A Research Of Text Reading Efficacy And Optimal Text Set Parameters On Visual Display Terminals

With the development of science and technology, there has a rapid shift on information and media that reading from print paper to electronic screen, reading on a computer or other VDT displays is very common in our daily life, such as electronic working, the use of self-service terminal equipment in public places, equipment operation under special environment and so on. Reading efficiency depends on the presentation way of visual information, several studies have shown that many factors can impact the reading efficiency of Chinese text, such as text typography, colour collocation, lighting environment, etc. Therefore, this study intends to find out the main factors that influence reading efficiency and optimized combination, so it can provide effective setting basis of Chinese character format for similar electronic displays, and make readers understand and grasp the information quickly and accurately.A lot of experiments and data analysis have been used to investigate the influence of related factors on efficiency in this paper. Firstly, according to the survey, choose the factors which can deeply affect reading efficiency when reading on a computer, such as size, word space, row space and the brightness contrast between text color and background color. Then according to the theory of ergonomics, under computer reading environment and fixed reading distance, get the calculation formula and the best range of Chinese characters font size, word space and row space. On the basis of brightness contrast theory and HSB color model definition, to determine the value law of color and background color. At last, finish experiments and analyze results. Experiment one discusses the optimal combination of the font size and word space when reading a single-line Chinese text on a screen, record through E-prime software to get relevant data such as reading speed and accuracy. Experiment two is a further research which is conducted to discuss reading efficacy when reading multi-line Chinese text on a computer. Using eye-movement equipment to monitor eye behavior, and by the test after reading can get effective indicators to reflect reading efficiency such as fixation frequency, reading speed and accuracy. Experiment three is a further study on experiment two, it discusses the effect of contrast between text and background color when reading Chinese text on a screen, using reading speed and accuracy as evaluation index, and complete ERP experiment synchronously, study the electrode point which cause mental fatigue, finally get a text color and background color brightness contrast value that can improve reading efficiency.Through statistical analysis, under this experimental conditions, the best combination that can effectively increase the single-line text reading efficiency is 12 pt font size and 2 pt word space. It can further obtain the best visual angle between single-line text on a screen and human eyes and get the setting format of single-line text on screen of different size. The best combination that can effectively increase the multi-line text reading efficiency is 12 pt font size,2 pt word space and 20 pt row space. The brightness contrast value can effectively increase the effectiveness between text color and background color is 0% and 87%, and forming a experimental regularity of 1:8.In the conclusion aspect of this research, it concludes the objective factors that affect computer text reading efficiency (text font size, word space and row space), confirms their relationship model and the best values, compare the different color lightness samples and get the best brightness contrast. In research method aspect, it use E-prime stimulate software and eye-movement apparatus to discuss the optimization grouping of font size, word space and row space when reading text on a computer, using ERP (Event-related Potentials) as a auxiliary equipment to study the contrast relationship of color lightness between text color and background color of the reading material. This study can provide a effective settings basis of Chinese characters on display devices, and supply a basic research for the design of equipment operation interface under special work environment, make users quickly understand informations and avoid wrong operation.