ИСТИНА

Cognitive load theory offers a computational approach to assessing the relative conditions efficiency of digital environments (DE) through efforts and performance (Paas, F., 1993). Usually efforts are measured via self-report; this subjective parameter has significant drawbacks and is not specific for visual information search (VIS). We propose an innovate method for assessing the efforts of VIS in DE through the eye movements analysis, consistent with indicators of cognitive load. In the experiment, participants (N = 20) searched for the information in the texts using different types of navigation (scrolling or paging), and ways of volume visualization (scroll-bar or thumbs). Eye movements were recorded by the eye-tracker SMI RED 120. We developed an eye tracking-based tool for diagnosing DE for searching efforts, assessed through scan-path complexity (SPC). SPC was defined as a redundant gaze-path (the real-to-perfect gaze-path ratio measured in lines of the text), and was built through the second-by-second reconstruction of the search from the screen recording. Scrolling with scroll-bar condition was indicated as the less effective for VIS according to the highest SPC values. The analysis of conventional cognitive load parameters (fixation count, fixation duration, performance) showed same results. So the efficiency of visual search decreased in DE with less optimized cognitive load conditions, which was identified through the significantly (p<0.001) higher values of the eye-movement parameter SPC. Thus, we proposed an objective approach to assessing efforts of VIS in DE based on the eye movement parameter SPC, which reflects the specificity of VIS. [This work was supported by grant RFBR №18-29-22049]