate potential advantages and/or disadvantages of color-coding relative to symbol - or alphanumeric-codes. Performance was evaluated in terms of reaction time and the number and type of errors made. The stimuli used in the experiment were the letters: E, F, N, U, the colors: red, yellow, green, blue, and the symbols: square, triangle, circle, and cross. They stood for enemy, friendly, neutral, and unknown forces, respectively. The analysis of the data obtained from the experiment suggested that the color- and symbol-codes were significantly better than the alphanumeric-code with respect to the number of errors. The reaction time of the color-code was shortest, followed by the symbol-code with reaction time for the alphanumerics being longest.

Department dc:contributor.department

Operations Research

Grantor dc:publisher

Monterey, CA; Naval Postgraduate School

Year dc:date.issued

1980

Author dc:creator

• Hoops, Henning

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Neil, Douglas E.

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright is reserved by the copyright owner

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10945/26850

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:calhoun.nps.edu:10945/26850