How can spatial arrangement in tables improve readers ’ cognitive processing?

The research reported in this paper deals with the cognitive theories of graphical representations. Two experiments were carried out to investigate the production and comprehension of a neglected type of graphical representations: tables. The first experiment aimed at assessing whether the way people arrange pieces of information in table depended on the type of semantic relation they convey. Two relations were used: implication and genealogy. In a second experiment, we compared two arrangements of information in tables and their effect on a description task. The same relations as those used in the first experiment were presented: implication and genealogy. The results of these two experiments showed that the optimal arrangement of elements in tables was dependent on the relation: in the first task, participants tended to plot horizontally elements that were linked by an implication relation, and vertically elements that were linked by a genealogy relation. In the second task, the horizontal arrangement for implication and the vertical arrangement for genealogy improve readers’ processing of the information 1