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The efficacy of interface design for manned submersibles operating at full ocean depth extends beyond the subjective impressions of the designers; it is imperative that the layout is user-friendly to address the physiological and psychological needs of submariners engaged in prolonged activities within confined spaces. This directly influences their performance efficiency and the safety of deep-sea exploration tasks. In this study, a Philips BDM4037UW 40-inch curved monitor was used to replicate the cockpit's display and control interface, segmented into seven zones. The E-prime software facilitated the presentation of visual stimuli. Subjects situated at the mock-up interface were presented with visual stimuli and required to respond by keypress. Each zone randomly displayed a single-digit number ranging from 0-9, prompting participants to discern whether the number was odd or even by pressing the "F" and "J" keys accordingly. The display utilized three background color groups—white, black, and gray, and five foreground color groups for the numbers—white, black, red, green, and blue. Behavioral metrics, such as accuracy and reaction time, were logged via the software's backend. Eye-tracking data were also collected, encompassing fixation details (visual intake count, visual intake frequency, visual intake duration total and visual intake duration average), saccade details (saccade count, saccade frequency, saccade duration average and saccade velocity average), and blink details (blink count, blink frequency, blink duration total and blink duration average), serving as evaluative indicators of the interface's human-computer interaction. Findings suggest that visual information processing is more efficient with specific color pairings: a red foreground on white or gray backgrounds and a green foreground on a black background. For optimal usability, it is recommended that key, important, and secondary information be strategically positioned within different areas of the display and control interface for deep-sea operations.
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