New scrolling method promises accelerated skim reading and data recall

EU-funded researchers have developed innovative new scrolling software that allows for documents to be skimmed 60 % faster and with a higher recall rate.

The explosion of digital content and data that we take in from screens each day through documents, email chains, web pages and social media flows is enormous and consequently, the rapid comprehension of complex information has become an essential aspect of modern life. The continuous scrolling technique typically used to browse this data is, however, far from perfect. In conventional scrolling, a number of objects are moving in the viewer window, which is problematic for visual attention. First, motion blur makes it impossible to focus on an object. Second, the user is not able to direct their attention for long enough to comprehend the content before it scrolls out of the window.

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