How do people internalize visualizations: as images or information? In this study, we investigate the nature of internalization for visualizations (i.e., how the mind encodes visualizations in memory) and how memory encoding affects its retrieval. This exploratory work examines the influence of various design elements on a user's perception of a chart. Specifically, which design elements lead to perceptions of visualization as an image or as information? Understanding how design elements contribute to viewers perceiving a visualization more as an image or information will help designers decide which elements to include to achieve their communication goals. For this study, we annotated 500 visualizations and analyzed the responses of 250 online participants, who rated the visualizations on a bilinear scale as image or information. We then conducted an in-person study (n = 101) using a free recall task to examine how the image/information ratings and design elements impact memory. The results revealed several interesting findings: Image-rated visualizations were perceived as more aesthetically appealing, enjoyable, and pleasing. Information-rated visualizations were perceived as less difficult to understand and more aesthetically likable and nice, though participants expressed higher positive sentiment when viewing image-rated visualizations and felt less guided to a conclusion. We also found different patterns among participants that were older. Importantly, we show that visualizations internalized as images are less effective in conveying trends and messages, though they elicit a more positive emotional judgment, while informative visualizations exhibit annotation focused recall and elicit a more positive design judgment. We discuss the implications of this dissociation between aesthetic pleasure and perceived ease of use in visualization design.

翻译：人们如何内化可视化内容：是将其视为图像还是信息？本研究探讨了可视化内化的本质（即大脑如何在记忆中编码可视化信息）以及记忆编码如何影响信息检索。这项探索性工作考察了不同设计元素对用户图表感知的影响。具体而言，哪些设计元素会导致用户将可视化内容感知为图像或信息？理解设计元素如何促使观者将可视化内容更多视为图像或信息，将有助于设计者决定采用哪些元素以实现其传播目标。本研究中，我们对500个可视化作品进行了标注，并分析了250名在线参与者的反馈，他们使用双线性量表对可视化作品进行图像或信息评级。随后，我们开展了一项包含101名参与者的现场研究，采用自由回忆任务考察图像/信息评级及设计元素对记忆的影响。研究结果揭示了几个有趣发现：被评为"图像"的可视化作品被认为更具审美吸引力、更令人愉悦和舒适。被评为"信息"的可视化作品被认为更易理解、外观更讨喜且设计更佳——尽管参与者观看图像类别可视化时表达了更积极的情感，且更少感受到被引导至特定结论。我们还发现年长参与者表现出不同的模式。重要的是，研究表明，被内化为图像的可视化在传达趋势和信息方面效果较差，尽管它们能引发更积极的情感判断；而信息性可视化则表现出以注释为中心的回忆模式，并引发更积极的设计判断。本文探讨了这种审美愉悦与感知易用性在可视化设计中的分离现象所蕴含的启示。