The Science of Visual Data Communication: What Works

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 110-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven L. Franconeri ◽  
Lace M. Padilla ◽  
Priti Shah ◽  
Jeffrey M. Zacks ◽  
Jessica Hullman
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Science Education ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Data Communication ◽  
What Works ◽  
Graphical Literacy ◽  
Visual Systems ◽  
Global Statistics ◽  
Data Visualizations

Effectively designed data visualizations allow viewers to use their powerful visual systems to understand patterns in data across science, education, health, and public policy. But ineffectively designed visualizations can cause confusion, misunderstanding, or even distrust—especially among viewers with low graphical literacy. We review research-backed guidelines for creating effective and intuitive visualizations oriented toward communicating data to students, coworkers, and the general public. We describe how the visual system can quickly extract broad statistics from a display, whereas poorly designed displays can lead to misperceptions and illusions. Extracting global statistics is fast, but comparing between subsets of values is slow. Effective graphics avoid taxing working memory, guide attention, and respect familiar conventions. Data visualizations can play a critical role in teaching and communication, provided that designers tailor those visualizations to their audience.

scholarly journals The Neural Basis of Reversible Sentence Comprehension: Evidence from Voxel-based Lesion Symptom Mapping in Aphasia

2012 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 212-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malathi Thothathiri ◽  
Daniel Y. Kimberg ◽  
Myrna F. Schwartz
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Parietal Cortex ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Broca's Area ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Phonological Working Memory ◽  
Large Group ◽  
Complex Sentences ◽  
Lesion Symptom Mapping

We explored the neural basis of reversible sentence comprehension in a large group of aphasic patients (n = 79). Voxel-based lesion symptom mapping revealed a significant association between damage in temporo-parietal cortex and impaired sentence comprehension. This association remained after we controlled for phonological working memory. We hypothesize that this region plays an important role in the thematic or what–where processing of sentences. In contrast, we detected weak or no association between reversible sentence comprehension and the ventrolateral pFC, which includes Broca's area, even for syntactically complex sentences. This casts doubt on theories that presuppose a critical role for this region in syntactic computations.

scholarly journals A Conceptual Framework for Integration Development of GSFLOW Model: Concerns and Issues Identified and Addressed for Model Development Efficiency

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chao Chen ◽  
Sajjad Ahmad ◽  
Ajay Kalra
Keyword(s):  
Groundwater Flow ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Model Development ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Data Communication ◽  
Flow Simulation ◽  
Creek Watershed ◽  
Surface Water Flow ◽  
Computation Algorithms

Abstract. In Coupled Groundwater and Surface-Water Flow (GSFLOW) model, the three-dimensional finite-difference groundwater model (MODFLOW) plays a critical role of groundwater flow simulation, together with which the Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System (PRMS) simulates the surface hydrologic processes. While the model development of each individual PRMS and MODFLOW model requires tremendous time and efforts, further integration development of these two models exerts additional concerns and issues due to different simulation realm, data communication, and computation algorithms. To address these concerns and issues in GSFLOW, the present paper proposes a conceptual framework from perspectives of: Model Conceptualization, Data Linkages and Transference, Model Calibration, and Sensitivity Analysis. As a demonstration, a MODFLOW groundwater flow system was developed and coupled with the PRMS model in the Lehman Creek watershed, eastern Nevada, resulting in a smooth and efficient integration as the hydrogeologic features were well captured and represented. The proposed conceptual integration framework with techniques and concerns identified substantially improves GSFLOW model development efficiency and help better model result interpretations. This may also find applications in other integrated hydrologic modelings.

scholarly journals Prefrontal and Parietal Attractor Networks Mediate Working Memory Judgments

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sihai Li ◽  
Christos Constantinidis ◽  
Xue-Lian Qi
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Delayed Response ◽  
Persistent Activity ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Brain Areas ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal

ABSTRACTThe dorsolateral prefrontal cortex plays a critical role in spatial working memory and its activity predicts behavioral responses in delayed response tasks. Here we addressed whether this predictive ability extends to categorical judgments based on information retained in working memory, and is present in other brain areas. We trained monkeys in a novel, Match-Stay, Nonmatch-Go task, which required them to observe two stimuli presented in sequence with an intervening delay period between them. If the two stimuli were different, the monkeys had to saccade to the location of the second stimulus; if they were the same, they held fixation. Neurophysiological recordings were performed in areas 8a and 46 of the dlPFC and 7a and lateral intraparietal cortex (LIP) of the PPC. We hypothesized that random drifts causing the peak activity of the network to move away from the first stimulus location and towards the location of the second stimulus would result in categorical errors. Indeed, for both areas, when the first stimulus appeared in a neuron’s preferred location, the neuron showed significantly higher firing rates in correct than in error trials. When the first stimulus appeared at a nonpreferred location and the second stimulus at a preferred, activity in error trials was higher than in correct. The results indicate that the activity of both dlPFC and PPC neurons is predictive of categorical judgments of information maintained in working memory, and the magnitude of neuronal firing rate deviations is revealing of the contents of working memory as it determines performance.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTThe neural basis of working memory and the areas mediating this function is a topic of controversy. Persistent activity in the prefrontal cortex has traditionally been thought to be the neural correlate of working memory, however recent studies have proposed alternative mechanisms and brain areas. Here we show that persistent activity in both the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and posterior parietal cortex predicts behavior in a working memory task that requires a categorical judgement. Our results offer support to the idea that a network of neurons in both areas act as an attractor network that maintains information in working memory, which informs behavior.

Concurrent verbal working memory load constrains cross-linguistic translation activation: A visual world eye-tracking study on Hindi–English bilinguals

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Seema Prasad ◽  
Ramesh Kumar Mishra
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Spoken Word ◽  
Cognitive Resources ◽  
Visual World ◽  
Sequence Recognition ◽  
Word Onset ◽  
Study Participants

Abstract Does a concurrent verbal working memory (WM) load constrain cross-linguistic activation? In a visual world study, participants listened to Hindi (L1) or English (L2) spoken words and viewed a display containing the phonological cohort of the translation equivalent (TE cohort) of the spoken word and 3 distractors. Experiment 1 was administered without a load. Participants then maintained two or four letters (Experiment 2) or two, six or eight letters (Experiment 3) in WM and were tested on backward sequence recognition after the visual world display. Greater looks towards TE cohorts were observed in both the language directions in Experiment 1. With a load, TE cohort activation was inhibited in the L2 – L1 direction and observed only in the early stages after word onset in the L1 – L2 direction suggesting a critical role of language direction. These results indicate that cross-linguistic activation as seen through eye movements depends on cognitive resources such as WM.

Elevating the Scientific and Public Policy Discourse on Crime Prevention: Taking Stock of the ‘What Works’ Report’s Influence 20 Years on

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 271-285
Author(s):  
Brandon C Welsh ◽  
Andrea B Wexler
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Crime Prevention ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Policy Discourse ◽  
Washington Dc ◽  
University Of Maryland ◽  
What Works ◽  
Prevention Programmes ◽  
The University ◽  
Evidence Based Policing

Abstract In 1997, the Office of Justice Programs published Preventing Crime: What Works, What Doesn’t, What’s Promising (Sherman, L. W., Gottfredson, D. C., MacKenzie, D. L., Eck, J. E., Reuter, P., and Bushway, S. D. (1997). Preventing Crime: What Works, What Doesn’t, What’s Promising. Washington, DC: Office of Justice Programs). The report was commissioned by the US Congress and was prepared by a team of criminologists from the University of Maryland. It aspired to be a methodologically rigorous and comprehensive review of the effectiveness of crime prevention programmes, ranging from prenatal home visits to community policing to parole. This 20-year review of the ‘what works’ report finds that it has been influential in elevating both the scientific and public policy discourse on crime prevention. It did this on three main fronts. First, it reaffirmed that not all evaluation designs are equally valid and made clear that only designs that provide confidence in observed effects should contribute to the evidence base. Secondly, it advanced the equally important task of assessing research evidence and, despite some limitations, adopted a more rigorous method for this purpose. Thirdly, undergirding all of this was the report’s commitment to the communication of science for the benefit of all parties: policymakers, practitioners, researchers, and the public. Implications for policy—with special reference to evidence-based policing—and research are discussed.

scholarly journals Working Memory and the Suppression of Reflexive Saccades

2002 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason P. Mitchell ◽  
C. Neil Macrae ◽  
Iain D. Gilchrist
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Behavioral Responses ◽  
Error Rates ◽  
Antisaccade Task ◽  
Working Memory Load ◽  
Reflexive Saccades ◽  
Back Task

Conscious behavioral intentions can frequently fail under conditions of attentional depletion. In attempting to trace the cognitive origin of this effect, we hypothesized that failures of action control—specifically, oculomotor movement—can result from the imposition of fronto-executive load. To evaluate this prediction, participants performed an antisaccade task while simultaneously completing a working-memory task that is known to make variable demands on prefrontal processes (n-back task, see Jonides et al., 1997). The results of two experiments are reported. As expected, antisaccade error rates were increased in accordance with the fronto-executive demands of the n-back task (Experiment 1). In addition, the debilitating effects of working-memory load were restricted to the inhibitory component of the antisaccade task (Experiment 2). These findings corroborate the view that working memory operations play a critical role in the suppression of prepotent behavioral responses.

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