The value of visual depiction: A comparison of short-term memory capacity between glyph icons and words

Abstract: Icons are widely used throughout society; moreover, they play a significant role in computer user interfaces, frequently appearing on websites and applications. In many cases, they are used instead of text labels to make a user interface (UI) more universally understood, among other things. Since icons reside within the UI, they should adhere to UI design principles, such as ”reduce short-term memory load”. This study aimed to research whether the short-term capacity of icons (more specifically: glyph icons) differs from words. A study was carried out with 30 participants of the same population, split into two equally sized groups. One group was asked to recall as many icons as possible. The other group carried out the same task but was instead asked to recall words. The results showed that the icon group could recall an average of 7.73 items, while the word group was able to recall an average of 4.40 items. Users' ability to store more icons in short-term memory than words could provide a basis for future decision-making in UI design, where one has to be chosen over the other