The impact of metaphors on information visualization

Metaphor is the underlying mechanism of information communication. Although metaphors are ubiquitous in information visualization designs, different connotations influence users’ information processing differently. Visual metaphors, however, may imply interfering attributes possibly 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 optimize visualization designs, and improve efficiency and accuracy of information processing. This paper empirically examines how metaphors influence different activities of information processing, including comprehension, inference and judgment in information visualization. Metaphors illustrating clear semantic meanings in the source domain can improve both the user’s conceptual fluency in information comprehension, and the rate of correct information search. Graphical Abstract