The Effect of Complexity on Interpreting "Chernoff" Faces

The total number of irrelevant features was varied in a set multidimensional displays, called "Chernoff" faces, for which subjects were asked to make pairwise similarity judgments. The results showed that observers could not ignore distinctive irrelevant features even under strong instructions to do so, although they could ignore common irrelevant features. It is suggested that the salience of irrelevant information and the relationships between relevant and irrelevant information, rather than the amount of irrelevant information per se, are crucial factors in determining the potential for perceptual interference when using such displays.