2021/08/09 by Tal Boger, Boger, Tal, Steven B. Most +3 · 3 citations
Computer Science · Environmental Science · Neuroscience · #Aesthetic Perception and Analysis #Data Visualization and Analytics #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Graphics (cs.GR) #Species Distribution and Climate Change
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2108.05182
openalex publication_date 2021/08/09 · openalex created_date 2022/07/25 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Graphs effectively communicate data because they capitalize on the visual\nsystem's ability to rapidly extract patterns. Yet, this pattern extraction does\nnot occur in a single glance. Instead, research on visual attention suggests\nthat the visual system iteratively applies a sequence of filtering operations\non an image, extracting patterns from subsets of visual information over time,\nwhile selectively inhibiting other information at each of these moments. To\ndemonstrate that this powerful series of filtering operations also occurs\nduring the perception of visualized data, we designed a task where participants\nmade judgments from one class of marks on a scatterplot, presumably\nincentivizing them to relatively ignore other classes of marks. Participants\nconsistently missed a conspicuous dinosaur in the ignored collection of marks\n(93% for a 1s presentation, and 61% for 2.5s), but not in a control condition\nwhere the incentive to ignore that collection was removed (25% for a 1s\npresentation, and 11% for 2.5s), revealing that data visualizations are not\n"seen" in a single glance, and instead require an active process of\nexploration.\n