Human performance evaluation of a metaphor graphic display for respiratory data.

Metaphor graphics are data displays designed to look like corresponding variables in the real world, but in a non-literal sense of "look like". Evaluation of the impact of these graphics on human problem solving has twice been carried out, but with conflicting results. The present experiment attempted to clarify the discrepancies between these findings by using a complex task in which expert subjects interpreted respiratory data. The metaphor graphic display led to interpretations twice as fast as a tabular (flowsheet) format, suggesting that conflict between earlier studies is due either to differences in training or to differences in goodness of metaphor. Findings to date indicate that metaphor graphics work with complex as well as simple data sets, pattern detection as well as single number reporting tasks, and with expert as well as novice subjects.