April 12, 2010 at 18:22Animated progress bar subjectively speeds up loading
At the ACM conference on the human factor in computer systems, experts from Carnegie Mellon University will present an interesting study that focuses on a variety of visual illusions for computer interfaces.
For example, one of the illusions allows you to "speed up" the progress bar by about 10% using rhythmic animation along the download bar (see video ).
This refers to a reduction in subjective time. As experiments have shown, people observing such a progress bar people say that the download went about 10.5% faster than those who watched the usual download bar without animation.
Scientists have previously conducted experiments that have confirmed that rhythmic stimulation can distort the perception of time in the observer ( PDF ). And although specific studies in the field of computer interfaces have not yet been conducted, some representatives of the IT industry have already begun to exploit this feature of human psychology. For example, the basic version of such a visual illusion is embedded in the interface of the Apple Mac OS X operating system.
Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University set the goal of finding the most effective progress bar that would distort the user's subjective time as much as possible. They experimented with different acceleration and direction of the waves. It was found that the greatest effect is given by the acceleration of waves from right to left. In this case, the progress bar lasting 16.75 seconds is perceived in time as the usual loading bar for 15 seconds. Mac OS also uses right-to-left direction, but without acceleration.
via New Scientist Tech
For example, one of the illusions allows you to "speed up" the progress bar by about 10% using rhythmic animation along the download bar (see video ).
This refers to a reduction in subjective time. As experiments have shown, people observing such a progress bar people say that the download went about 10.5% faster than those who watched the usual download bar without animation.
Scientists have previously conducted experiments that have confirmed that rhythmic stimulation can distort the perception of time in the observer ( PDF ). And although specific studies in the field of computer interfaces have not yet been conducted, some representatives of the IT industry have already begun to exploit this feature of human psychology. For example, the basic version of such a visual illusion is embedded in the interface of the Apple Mac OS X operating system.
Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University set the goal of finding the most effective progress bar that would distort the user's subjective time as much as possible. They experimented with different acceleration and direction of the waves. It was found that the greatest effect is given by the acceleration of waves from right to left. In this case, the progress bar lasting 16.75 seconds is perceived in time as the usual loading bar for 15 seconds. Mac OS also uses right-to-left direction, but without acceleration.
via New Scientist Tech