In human–computer interaction interfaces, icons serve as highly symbolic elements that convey information and significantly influence the performance of visual search and other tasks. Thus, the selection of appropriate colors plays a crucial role in the design of human–computer interfaces. This study aimed to investigate the effects of icon color combinations on human visual search task performance across various cognitive load conditions. The experiment was divided into two parts, involving a cognitive load test experiment and an icon search task, wherein the former required participants to select the target icon from 16 de-colored icons, and the latter involved selecting the target icon from 16 color combinations of 8 colors (background colors: black, red, blue, and purple; foreground colors: white, yellow, green, and turquoise). A total of 20 participants (11 females and 9 males, all aged between 18 and 24 years) were recruited for this experiment to perform both tasks sequentially. Through a comprehensive consideration of factors such as the NASA-TLX scale, retrieval time, etc., the experimental results revealed that cognitive load increased with time pressure, resulting in varying optimal color combinations for different cognitive load levels. Additionally, background colors did not affect task response time under different cognitive loads, whereas white foreground color was superior to turquoise foreground color in a medium cognitive load environment. Meanwhile, our results recommend prioritizing white-on-black as the preferred color combination, given that it demonstrated excellent cognitive performance in all three cognitive load environments. Conversely, white-on-blue is not recommended as a color combination for the design of high cognitive load environments. Concerning medium cognitive load environments, yellow-on-red or white-on-purple color combinations were preferred. Finally, in low cognitive load environments, white-on-purple is recommended as the primary color combination. Overall, this study provides a theoretical reference for the future design of interactive interface icons across various contexts.

Cluster separation is required to perform multi-class visual statistics tasks and plays an essential role in information processing in visualization. This cognition behavioral study investigated the cluster separation task and the effects of visual complexity and task difficulty. A total of 32 college students (18 men and 14 women, with ages ranging from 18 to 25 years; mean = 21.2, SD = 3.9) participated in this study. The observers’ average response accuracy, reaction time, mental effort, and comprehensive cognitive efficiency were measured as functions of three levels of visual complexity and task difficulty. The levels of visual complexity and task difficulty were quantified via an optimized complexity evaluation method and discrimination judgment task, respectively. The results showed that visual complexity and task difficulty significantly influenced comprehensive cognitive efficiency. Moreover, a strong interaction was observed between the effects of visual complexity and task difficulty. However, there was no positive linear relationship between the mental effort and the complexity level. Furthermore, two-dimensional color × shape redundant coding showed higher cognitive efficiency at low task difficulty levels. In contrast, the one-dimensional color encoding approach showed higher cognitive efficiency at increased task difficulty levels. The findings of this study provide valuable insights into designing more efficient and user-friendly visualization in the future.

Based on the individual traits of the user’s construal level differences, this study examines the visual cognition differences of graphic–text combined icon concreteness in the interface between users with high and low construal levels. We classified four types of graphic–text combined icons, which are as follows: concrete graphic + concrete text (Ci + Ct), concrete graphic + abstract text (Ci + At), abstract graphic + concrete text (Ai + Ct), and abstract graphic + abstract text (Ai + At). According to the behavioral experiment results, there is no visual cognitive difference between the two types of traits users in Ci + Ct. In terms of Ci + At and Ai + Ct, the visual cognitive performance of high construal level users is slightly better than that of low construal level users. In Ai + At, there are obvious visual cognitive differences between the two types of users. Visual cognitive fluency plays a mediating role in response time and matching rates of the two types of users. Based on the construal level perspective, this study considers the visual cognitive differences based on the user’s stable traits. It provides a certain reference for the graphic–text combined icons’ design in the adaptive human–computer interaction interface.

The environmental maintenance of public dining spaces significantly impacts urban construction’s sustainable and healthy development. This paper studied the influence of image–text information tailoring relationships on behavioral intentions to promote public dining space environment maintenance. We used a two-factor between-subject experimental design, two (image reference points: self vs. others) × two (text appeals: feasibility vs. desirability). We also examined the mediating roles of environmental maintenance attitudes and environmental responsibility perceptions as regards pro-environmental behavioral intentions. The research results showed the following: (1) Among the four image–text information construction methods, the other’s image reference point with the desirability text appeal promotes the diners’ pro-environmental behavioral intention with optimal effectiveness; and (2) Environmental maintenance attitudes and environmental responsibility perceptions play mediating roles in promoting diners’ intention to maintain environmental behavior in the image–text combined information presentation. Environmental responsibility perceptions cannot be mediated alone and must be progressively mediated with environmental maintenance attitudes.