The Phantom Effect in Information Visualization

23/11/2023

With the increased usage of visualizations to draw conclusions from data, the need to guarantee that cognitive biases do not interfere with InfoVis also rises. The Phantom Effect is a cognitive bias in the category of decoy effects where the decoy is an optimal yet unavailable alternative. Decoy effects affect decision tasks by leading the decision toward the decoy. To study the Phantom Effect in InfoVis, we conducted a mixed design experiment where 76 people performed decision tasks with the aid of information represented in five different visualization idioms. The close relationship between cognitive biases and individual differences motivated us to check for correlations between those and the expression of the Phantom Effect. Therefore, we measured participants' cognitive abilities, namely Perceptual Speed and Visual Working Memory, as well as visualization literacy. The results of this study present proof that the Phantom Effect, similar to other decoy effects, does have an expression in InfoVis. Some visualization idioms, such as two-sided bar charts, are more effective at mitigating this cognitive bias. We also tested three different presentation delay conditions for disclosing the phantom alternative's unavailability and found that one of the conditions can reduce the Phantom Effect. On the other hand, we found no statistically significant correlation between the measured individual differences and the expression of the Phantom Effect. We motivate future research and replication of our study in order to consolidate our results and expand the knowledge on this cognitive bias that occurs in one of the most common visualization tasks.

Autores da comunidade :

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  C

  Carolina Micaela Pinto Duarte Pereira

  ist192433

Orientadores desta instituição:

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  S

  Sandra Pereira Gama

  ist152404

• 

  T

  Tomás Almeida e Silva Martins Alves

  ist175541

electrical-engineering-electronic-engineering-information-engineering - Engenharia Eletrotécnica, Eletrónica e Informática

eng - Inglês

Instituto Superior Técnico