Gaze transitions show integrative cross-pane viewing, with most participants beginning on memory and cycling between code and memory¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r1 · q2
Currency · no dated study recorded · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Memory-code transitions each exceeded 11k, and 12 of 19 participants began with Memory then cycled between Code and Memory, consulting Metaphor selectively in Memory-Metaphor-Memory cycles. → transitions

Evidence¶

transitions¶

Naaz Sibia, Jessica Wen, Amber Richardson, Yashika Jain, Khushi Malik, Bogdan Simion, Carolina Nobre, Angela Zavaleta Bernuy, Andrew Petersen, and Michael Liut. 2026. Code as Anchor, Memory and Metaphor as Support: Learner Experiences with Multi-View Visualizations. ICER 2026 Vol. 1. https://doi.org/10.1145/3765964.3811662

q2 · i? · associational · r1

Transition analysis of fixations parsed into bigrams and trigrams across the three AOIs in the within-subjects gaze study. The article reports the printed transition counts and the 12/19 starting pattern; the authors interpret this as learners coordinating rather than isolating views.

"Memory↔Code transitions exceeded 11k each, with Metaphor selectively consulted in Memory→Metaphor→Memory cycles (Figure 6). Most participants (12/19) began with Memory, then cycled between Code and Memory while drawing in Metaphor as needed."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Students working with multi-view program visualizations spend nearly half their attention on the code view, with attention distribution varying by task topic — related
• Students without prior programming experience anchor more heavily in code and engage minimally with metaphor views compared to students with prior experience — related
• Eye transition data showed students made saccades between representations, indicating attempts to relate and integrate information rather than relying only on the model — related