Effects of Brightness Difference on Specific Map-Analysis Tasks: An Empirical Analysis

Abstract

The importance of brightness difference and its relationship to figural development in cartographic design should be obvious. There is, however, little empirical evidence of the ways in which brightness differences are incorporated in map design and how they influence map readability. This study examined the eye fixations of 16 subjects on three different map-analysis tasks involving a total of 96 different maps, in which graphic structure varied from nonexistent to strong, based on four different levels of brightness or value difference between figure and ground. Results from the first task indicated that brightness difference or contrast had no significant effect on either the number of fixations, their durations, or the abilities of subjects to complete the counting problem successfully. Data from the second and third tasks, on the other hand, revealed that contrast did play the definitive role in task performance. Maps without any contrast between figure and ground generated significantly more and longer fixations and a higher error rate, a reflection of the difficulty subjects experienced in visually processing maps lacking graphic organization.

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