Studies have shown that animation can improve subjective satisfaction. However, there has been little research to understand how animation affects users’ performance. In "Does Animation Help Users Build Mental Maps of Spatial Information", the authors attempt to do just this. In this study, user performance is measured in terms of accuracy and speed. The study involved the use of a zoomable user interface (ZUI) that provides three types of animated movement: 1) the movement of objects within a scene, 2) user-manipulable change of viewpoint via various steering mechanisms, and 3) automatic change of viewpoint via hyperlinks. The experiment used in this study used the third type of animation mentioned to observe how animated changes of viewpoint using hyperlinks impact users’ ability to construct a mental model of a one-dimensional information space.

The goal of the study was to prove that animation would improve users’ ability to construct mental models of spatial information spaces, recall information and reconstruct the information space. Moreover, the authors hypothesized that users would have a preference for the animated condition versus the non-animated condition.

The experiment consisted of using two different family trees that were identical in structure and the number of family members in the tree. Each subject received both treatments of the experiment, one family tree with animation and the other tree without animation. They were given three tasks for each treatment: 1) To evaluate speed and navigation, the subjects were given a task that required answers about family relationships. 2) To measure recall, the subjects were required to recall family relationships and the photographs of family members., and 3) To measure reconstruction ability, the subjects were required to reconstruct the family tree that they had just seen. After performing the tasks, the subjects completed two surveys assessing their 1) experience with animation and 2) without animation.

The results reported a statistical significant improvement in accuracy of the reconstruction task for the animated and non-animated treatment. There were no statistically significant differences in any of the other tasks or in the subjective satisfaction scores for the animated treatment. The results also reported a significant ordering effect in the reconstruction task accuracy by order: there was no difference in performance if subjects received the animated treatment first. However, if subjects received the animated treatment second, there was significant improvement in performance for the animated treatment.

This study was a great effort to understand how animation impacts user performance. While the results are favorable to the hypothesis, in compliance with the authors, there needs to be more research into animation time in order to validate the results. The authors also mentioned that results could have been different for the subjective satisfaction if the subjects were asked to compare one treatment relative to another. Overall, the experiment and results could be explained in a more descriptive, simplified way.

1) From my understanding, it appears that zooming was not at all used in the experiment. If that is correct, was it necessary to use the zoomable user interface?

2) In most controlled experiments, order is not considered an independent variable. Is there a reason why it is in this one?

3) Considering that the treatments were given in a particular order, and that the questions were given in randomized order, is there a reason why the family types were not varied in the experiment?

4) What was the reason for the choice of animation used in this experiment?

5) Do you think that user performance would differ depending on whether they had control over the animation or not?

6) Would you say that the results of this experiment are generalizeable to all types of animation?