Influence of Spatial Information for the Representation of Temporal Order Information

In this age of big data, there is a discrepancy between limited display space on devices and the virtually unlimited information available to the user. This research focused on this contradiction, which we have called "space limitations". This study employs the theories of working memory and cognitive load in two experiments that investigate the consistency of temporal order and space series to seek possible spatial representation methods for dynamic temporal order information. Using the judgments of the relative recency experiment paradigm, this study collected data on working memory performance and eye movement for consistency or inconsistency of temporal order and spatial sequence under two different conditions of system complexity. Data analysis revealed that the information of temporal order and spatial sequence were stored separately in working memory. However, in the complex system conditions, the sequence features of temporal order and spatial sequence were related, and an ordered spatial sequence improved the recall of the temporal order of information. Therefore, to improve cognitive performance, we should consider the orderly arrangement of the spacial position during the process of temporal order information visualization.