2008 Honda Civic Dashboard

So, I am still recovering from the 2007 Human Factors & Ergonomics Society conference in Baltimore, MD. It was a long week, but it was a great learning experience. Today I wanted to focus on the 2008 Honda Civic Dashboard with the digital speedometer. I use this example when I teach Cognitive Psychology and talk about Human Factors:

Why is this a bad idea compared to using an analog speedometer with a needle? Well, let’s do a simple analysis:

• What are digital readouts good for? Precise information - exact numbers.
• What are analog readouts good for (like the tachometer)? Approximate information.

When you’re driving, how often do you need to know the exact speed you’re going? Rarely! It’s way more important to know whether your speed is \ versus | versus /. Even better, a quick glance downwards of an analog speedometer gets you a near-instant perception of the approximate angle of the needle and, therefore, a near-instant perception of speed.

A digital readout requires much more interpretation because the physical characteristics of the numbers 48 and 58 do not intrinsically mean as much to perception as \ versus | versus /. You have to think more about whether 48 or 58 is too fast? Of course, it’s not like that process takes more than 500 ms - 1 second. But when you’re going 58 mph, every second matters.

The moral of the story? With driving, rapid perception of information is good. And when that information gives you a rapid interpretation of information, that’s even better.