Cognitive Style's Effects on User Task Performance in Network Visualisations

With the increasing importance of visualisation in being able to understand large sets of data, there is a growing body of research on how individual differences can influence a user performance in tasks using network visualisations. Individual differences in how users interact with and respond to visualisations presents an opportunity to inform how we construct visualisations. In this study, we chose to explore the effect of cognitive style on users' performance in network visualisations. Three psychological constructs were used to account for individual differences: the Verbal-Imagery Cognitive Style, Rational-Experiential Inventory and Wholist-Analytic Cognitive Style. Using a sample of university students, we measured participants accuracy, effort, time, and efficiency to complete three separate tasks on network visualisations. Overall, the results of the study show evidence that cognitive styles account for some individual differences in user's visualisation performance