How Important is the "Mental Map"? -- an Empirical Investigation of a Dynamic Graph Layout Algorithm

While some research has been performed on the human understanding of static graph layout algorithms, dynamic graph layout algorithms have only recently been developed sufficiently to enable similar investigations. This paper presents the first empirical analysis of a dynamic graph layout algorithm, focusing on the assumption that maintaining the "mental map" between time-slices assists with the comprehension of the evolving graph. The results confirm this assumption with respect to some categories of tasks