Applied Ergonomics 46 (2015) 76e83

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Applied Ergonomics
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apergo

Assessment model for perceived visual complexity of automotive

instrument cluster
Sol Hee Yoon a, Jihyoun Lim b, Yong Gu Ji a, *
a
Dept. of Information and Industrial Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
b
Dept. of Industrial Engineering, Hongik University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This research proposes an assessment model for quantifying the perceived visual complexity (PVC) of an
Received 9 July 2013 in-vehicle instrument cluster. An initial study was conducted to investigate the possibility of evaluating
Accepted 7 July 2014 the PVC of an in-vehicle instrument cluster by estimating and analyzing the complexity of its individual
Available online 15 August 2014
components. However, this approach was only partially successful, because it did not take into account
the combination of the different components with random levels of complexity to form one visual
Keywords:
display. Therefore, a second study was conducted focusing on the effect of combining the different
Perceived visual complexity
components. The results from the overall research enabled us to suggest a basis for quantifying the PVC
Quantiable measurement variables
Assessment model
of an in-vehicle instrument cluster based both on the PVCs of its components and on the integration
effect.
2014 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Advancements in automotive information technology have led
to the introduction of new interactive devices for drivers, such as
the in-vehicle information system (IVIS; Horrey et al., 2006). An
IVIS has the ability to display more information than a conventional
instrument cluster, including information on the current driving
status, as well as information indirectly related to driving, like
maps, entertainment information, and multimedia. To address this
opportunity, full LCD displays are replacing conventional analog
instrument clusters, which consist of a single display that shows
information related to speed, fuel level, navigation, driving assis-
tance, and more (Bellotti et al., 2004; Huang, 2007).
The addition of information in visual displays is closely linked
with visual perception and complexity. The principles of visual
perception are commonly explained by a top-down interpretation
of what humans see based on sensory information from the
physical world (Gregory, 1970), and bottom-up information driven
by human knowledge (Gibson, 1966). In this research we dened
PVC as the degree of detail or intricacy that the user perceives in a
visual stimulus by a combination of bottom-up and top-down
* Corresponding author. Dept. of Information and Industrial Engineering, Yonsei
University, 262 Seongsanno, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 120-749, Republic of Korea.
Tel.: 82 10 9058 9810.
E-mail addresses: yongguji@yonsei.ac.kr, yongguji@gmail.com (Y.G. Ji).
processing (Gregory, 1970; Gibson, 1966; Lim and Liu, 2009).
Therefore, increased complexity in visual perception can negatively
affect how drivers process visual information (Noy et al., 2004; Van
der Horst, 2004).
Tsimhoni and Green (2001) investigated the inuence of visual
demands on driving performance in an experiment that measured
visual demands and mental workloads when participants read an
electronic map displayed in a vehicle both while driving and while
parked. Their results highlighted the payoff that exists between
visual demands and driving performance. High demand for visual
attention to a specic visual display decreases drivers' visual
attention to the road (Lee et al., 2007; Liang and Lee, 2010; Xia et al.,
2010). This is likely why increasing the amount of information in in-
vehicle displays could disturb driving performance and lead to
safety concerns. In solving the potential problem of visual distrac-
tion arising from an excess of information provided by in-vehicle
visual displays, the design and amount of information presented
to drivers must be controlled and optimized.
The visual complexity of in-vehicle visual displays has long been
a topic of concern. Several studies have focused on the possibility of
measuring complexity by objective metrics (Lavie et al., 2011;
Huang, 2007; Cummings and Tsonis, 2006). Previous studies
applied an image compression technique whereby an image's de-
gree of visual complexity is calculated based on its compressed size
(Tuch et al., 2009). Other researchers have proposed an approach
whereby an image's visual complexity is calculated based on the
length of edges within the image (Lim et al., 2010; Schmieder and

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2014.07.005
0003-6870/ 2014 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.
 S.H. Yoon et al. / Applied Ergonomics 46 (2015) 76e83
Weathersby, 1983). However, these methods for quantifying the
complexity of visual stimulus are difcult to apply in the process of
designing an IVIS. In-vehicle information has the specic charac-
teristic that different types of information are combined in a single
display. Hence, it is important to consider the complexity of the
display's individual components. Accordingly, in this research we
analyzed the PVC of an in-vehicle instrument cluster based on the
PVC of each of its components.
To discuss issues related to the combination of different com-
ponents to form a single visual stimulus, we revisit Gestalt theory of
perception, which states that humans tend to focus on a whole
stimulus rather than on its individual parts (Graham, 2008). Gestalt
theory introduced the idea that there are differences between the
perception of the whole and the perception of its components
(Rock and Palmer, 1990). The theory states that different percep-
tions of the whole are created when different components interact
(Rock and Palmer, 1990). This impacts the concept of organization,
and provides insights into differences between the perception of
individual components and the whole (Rock and Palmer, 1990). In
the context of an in-vehicle instrument cluster, individual compo-
nents can affect a system in different ways when they are
combined.
In this study, we investigated individual components' inuences
on the overall PVC and also evaluate their interrelationships. In this
way, this research provides insights into the possibility of evalu-
ating the PVC of an in-vehicle instrument cluster by estimating the
complexity of its components. However, as in previous studies, we
determined that the combination of different components impacts
the perception of complexity (Rock and Palmer, 1990). We con-
ducted a study to propose an assessment model for quantifying the
PVC by including the PVC of the estimated components, and then
added a factor that considered the effect caused by the combination
of the components; these two approaches were combined to form a
complete assessment model to quantify the visual complexity
perceived by drivers.
2. Research framework
2.1. Research hypotheses
In the present study, we suggest an assessment model to
quantify the PVC of an in-vehicle instrument cluster. We rst pro-
pose the possibility of quantifying the PVC of the cluster by esti-
mating the perceived complexity of its components. That is to say,
our rst hypothesis was that the estimated PVC of the components
that form the in-vehicle instrument cluster can be applied to
explain the PVC of the whole instrument cluster.
However, the estimated PVC of each component did not
signicantly inuence the PVC of the whole cluster. Thus, to eval-
uate the combination of components, we conducted a second study
based on Gestalt theory, which states that the whole is different
from the sum of its parts, and thus suggests why we were unsuc-
cessful in explaining overall PVC in terms of the components. Our
second research hypothesis was that an integration effect exists
when different components are combined into the one stimulus of
an in-vehicle instrument cluster. Therefore, we added this inte-
gration effect as a new factor in the assessment model. Herein the
integration effect is dened as the effect of combining different
components such as the speedometer, navigation display, and
menu into a single display; this denition is based on previous
studies of Gestalt theory (Rock and Palmer, 1990; Palmer and Rock,
1994; Stickel et al., 2010; Xiang et al., 2007). Thus, we suggest an
assessment model to quantify the PVC of the whole in-vehicle in-
strument cluster by considering its components and the effect of
their integration.
77
In this study, we conducted a survey and a controlled experi-
ment to evaluate our hypothesis. We developed a statistical model
to estimate perceived complexity based on subjective and objective
measurements of each of the eight components. We then evaluated
the relationship between the estimated PVCs of the components
and the subjective perception of the visual complexity of the in-
vehicle instrument cluster as a whole. To assess the model to
quantify the PVC of the whole display in relation to the PVCs of the
components, a multiple linear regression model was used in
addition to a factor quantifying the integration effect.
2.2. Measurement variables
Eleven objective, quantiable measurement variables were
selected from previous studies on visual complexity. These mea-
surement variables were applied to objectively quantify factors of
the visual stimulus. The objective measurement variables used in
this study were stimulus size, icon size, component quantity,
number of divisions, color variety, font variety, icon quantity, blank
space percentage, text percentage, graphic percentage, and text-to-
graphic ratio (Cummings and Tsonis, 2006; Forsythe, 2009; Kemps,
1999; Olivia et al., 2004; Harper et al., 2009; Michailidou, 2008;
Stickel et al., 2010; Xing, 2007; Rosenholtz et al., 2007). Table 1
lists the denitions of these variables.
Moreover, for each component we determined which subset of
objective quantiable measurement variables were relevant to the
characteristics of each component, as summarized in Table 1.
2.3. Components
Components refer to the types of information that are included
in an in-vehicle instrument cluster and presented to the driver.
Eight components were identied in the instrument cluster based
on the types of information they presented to drivers. The com-
ponents were classied as providing either conventional informa-
tion or additional information. Conventional information includes
the standard information traditionally provided in a vehicle in-
strument cluster, such as speedometer, tachometer, other gauges, and
the gear position indicator. The component labeled other gauges
refers to other related components that present information in
gauge format in the instrument cluster, such as fuel level and en-
gine temperature readings. Finally, the gear position indicator refers
to the display showing the gear rotation information as the driver
selects or changes gears. Additional information refers to infor-
mation that has been integrated into vehicle instrument clusters
more recently, with technological advancements. In this research,
we categorized the additional information into four groups: navi-
gation, assistive information, entertainment, and menu. Navigation
refers to information related to vehicle location. Assistive informa-
tion refers to information to help drivers optimize their driving
performance. Entertainment refers to information related to
enjoyment while driving that is unrelated to the main task of
driving. Finally, menu refers to a graphic user interface that allows
drivers to select which information is displayed.
3. Study 1: in-vehicle instrument cluster and PVC of the
components
3.1. Method
The aim of this rst study was to verify the inuence of the
estimated PVC of each component upon that of the overall in-
vehicle instrument cluster. The study proposes a model to esti-
mate the visual complexity of a component based on subjective
responses and objective performance measurements. Subjective
78 S.H. Yoon et al. / Applied Ergonomics 46 (2015) 76e83

responses were based on questionnaires regarding the PVC of
various design components; each questionnaire included eight
sections, one for each component. The objective performance
measure was based on a laboratory experiment in which subjects'
performance and ocular motor behavior were objectively measured
during a visual search task. Multiple linear regression models were
used to obtain the model used to estimate the PVC of components.
Statistical analysis was then performed to investigate the rela-
tionship between the PVC of the components and that of the whole.
In this way, the study enabled us to propose an estimation model to
quantify the PVC of individual components, and to investigate the
possibility of estimating the PVC of the whole in-vehicle instru-
ment cluster.
3.1.1. Stimuli
A total of 101 visual stimuli of individual components were used
(15 for the speedometer, 10 for the tachometer, 14 for the gauge, 10
for the gear position indicator, 13 for the navigation display, 13 for
assistive information, 13 for entertainment, and 13 for the menu).
Each stimulus was saved as a video document (.SWF) and a ash
document (.FLA) for the questionnaire, and the size of the image
presented in the questionnaire was kept constant regardless of the
size of the screen used. For the visual search experiments, a small
star-shape gure (4  4 pixels) search target was embedded in each
of the 101 visual stimuli. The locations of the target were ran-
domized to make them unpredictable. A yellow star was used to
avoid confusion with the background, and to facilitate target
identication, the target was not placed in any regions of the visual
stimulus that were of similar color. Moreover, 25 images were
selected to evaluate the PVC of the whole in-vehicle instrument
cluster. They were also saved as video and ash documents, and
their evaluation was included in the questionnaire.
3.1.2. Equipment/apparatus
A remote eye tracking system (SMI RED-m, SensoMotoric In-
struments; SMI) was used to obtain data on the response time and
number of xations; it was attached to a 24-inch monitor where
the visual stimuli were presented. An extra laptop was used to
manipulate and design the experiment. SMI Experiment Center
software was employed to design the search task experiment, and
SMI BeGaze software was used to analyze the experimental data.
3.1.3. Participants
Sixty-two males and forty females between the ages of 20 and
60 years (mean 36.44 years, SD 12.53) with driving experience
participated in the questionnaire for Study 1. Demographic data on
the participants were gathered regarding their average time spent
driving per day and the total distance they had driven (driving
experience). Among the participants, 57.84% drove an average of
less than one hour per day, 30.39% drove between one and two
hours, 6.86% drove between two and three hours, and 1.96% drove
between three and four hours; 30.39% of the participants had
driven less than 2000 km, 19.61% had driven between 2000 km and
20,000 km, and 48.04% had driven more than 20,000 km.
Forty-ve participants were recruited for the visual search
experiment (23 males and 22 females). Data from ve participants
(2 males and 3 females) were excluded due to eye movement
tracking ratios below 95% (participant ocular limitation). The
remaining 40 participants (21 males and 19 females) each had a
driver's license and driving experience. Their ages ranged between
22 and 56 years (mean 36.98 years, SD 9.89). Demographic data
on the participants were gathered regarding their average time
spent driving per day and driving experience.
3.1.4. Questionnaire design
The design of the questionnaire was based on previous research
regarding an information questionnaire for an air trafc control
visual display (Xing, 2008) and an information complexity ques-
tionnaire to validate visual interfaces (Ling et al., 2011). Our rede-
signed questionnaire consisted of three questions related to the
perception of each of the visual stimuli; participants scored each
image on a 7-point Likert scale (1: strongly disagree, 7: strongly
agree). All participants were Korean; therefore, the entire ques-
tionnaire was translated into Korean. The questionnaire was
divided into eight sections to cover each of the eight components of
the in-vehicle instrument cluster; the components were presented

Table 1
Quantiable measurement variables for components.

Quantiable Denition Conventional information components Additional information components

measurement
Speedometer Tachometer Other Gear Navigation Assistive Entertainment Menu
gauges position

Stimulus size Entire region (area) covered by a visual stimulus, Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y

measured in mm2
Icon size Average size of a symbol that is used to express N N Y Y Y Y Y Y
a well-known meaning.
Component quantity Number of components in the visual stimulus. N N N N Y Y Y N
Number of divisions Number of areas on the visual stimulus that can N N N N Y Y Y Y
be visually distributed by lines or different
background colors.
Color variety Number of different colors perceived. (Gradation Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
of color was counted as two colors, for the initial
color and nal color).
Font variety Number of different fonts used in the visual stimulus. Y Y Y N Y Y Y Y
Icon quantity Number of different symbols used in the visual N N Y N Y Y Y Y
stimulus.
Blank space Percentage of area in the visual stimulus that does Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N
percentage not provide any kind of information.
Text percentage Percentage of area in the visual stimulus that provides Y Y Y N Y Y Y Y
information in text form.
Graphic percentage Percentage of area in the visual stimulus that provides Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
information in graphic form.
Text-to-graphic ratio Ratio between the total area of text information to the Y Y Y N Y Y Y Y
total area of graphic information in the visual stimulus.

Y quantiable; N not quantiable.

 S.H. Yoon et al. / Applied Ergonomics 46 (2015) 76e83
in random order to prevent ordering effects. The same question-
naire was also used for the whole in-vehicle instrument cluster
stimuli.
The questionnaire was administered online to provide the same
visual stimulus size to all participants regardless of the monitor
used. In the questionnaire, the demographic questions were asked
rst, followed by those related to the eight in-vehicle components.
Participants had to answer each question about PVC for all 101
visual stimuli. The questionnaire on the 25 whole in-vehicle in-
strument cluster stimuli was administered one month after the
questionnaire on the components.
3.1.5. Visual search experiment design
To observe the relationship between users' behavior and the
PVC, an experiment was conducted in which participants per-
formed a visual search task while their searching behaviors were
encoded and analyzed by an eye tracking system. The experiment
was designed based on research on visual clutter by Rosenholtz
et al. (2007). The data collected were the response time and
number of xations, and the visual stimuli used were the same 101
components presented in the questionnaire. Demographic data was
gathered before the experiment, and a brief introduction to the
experiment was given, during which the task was explained. Par-
ticipants were asked to nd the target hidden within the visual
stimulus. Once the target was found, the participants had to click on
it in order to continue to the next visual stimulus.
The experiment consisted of three sets, with 50 or 51 visual
stimuli in each set. The order of stimuli within the sets was ran-
domized to prevent any ordering effect. Between each set, each
participant was given a 10-min break. Response time was measured
as the time it took for participants to click on the hidden target. The
number of xations was counted by analyzing a participant's scan
path while searching for each hidden target. Fig. 1 illustrates how
the data were obtained using the eye tracking equipment.
3.1.6. Statistical analysis
Three types of statistical analysis were conducted: 1) analysis of
the relationship between quantiable measurements for each of
the components to determine which measurement variables were
signicantly correlated and thus were suitable for inclusion in the
estimation model; 2) regression model analysis to suggest an
estimation model for the PVC of each component; and 3) analysis of
Fig. 1. Example of data obtained from the eye-tracking experiment.
79
the relationship between the PVC of each component and the PVC
of whole in-vehicle instrument clusters comprising those compo-
nents. In the rst stage, we discovered the objective quantiable
measurements that were statistically signicantly correlated with
the subjective questionnaire data on the PVC of the components
and the objective visual search task results (i.e., response time and
number of xations). We performed a Pearson correlation analysis,
which provided a condence interval of 95%. As a result, objective
measurement variables were selected for the next stage. Secondly,
a model to estimate PVC was presented for each of the components.
This estimation model was developed using a stepwise forward
regression model. Finally, in stage 3, we conducted a Pearson cor-
relation analysis with a condence interval of 5% to verify the
ability of the estimated PVC of each component to predict the
subjective PVC of the whole in-vehicle instrument cluster. PASW
Statistics 18 software was employed for all statistical analyses.
3.2. Results
3.2.1. Estimation model for conventional information components
Among the speedometers' quantiable measurement variables,
stimulus size, color variety, font variety, blank space percentage, text
percentage, graphic percentage, and text-to-graphic ratio measure-
ments were signicantly correlated with the speedometers' PVC
(Table 2). Stimulus size, blank space percentage, and text percentage
were signicantly correlated with response time; stimulus size,
color variety, blank space percentage, text percentage, and graphic
percentage were signicantly correlated with the number of xa-
tions (Table 2). The estimation model for the PVC of the speed-
ometer (r 0.624; r2 0.390) was developed using the blank space
percentage (p < 0.001) and text percentage (p < 0.001) measure-
ments (Table 4).
Most of the tachometers' objective measurement variables
except the text percentage were signicantly correlated with their
PVC; however, the user experiment indicated that the text per-
centage had the highest correlation with tachometer visual search
performance and visual search behavior. More specically, stimulus
size, font variety, blank space percentage, and text percentage were
signicantly correlated with response time in the user experiment,
while stimulus size, font variety, blank space percentage, and text
percentage were signicantly correlated with the number of xa-
tions (Table 2). The estimation model for the PVC of the tachometer
80 S.H. Yoon et al. / Applied Ergonomics 46 (2015) 76e83

Table 2
Quantiable measurement variables for components of conventional type information.

Quantiable Conventional information components

measurement
Speedometer Tachometer Other gauges Gear position indicator

PVC RT Fix. # PVC RT Fix. # PVC RT Fix. # PVC RT Fix. #

Stimulus size 0.226c 0.251c 0.257c 0.123c 0.301c 0.425c 0.205c 0.218c 0.348c 0.731c 0.095a 0.092a
Icon size e e e e e e 0.371c 0.191c 0.258c 0.086a 0.048 0.027
Color variety 0.282c 0.027 0.073a 0.340c 0.007 0.022 0.257c 0.007 0.068 0.016 0.032 0.041
Font variety 0.224c 0.011 0.066 0.186c 0.123b 0.156b 0.426c 0.062 0.146c e e e
Icon quantity e e e e e e 0.404c 0.159c 0.225c e e e
Blank space percentage 0.599c 0.104b 0.103b 0.712c 0.097a 0.095a 0.389c 0.008 0.021 0.424c 0.014 0.008
Text percentage 0.594c 0.163c 0.193c 0.026 0.164c 0.213c 0.619c 0.107b 0.147c e e e
Graphic percentage 0.258c 0.057 0.103b 0.638c 0.014 0.013 0.238c 0.019 0.061 0.389c 0.030 0.014
Text-to-graphic ratio 0.205c 0.057 0.065 0.119c 0.056 0.080 0.500c 0.167c 0.265c e e e

PVC perceived visual complexity; RT response time; Fix. # number of xations.

a
Signicant at p < 0.05.
b
Signicant at p < 0.01.
c
Signicant at p < 0.001.

(r 0.714; r2 0.509) was developed using the stimulus size
(p < 0.001) and blank space percentage (p < 0.05) measurements
(Table 4).
For the other gauges component, all of the quantiable mea-
surements selected from the expert evaluation were signicantly
correlated with the subjective results for PVC. However, our user
experiment showed some differences. Stimulus size, icon size, icon
quantity, text percentage, and text-to-graphic ratio were signicantly
correlated with response time, and stimulus size, icon size, font va-
riety, icon quantity, text percentage, and text-to-graphic ratio were
signicantly correlated with the number of xations (Table 2). The
estimation model for the PVC of the other gauges component
(r 0.633; r2 0.401) was developed using the stimulus size
(p < 0.001), icon quantity (p < 0.001), text percentage (p < 0.001),
and text-to-graphic ratio (p < 0.01) measurements (Table 4).
Finally, among the quantiable measurements for gear position
indicators, stimulus size, icon size, blank space percentage, and
graphic percentage were signicantly correlated with their PVC. In
the user experiment, only stimulus size was signicantly correlated
to the response time and number of xations (Table 2). The esti-
mation model for the PVC of the gear position indicator (r 0.731;
r2 0.534) was developed using the stimulus size (p < 0.001)
measure (Table 4).
3.2.2. Estimation model for additional information components
All of the navigation displays' quantiable measurement vari-
ables were signicantly correlated with their PVC, except compo-
nent quantity and number of divisions. However, all quantiable
measurement variables except icon size and font variety were
signicantly correlated with response time and the number of
xations (Table 3). The estimation model for the PVC of the navi-
gation display (r 0.594; r2 0.352) was developed using the text
information percentage (p < 0.001) and graphic percentage
(p < 0.001) measurements (Table 4).
All of the quantiable measurement variables of assistive in-
formation components were signicantly correlated to their PVC,
except stimulus size and component quantity. Contrastingly, the icon
size, component quantity, number of divisions, color variety, text
percentage, and text-to-graphic ratio were signicantly correlated
with response time, and icon size, component quantity, number of
divisions, color variety, font variety, text percentage, and text-to-
graphic ratio were signicantly correlated with the number of x-
ations (Table 3). The estimation model for the PVC of the assistive
information component (r 0.573; r2 0.328) was developed
using the blank space percentage (p < 0.001) measure (Table 4).
All of the quantiable measurement variables for the enter-
tainment components were signicantly correlated with their PVC,

Table 3
Quantiable measurement variables for components of additional type information.

Quantiable Additional information components

measurement
Navigation display Assistive information Entertainment Menu

PVC RT Fix. # PVC RT Fix. # PVC RT Fix. # PVC RT Fix. #

b b c c c c
Stimulus size 0.080 0.105 0.213 0.003 0.045 0.033 0.134 0.021 0.139 0.045 0.256 0.316c
Icon size 0.322c 0.026 0.034 0.087b 0.043 0.055 0.039 0.029 0.016 0.290c 0.146c 0.161c
Component quantity 0.018 0.085a 0.143c 0.007 0.196c 0.212c 0.053 0.033 0.150c e e e
Number of divisions 0.005 0.096a 0.132b 0.063a 0.090a 0.045 0.178c 0.143c 0.261c 0.216c 0.256c 0.329c
Color variety 0.322c 0.100b 0.112b 0.116c 0.200c 0.189c 0.098b 0.132b 0.174c 0.246c 0.127b 0.207c
Font variety 0.188c 0.024 0.043 0.102b 0.146c 0.180c 0.256c 0.077a 0.040 0.045 0.122b 0.148c
Icon quantity 0.185c 0.340c 0.375c 0.105b 0.068 0.060 0.658c 0.126b 0.445c 0.041 0.063 0.099b
Blank space 0.081b 0.317c 0.304c 0.573c 0.146c 0.145c 0.204c 0.036 0.044 e e e
percentage
Text percentage 0.583c 0.195c 0.188c 0.141c 0.085a 0.153c 0.097b 0.055 0.194c 0.602c 0.095a 0.158c
Graphic percentage 0.151c 0.321c 0.308c 0.548c 0.090a 0.063 0.187c 0.089a 0.114b 0.172c 0.108b 0.093a
Text-to-graphic ratio 0.330c 0.185c 0.173c 0.234c 0.009 0.067 0.067a 0.033 0.069 0.291c 0.234c 0.317c

PVC perceived visual complexity; RT response time; Fix. # number of xations.

a
Signicant at p < 0.05.
b
Signicant at p < 0.01.
c
Signicant at p < 0.001.
 S.H. Yoon et al. / Applied Ergonomics 46 (2015) 76e83 81

except icon size and quantity of items. The number of divisions, color Table 5
variety, font variety, icon quantity, and graphic percentage were Correlation analysis between the perceived visual complexity of components and
the in-vehicle instrument cluster.
signicantly correlated with response time, and stimulus size,
component quantity, number of division, color variety, icon quantity, Category Component Correlation of component PVC
text percentage, and graphic percentage were signicantly correlated with whole-cluster PVC

with the number of xations (Table 3). The estimation model for R Signicance level
the PVC of the entertainment component (r 0.658; r2 0.433) Conventional Speedometer 0.055b 0.005
was developed using the icon quantity (p < 0.001) measure type of Tachometer 0.011 0.658
(Table 4). information Other gauges 0.071a 0.015
Gear position indicator 0.053a 0.012
Finally, all of the quantiable measurement variables for the
menus were signicantly correlated with their PVC, except font Additional Navigation display 0.041 0.227
variety and icon quantity. All the quantiable measurement vari- information Assistive information 0.028 0.496
Entertainment 0.054 0.097
ables except icon quantity were signicantly correlated with
Menu 0.019 0.533
response time, and all were signicantly correlated with the
a
Signicant at p < 0.05.
number of xations (Table 3). The estimation model for the PVC of b
Signicant at p < 0.01.
the menu (r 0.607; r2 0.368) was developed using the text
percentage (p < 0.001) and text-to-graphic ratio (p < 0.001) mea-
surements (Table 4).
suggest an assessment model for quantifying the PVC of an in-
3.2.3. Relationship between components and the overall in-vehicle vehicle instrument cluster based on the PVCs of its components.
instrument cluster PVC First, we selected the quantiable measurements that were most
Once we obtained a quantiable model for the PVC of each suitable for determining the integration effect, choosing stimulus
component (Table 4), we applied the model to estimate the PVC of size, component quantity, number of divisions, color variety, font
each of the components' visual stimuli. variety, icon quantity, blank space percentage, text percentage,
We then conducted a correlation analysis between the PVC of graphic percentage, clutter, and text-to-graphic ratio. Component
each component and the PVC of the in-vehicle visual display (the quantity refers to the number of components in the instrument
whole visual stimulus). Our results show that only the speedometer cluster (Olivia et al., 2004; Xing, 2007). That is, if the visual stimulus
(p < 0.01), other gauges (p < 0.05), and gear position indicator of an instrument cluster is composed of a speedometer, tachometer,
(p < 0.05) were signicantly correlated with the PVC of the overall and gear position indicator, its component quantity is three. Clutter
in-vehicle instrument cluster (Table 5). refers to a state in which there are an excessive number of items
(based on representation, method, or organization) and a resulting
4. Study 2: integration effect and PVC degradation in performance (Rosenholtz et al., 2007; Forsythe,
2009). Thus, we measured clutter by determining the edge prob-
Results from Study 1 showed that not all components' PVCs ability of the visual stimulus.
were signicantly correlated with the PVC of the in-vehicle in- In Study 2, we applied the same methodology that was used for
strument cluster: the speedometer, other gauges, and gear position Study 1: we analyzed questionnaire results for 25 visual stimuli of
indicator were the only components that showed signicant cor- whole in-vehicle instrument clusters, and the results of user ex-
relations. These results agree with the Gestalt law of perception. periments on visual search performance and behavior. Then, cor-
Accordingly, it is impossible to suggest a model that quanties the relation analysis was conducted to select signicant variables
PVC of an in-vehicle instrument cluster by knowing only the PVC of which were later used for estimating the PVC of integration effect.
each component. Therefore, we developed a quantitative model for An additional correlation analysis was then conducted between
the PVC of an instrument cluster, applying the ndings from Study the estimated integration effect and the subjective PVC of the
1 and conducting a second study to develop a factor to account for whole in-vehicle instrument cluster. The integration effect was
Gestalt effects. considered to be an additional component, accounting for the
perception of the combination of different components. Thus, once
4.1. Method the results were obtained, we suggested a nal model to enable
the quantication of the PVC for an in-vehicle instrument cluster
In Study 2, we investigated a factor capable of explaining the based on an estimation of the PVC of the components and the
effects of combining different components, thus enabling us to integration effect.

Table 4
Estimation model for perceived visual complexity of components.

Component Estimation model r r2

Speedometer 0.465 0.032 * (blank space percentage)c  0.033 * (text percentage)c 0.624 0.390
Tachometer 10.583  0.087 * (stimulus size)c  0.0003 * (blank space percentage)a 0.714 0.509
Other gauges 2.471  0.142 * (stimulus size)c 0.133 * (icon quantity)c  0.004 * (text percentage)c 0.633 0.401
0.482 * (text-to-graphic ratio)b
Gear position indicator 2.365 0.080 * (stimulus size)c 0.731 0.534
Navigation display 2.126 0.090 * (text percentage)c 0.002 * (graphic percentage)c 0.594 0.352
Assistive information 5.357  0.036 * (blank space percentage)c 0.573 0.328
Entertainment 2.306 0.231 * (icon quantity)c 0.658 0.433
Menu 2.426 0.041 * (text percentage)c 0.044 * (text-to-graphic ratio)b 0.607 0.368
a
Signicant at p < 0.05.
b
Signicant at p < 0.01.
c
Signicant at p < 0.001.
82 S.H. Yoon et al. / Applied Ergonomics 46 (2015) 76e83

4.2. Statistical model analysis
The statistical analysis was divided into four stages: 1) statistical
analysis of the relationship between the quantiable measurement
variables and the integration effect for an in-vehicle instrument
cluster; 2) stepwise forward regression model analysis to suggest
an estimation model for the integration effect; 3) statistical analysis
of the inuence of the integration effect on the PVC of an in-vehicle
instrument cluster; and 4) stepwise forward regression model
analysis to suggest an estimation model for the PVC of an in-vehicle
instrument cluster based on both the estimated PVC of the com-
ponents and the integration effect.
In the rst stage, we analyzed the effect of computational
objective measurement variables on the integration effect, visual
search performance, and visual search behavior. A Pearson corre-
lation analysis was performed with a condence interval of 5%, and
the measurement variables showing a signicant correlation for all
the three cases were selected as relevant quantiable measurement
variables for the estimation model. In the second stage, a model
was developed to estimate the integration effect; this estimation
model was based on a stepwise forward regression model that
utilized the quantiable measurement variables selected from
stage 1. A stepwise forward regression model starts with no vari-
ables, and then uses predened selection criteria to sequentially
add variables that improve the outcome; accordingly, only the
quantiable measurement variables that showed a signicant
correlation (p < 0.05) were considered in the model. In the
following stage, Pearson correlation analysis with a condence
interval of 5% was performed to test the correlation between the
integration effect and the PVC of the whole in-vehicle instrument
cluster. Finally, in the last stage, the signicantly correlated com-
ponents obtained from Study 1 and the estimated integration effect
were applied in a regression model analysis with respect to the
subjective PVC for the whole in-vehicle instrument cluster. Thus,
we proposed a model to assess the PVC of the instrument cluster.
PASW Statistics 18 software was employed for all statistical
analyses.
following estimation model was used for the integration effect
(r 0.453; r2 0.205):
Integration effect 5:388 0:133*Component quantity
 1:542E  7*Clutter
 0:040*Blank space percentage
 0:040*Graphic percentage
0:001*Stimulus size
Once we obtained the estimation model for the integration ef-
fect, we measured the estimated integration effect for each of the
visual stimuli on the in-vehicle instrument cluster. The Pearson
correlation coefcient for the correlation between the integration
effect and the overall PVC of the display was r 0.575 (p < 0.001).
Therefore, the integration effect was signicantly correlated with
the PVC of the whole in-vehicle instrument cluster, thus solving the
problem arose in the results of Study 1.
A stepwise forward regression model was conducted using the
PVCs of the speedometer, other gauges, and gear position indicator,
as well as the integration effect. Table 7 lists the results of this
statistical analysis and presents the estimation model for the PVC of
the overall in-vehicle instrument cluster.
Thus, we developed an estimation model for the PVC of an in-
vehicle instrument cluster. The components used in this model
were the integration effect (p < 0.001) and the estimated PVC of the
speedometer (p < 0.001). The model is given as follows, and rep-
resents a method for quantitatively assessing the PVC of the in-
vehicle instrument cluster by considering its components
(r 0.580; r2 0.337):
PVC of the in-vehicle instrument cluster
0:289 1:162*Integration effect
 0:083*Estimated PVC of speedometer
5. Discussion and conclusions

In this study, we examined the inuence of the components of

4.3. Results
The results from the correlation analysis showed that stimulus
size (p < 0.01), icon size (p < 0.05), component quantity (p < 0.001),
blank space percentage (p < 0.05), graphic percentage (p < 0.01), and
clutter (p < 0.001) were signicantly correlated with the results of
the questionnaire and the user experiment. Therefore, we selected
the following quantiable measurement variables to propose an
estimation model for the integration effect. Table 6 shows results
from the forward regression model.
For the estimation model, the component quantity, clutter, blank
space percentage, graphic percentage, and stimulus size were selected
as signicant quantiable measurements (p < 0.001). Thus, the
an in-vehicle instrument cluster on the PVC of the whole cluster. An
estimation model was proposed to quantify the PVC of each of the
components as a function of their quantiable measurements, such
as size, quantities, and ratios of design elements (font, icon, and
text). The results of Study 1 showed that not all components had
any measures studied that were signicantly correlated with the
PVC of the entire instrument cluster. The usability of each mea-
surement as an estimator of PVC was tested by correlation analysis
between each measurement and subjective and objective measures
of PVC. Stimulus size, icon size, component quantity, blank space
percentage, graphic percentage, and clutter were identied as
factors that correlate with PVC. This reduced set of attributes was
utilized to develop an estimation model for PVC of the whole in-

Table 6 Table 7
Results of regression model analysis for the integration effect. Results of regression model analysis for the perceived visual complexity of the in-
vehicle instrument cluster.
Beta Standard t-Value Signicance
error level Beta Standard error t-Value Signicance
level
Intercept 5.388 0.457 11.788 0.000a
Component quantity 0.133 0.008 17.039 0.000a Intercept 0.289 0.108 2.666 0.008a
Clutter 1.542E7 0.000 9.190 0.000a Integration effect 1.162 0.032 36.150 0.000b
Blank space percentage 0.040 0.005 8.671 0.000a Estimated PVC of the 0.083 0.018 4.648 0.000b
Graphic percentage 0.040 0.005 7.772 0.000a speedometer
Stimulus size 0.001 0.000 4.851 0.000a a
Signicant at p < 0.01.
a b
Signicant at p < 0.001. Signicant at p < 0.001.
 S.H. Yoon et al. / Applied Ergonomics 46 (2015) 76e83
vehicle instrument cluster. The results suggested that drivers
respond to specic properties of the display design; therefore,
these properties should be prioritized during the design process.
Regarding conventional information displays, only the esti-
mated PVCs of the speedometer, the other gauges, and the gear
position indicator showed signicant correlations with the sub-
jective PVC of the complete in-vehicle instrument cluster; the
estimated PVC of the tachometer was not signicantly correlated
with the overall display complexity. This suggests that the
tachometer is less important to drivers than the speedometer, other
gauges, and gear position indicator.
The PVCs of the additional information displays were not sta-
tistically signicantly correlated with the PVC of the whole in-
strument cluster; this might be due to participants' unfamiliarity
with the additional information given in the in-vehicle instrument
cluster. Accordingly, additional factors, such as user knowledge and
preference, may play a role in the perception of visual complexity.
Thus, further research is needed to investigate factors that inu-
ence perceptions of complexity.
The results of this study agreed with the Gestalt law. However,
the research objective was to propose a model to quantify the PVC
of whole in-vehicle instrument clusters. Thus, we followed up with
a study to investigate the possibility of identifying a new quanti-
able component capable of representing the effect of integrating
the eight components of the in-vehicle instrument cluster, since
these components had only been considered separately in the
initial study.
In the case of an in-vehicle instrument cluster, there may be a
perceptual grouping based on the Gestalt law. The cluster consists
of several components, and the PVC of its whole visual stimulus
depends on how the components are organized. Hence, grouping
and organizing the components depending on their perceptual
factors, such as size, common region, location, and color (Palmer,
1992), might provide different results.
The model developed to estimate the integration effect was
evaluated by analyzing the relationship between the integration
effect, as calculated by using the estimation model, and the PVC of
the overall in-vehicle visual display. As expected, there was a sig-
nicant relationship between them. The results of this evaluation
emphasized the strong relationship between the integration effect
and the PVC of the overall in-vehicle display. The Pearson correla-
tion coefcient for the integration effect was 0.575, which was the
largest of all the components. This demonstrates the importance of
harmoniously and meticulously integrating each component when
attempting to decrease the perception of complexity in a visual
display. The results of this study suggest that the integration effect
can be used as a component to complement the estimation model
for the PVC of an in-vehicle instrument cluster.
This research aimed to develop an assessment model to quantify
drivers' perceptions of the visual complexity of in-vehicle instru-
ment clusters. The results revealed the differences in human
perception when visual stimuli are seen together or separately. We
focused herein on in-vehicle instrument clusters, but we expect
that our ndings apply more broadly to other visual displays with
similar characteristics, namely, displays composed of different and
independent components. This research was conducted using static
visual stimuli; further studies are required to examine the
perceived complexity of dynamic visual displays.
Acknowledgment
This work was supported by Mid-career Researcher Program
through NRF grant funded by the MSIP (Ministry of Science, ICT and
Future Planning) (Grant-# NRF-2013R1A2A2A03014150).
83
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