Featured Events

Workshop: On Novel Directions in Vision Science and Visualization Research

Date: October 25, 2021
Time: 8am-11:30pm CDT
Location: Link in IEEE VIS program (register here)

Description: Interdisciplinary work across vision science and visualization has provided a new lens to advance research methods and the empirical understanding of how people see and make sense of visualized data. By studying how people leverage visual cognition to perceive and interpret visualized data, researchers gain direct insight into how well visualizations achieve user goals. Topics in vision sciences, such as memory, ensemble coding, numerical cognition, saliency, color perception, search, and pattern recognition map directly to common challenges encountered in visualization research. Designers can use insights from vision research to inform effective visualization designs, which can in turn inspire new opportunities to understand how such visualizations work. Building on the growing interest in work at this intersection from both the vision science and visualization communities, this 2nd biennial workshop provides a venue to bring new researchers to IEEE VIS. We aim to discuss innovative discoveries at this intersection, share cutting-edge research methods/findings/proposals, and inspire new collaborations by leveraging the unique affordances of a hybrid conference, providing a platform for diverse voices.

Keynote Speakers

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Keisuke Fukuda, University of Toronto Mississauga

Dilemma of visual working memory: visual working memory gets distorted when used for perceptual comparisons

How do we look for a friend on a crowded street? Many theories propose that we actively represent a memory representation of the friend in our visual working memory (VWM) and compare it with the individuals you see on the street. Although past studies have successfully characterized the capacity and quality of VWM, the consequence of its usage in perceptual comparisons has been largely unknown. In this talk, I will demonstrate that VWM representations get distorted when we use them for perceptual comparisons with new visual inputs, especially when the inputs are subjectively similar to the VWM representations. Furthermore, I will show that this similarity-induced memory bias (SIMB) occurs for both simple (e.g., color, shape) and complex stimuli (e.g., real-world objects, faces) that are perceptually encoded and retrieved from long-term memory. Given the observed versatility of the SIMB, its implication for other memory distortion phenomena (e.g., distractor-induced distortion, misinformation effect) will be discussed.

Relevant VIS papers:

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Jiaying Zhao, University of British Columbia

Attentional and Perceptual Biases of Climate Change

Climate change is the most significant global challenge facing humanity, but many people still remain skeptical and refuse to take actions despite the unequivocal scientific evidence. In this talk, I discuss a number of attentional and perceptual biases that contribute to the public polarization on climate change. These biases include differences in attentional and visual processing driven by political orientation, exaggerated perceptions of out-group and in-group norms, and underestimations of greenhouse gas emissions of common objects and actions. I further propose communication approaches such as visualization and framing to mitigate some of these biases, with the broader goal of minimizing polarizing views and promoting public actions to address climate change.

Relevant VIS papers:

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Todd Horowitz, NIH

Towards a science of visual health risk communication

Communicating quantitative information about risk is central to cancer control, and across public health and medicine. Persuading people to adopt healthier behaviors, helping patients choose between courses of treatment with complex outcomes, deciding whether or not to sign up for a clinical trial; all of these scenarios involve accurately communicating probabilistic information about risk to laypeople. Even highly educated people have difficulty understanding probabilistic health information when communicated verbally. The solution has been to shift to graphic representations of probability. Unfortunately, the science of health graphics is atheoretical and largely ignores developments in basic vision science, leading to suboptimal outcomes and lack of replicability. Conversely, work on quantitative perception in vision science is rarely conducted in a health context. Visualization science has been primarily focused on serving physicians. It is time for a science of visual risk communication aimed at improving the visual communication of health risks and probabilities to patients and the public at large, across all educational and socioeconomic groups. This effort requires contributions from medicine, psychophysics, visualization, cognitive psychology, and affective science, among other disciplines.

Relevant VIS papers:

Workshop Program

Time Slot (HHMM, 24hr, in US Central Time Zone) Title Type
0800-0930 Session: Paper Presentations
0800-0805 Opening Remarks Live Zoom Presentation
0805-0815 Effects of direct color-concept associations on interpretations of colormap information visualizations Recorded Presentation with live Q&A
0815-0825 Show or Tell? Visual and Verbal Representations Bias Position Recall Recorded Presentation with live Q&A
0825-0835 Different Visualizations of Machine Learning Outputs Influence the Speed and Accuracy of User Evaluations Recorded Presentation with live Q&A
0835-0845 Illusory Area Perception in Bubble Plots Recorded Presentation with live Q&A
0845-0855 Visualization Using Field of Light Displays: Opportunities and New Questions Recorded Presentation with live Q&A
0855-0905 How Not to Study a Visualization Recorded Presentation with live Q&A
0905-0915 Paper Talk Panel Live Zoom Presentation
0915-0930 Towards a science of visual health risk communication Recorded Presentation with live Q&A
0930-1000
Session: Break/Recruiting/Social
 Discord
Session: Invited Speaker and Workshopping
1000-1001 Welcome Back Live Zoom Presentation
1001-1016 Dilemma of visual working memory: visual working memory gets distorted when used for perceptual comparisons Recorded Presentation with live Q&A
1016-1031 Attentional and Perceptual Biases of Climate Change Recorded Presentation with live Q&A
1031-1055 Invited Speaker Panel Live Zoom Presentation
1055-1100 Workshopping Introduction Live Zoom Presentation
1100-1125 Workshopping Session Zoom Breakout Rooms
1125-1130 Closing Remarks/Recruiting Live Zoom Presentation

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