Color coding in formatted displays

Abstract

An experiment was designed to assess and compare the effects of symbolic, numeric, and color coding in formatted displays. 12 Ss viewed displays in which 2-digit entries were arranged in tabular matrix format. Displays differed in density, structure, and auxiliary coding. Ss performed row-comparison and item-counting tasks, providing time and error measures. Auxiliary color coding resulted in better performance than superscript or underline codes for both tasks. Color coding was relatively more effective for item counting than for row comparison where the display format was related to the task. The value of a display code appears to be dependent upon the joint interaction of the format in which it is displayed and the task to which it is applied. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)