Composition Science Research

Phase 2: Visual Hierarchy, Wayfinding, and Attention

Purpose

The next phase shifts from studying architecture as physical space to understanding how humans allocate attention and construct mental models.

Central question:

How do humans know where to look?

Core Hypothesis

Composition is the external organization of information to match the internal operating characteristics of the human brain.

Research Areas

Attention

• Contrast
• Size
• Motion
• Novelty
• Faces
• Text
• Color
• Orientation

Research:

• What attracts attention first?
• What causes attention to shift?
• What interrupts attention?

Eye Movement

Topics:

• Saccades
• Fixations
• Scan paths
• Peripheral vision
• Visual search

Questions:

• Can eye movements be predicted?
• Can layouts reduce unnecessary eye movement?

Landmarks

Variables:

• Uniqueness
• Contrast
• Location
• Frequency
• Size
• Isolation

Mental Maps

Study how people build internal representations of environments and information.

Decision Points

Variables:

• Number of choices
• Uncertainty
• Visibility
• Reversibility
• Familiarity

Hierarchy

Hierarchy includes:

• Position
• Isolation
• Contrast
• Motion
• Size
• White space
• Timing
• Color
• Shape
• Repetition

Predictability

Investigate how expectation guides navigation and how violations of expectation affect comprehension.

Emerging Cross-Domain Laws

LAW-COMP-001: Attention flows toward the highest information gain for the lowest expected cost.

LAW-COMP-002: Distinct landmarks reduce navigation uncertainty.

LAW-COMP-003: Navigation succeeds when local decisions reinforce a coherent global mental model.

LAW-COMP-004: Visual hierarchy is fundamentally an attention allocation mechanism.

LAW-COMP-005: Every unnecessary decision consumes cognitive capacity that cannot be used for the primary task.

Broader Theory

Composition is fundamentally about managing limited cognitive resources:

• Attention
• Working memory
• Visual processing
• Decision making
• Prediction
• Anticipated effort
• Emotion

Next Investigation

Perform a comprehensive review of:

1. Eye-tracking research
2. Visual search
3. Saliency models
4. Cognitive psychology
5. Neuroscience of attention
6. Wayfinding
7. Human-computer interaction

Goal:

Identify measurable variables that recur across disciplines and convert them into evidence-backed composition laws.