Is there such a thing as a mental representation for interface layouts

The Cognitive GeoConcept was introduced as a method for finding geometrical associations between meaningful objects (links or f unctions) in web pages and it is supposed to elicit users’ spatial schemata or repre s ntations underling the way people look for information within a web page. The procedure itself is based on the analysis of users’ click responses to verbal labels indicating web objects on a large number of trials. In this study, ten words indicati ng links often found in the navigational menu of Italian academic web sites wer e used as stimuli, and eye movements were collected together with clicks. Resu lts showed that fixations were better suited to differentiate experts’ patterns fr om novices’. Moreover, differential groupings were found depending on expertise. Partic ularly, experts organise the stimuli according to a prototypical interface deplo yment, whereas novices seem to organise stimuli according to personal criteria tha t get lost in the overall pattern. Overall, results confirmed the usefulness of the pr ocedure as a technique for eventually supporting information architects’ decis ion .