This study explored and identified the effects of luminance contrast and color combinations on icon cognitive performance. A total of 50 participants took part in the experiment. As designed, icon cognitive performance was measured as a function of the following independent variables: 4 levels of luminance contrast, 16 target/background color combinations. Experiment A showed that a luminance contrast of 18:1 provide participants with the highest cognitive performance. Yellow on black, yellow on blue, and white on blue were the three most legible color combinations. To explore the individual effects of luminance contrast and color combination on cognitive performance, in experiment B, the material was decolored. Comparing the reaction time data of experiment A with experiment B, it was found that both luminance contrast and color combination can significantly affect cognitive performance. Under the same luminance contrast, yellow on black, yellow on blue, and white on blue significantly improve the search speed, while green on red, yellow on purple, green on blue, and turquoise on blue significantly slow down the search speed. In experiment C, event related potential technology was used to verify the results of behavioral experiment B. It was found that under 18:1 high luminance contrast visual stimulation, the activation of prefrontal and occipital regions was stronger, and the peak and average amplitude of P100 curve were significantly higher than the other three luminance contrasts. To explain why some color combinations shorten reaction time, in experiment D, peak latency of P100 at visual-cortex area (O1, O2, OZ) showed significantly faster response time with fast search speed color combinations than with slow search speed color combinations. These results provide some guidance for human–software interface design.

中文翻译：

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亮度对比和颜色组合对图标认知表现的影响

本研究探讨并确定了亮度对比和颜色组合对图标认知表现的影响。共有50名参与者参加了实验。按照设计，图标认知性能作为以下自变量的函数进行测量：4 级亮度对比度、16 种目标/背景颜色组合。实验 A 表明，18:1 的亮度对比度为参与者提供了最高的认知表现。黑底黄、蓝底黄和蓝底白是三种最清晰的颜色组合。为了探索亮度对比和颜色组合对认知表现的个体影响，在实验 B 中，对材料进行了脱色。比较实验A和实验B的反应时间数据，发现亮度对比度和颜色组合都可以显着影响认知表现。在相同的亮度对比下，黑底黄、蓝底黄、蓝底白显着提高了搜索速度，而红底绿、紫底黄、蓝底绿、蓝底绿松石显着减慢了搜索速度。在实验C中，利用事件相关电位技术对行为实验B的结果进行了验证。发现在18:1的高亮度对比视觉刺激下，前额叶和枕叶区域的激活更强，峰值和平均幅度P100曲线明显高于其他三种亮度对比。为了解释为什么某些颜色组合会缩短反应时间，在实验 D 中，P100 在视觉皮层区域（O1、O2、OZ) 显示快速搜索速度颜色组合的响应时间明显快于搜索速度慢颜色组合的响应时间。这些结果为人机界面设计提供了一些指导。