Blink Coding for Information Display1

Ten men scanned cathode-ray-tube displays to search for designated target items. Search time increased with increasing display density, and was 50% faster when a 3-cps blink was imposed on items of the target class. The blinking of nontarget items was almost equally effective, indicating that blink can be used either as an inclusion or exclusion code. In comparison with steady, nonblinking displays, search time was not significantly different for displays in which all items blinked, or in which a random selection of items blinked. It is concluded that for visual search tasks of the kind reported here, there is no marked deleterious effect of blink coding on symbol legibility, and no marked interference attributable to irrelevant blink.

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