Jj. Vandenbosch et Hgm. Bohnen, AN EXPERIMENTAL COMPARISON OF ALPHANUMERIC AND ICONIC FORMATS OF THE FLIGHT MODE ANNUNCIATOR, The International journal of aviation psychology, 8(4), 1998, pp. 335-349
An iconic alternative was designed for the conventional alphanumeric F
light Mode Annunciator (FMA) display. The two FMA types were compared
in three experiments. In the first experiment, participants had to rec
all an FMA display that was presented for a short period of time. In t
he second experiment, participants had to memorize the order in which
three FMAs were presented. In both experiments, performance was better
for the iconic FMA. Furthermore, an experiment was performed to test
which FMA type produces the best comprehension of flight modes. The re
sults of this experiment showed no advantage for either FMA type.