Exploring designers’ cognitive load when viewing different digital representations of spaces: A pilot study

Abstract

Do different representations of space evoke the same response in viewers? This paper reports on a pilot study exploring designers’ cognitive load as they view different digital representation of spaces to determine the effect of the representations. The results reported in this paper are from a group of year 3 and year 4 architecture students from Harbin Institute of Technology in China who participated in the experiment. The two representational modalities in this study that participants were asked to view were a computer-generated hidden-line perspective and a digital photograph of the same space. Their physiological data were recorded by eye-tracking equipment, including participants’ eye gaze trace location and pupil size. The same seven Area of Interests (AOI) were defined in each of the two representations. Results show statistically significant cognitive load change when the AOI focused on changes. The cognitive loads for the two representations were found not to be significantly different.