Metaphoric Transfer Effect in Information Visualization Using Glyphs

Abstract

Metaphor is the underlying mechanism of information communication. Although metaphors are ubiquitous in information visualization designs, different connotations influence users' information processing dissimilarly. However, visual metaphors imply interfering attributes caused by the source concepts, and lead to backfire effects on users' inferences. Understanding the pros and cons of metaphoric transfer effect in information visualization would help optimizing visualization designs, and improve efficiency and accuracy of information processing. This study empirically examines how metaphors influence different activities of information processing, including comprehension, inference and judgment in information visualization. Metaphors illustrating strongly implying semantic meanings in source domain can improve both the user's conceptual fluency in information comprehension, and the rate of correctness in information searching.