Target Color Contrast and Eccentricity in Visual Search: Implications for Control Panel Design

Control panel and monitoring interfaces require operators to perform visual search while assessing system status. This study examined how Target Color Contrast and Target Eccentricity, operationalizing specific visual and spatial aspects associated with the Salience and Effort components of the SEEV framework, were related to target acquisition in simulated control panel displays. Thirty-four participants completed a controlled eye-tracking experiment using a fully repeated-measures two-by-two design, and computational image analyses characterized the physical properties of the experimental stimuli. Target Eccentricity yielded the largest omnibus effect on Time to First Fixation (TTFF). Critically, however, the effect of Target Color Contrast depended on target location: the High-Contrast condition was associated with substantially shorter TTFF under High Eccentricity, whereas no reliable contrast difference was observed under Low Eccentricity. This interaction remained significant after excluding 16 observations with TTFF equal to zero milliseconds. The findings provide context-specific evidence that the manipulated visual and spatial factors were jointly, rather than independently, associated with target acquisition. From a design perspective, the results suggest a potential hierarchical approach in which spatial layout is considered first and visual prominence is selectively increased when central placement is impractical. This approach represents a design implication requiring validation in operational environments.