We apply an approach from cognitive linguistics by mapping Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) to the visualization domain to address patterns of visual conceptual metaphors that are often used in science infographics. Metaphors play an essential part in visual communication and are frequently employed to explain complex concepts. However, their use is often based on intuition, rather than following a formal process. At present, we lack tools and language for understanding and describing metaphor use in visualization to the extent where taxonomy and grammar could guide the creation of visual components, e.g., infographics. Our classification of the visual conceptual mappings within scientific representations is based on the breakdown of visual components in existing scientific infographics. We demonstrate the development of this mapping through a detailed analysis of data collected from four domains (biomedicine, climate, space, and anthropology) that represent a diverse range of visual conceptual metaphors used in the visual communication of science. This work allows us to identify patterns of visual conceptual metaphor use within the domains, resolve ambiguities about why specific conceptual metaphors are used, and develop a better overall understanding of visual metaphor use in scientific infographics. Our analysis shows that ontological and orientational conceptual metaphors are the most widely applied to translate complex scientific concepts. To support our findings we developed a visual exploratory tool based on the collected database that places the individual infographics on a spatio-temporal scale and illustrates the breakdown of visual conceptual metaphors.

翻译：我们应用认知语言学的方法，将概念隐喻理论映射到可视化领域，以探究科学信息图中常用的视觉概念隐喻模式。隐喻在视觉传达中扮演着关键角色，常被用于解释复杂概念。然而，其使用多基于直觉，而非遵循规范流程。目前，我们缺乏理解和描述可视化中隐喻使用的工具与语言体系，尚未建立能够指导视觉组件（如信息图）构建的分类学与语法框架。我们对科学表征中视觉概念映射的分类，基于对现有科学信息图中视觉组件的解构分析。通过对来自四个领域（生物医学、气候、空间和人类学）采集数据的深入分析，我们展示了这种映射体系的构建过程，这些领域代表了科学视觉传达中使用的多样化视觉概念隐喻。此项工作使我们能够识别各领域内视觉概念隐喻的使用模式，厘清特定概念隐喻使用动机的模糊性，并深化对科学信息图中视觉隐喻应用的整体理解。我们的分析表明，本体隐喻和方位隐喻在转化复杂科学概念时应用最为广泛。为支撑研究发现，我们基于收集的数据库开发了视觉探索工具，该工具将独立信息图置于时空尺度上，并可视化呈现视觉概念隐喻的解构分析。