Comparison of visual similarity judgement on computer screens and on paper.

This article reports a study of how visual similarity judgement differs between the two media. Participants of the study judged dissimilarities of web pages both on screens in computer-based tasks and on printouts in paper-based tasks. Significant difference in similarity judgement was found between computer and paper tasks. This difference could neither be explained by the ecological difference in using computers and printouts, nor be explained by visual difference. The availability of interactive features of web pages on screens, compared to the lack of them on printouts, could account for the observed difference in similarity judgement, even though the features are not relevant to the tasks. The result highlights the significance of interactive features as parts of context change when tasks are moved between the two media. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]