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Updated: Nov 18, 2025

Visualizing Visual Adaptation
Published on: April 24, 2017
Susceptibility of domain experts to color manipulation indicate a need for design principles in data visualization
Markus Christen1,2, Peter Brugger3,4, Sara Irina Fabrikant2,5
1Institute of Biomedical Ethics and History of Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Abstract:
Color is key for the visual encoding of data, yet its use reportedly affects decision making in important ways. We examined the impact of various popular color schemes on experts' and lay peoples' map-based decisions in two, geography and neuroscience, scenarios, in an online visualization experiment. We found that changes in color mappings influence domain experts, especially neuroimaging experts, more in their decision-making than novices. Geographic visualization experts exhibited more trust in the unfavorable rainbow color scale than would have been predicted by their suitability ratings and their training, which renders them sensitive to scale appropriateness. Our empirical results make a strong call for increasing scientists' awareness for and training in perceptually salient and cognitively informed design principles in data visualization.
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