A paradigm shift in interactive computing: Deriving multimodal design principles from behavioral and neurological foundations

As technology advances, systems are increasingly able to provide more information than a human operator can process accurately. Thus, a challenge for designers is to create interfaces that allow operators to process the optimal amount of data. It is herein proposed that this may be accomplished by creating multimodal display systems that augment or switch modalities to maximize user information processing. Such a system would ultimately be informed by a user's neurophysiological state. As a first step toward that goal, relevant literature is reviewed and a set of preliminary design guidelines for multimodal information systems is suggested.