Visualizing pathogens: Disfluent shapes of pathogens increase their perceived complexity and danger while realism and disfluency boost the credibility of visualizations

Abstract

During the COVID‐19 pandemic, the public was regularly presented with visualizations of the viral pathogen causing this disease. Since there are several ways of visually communicating information, we investigate whether different types of visualizations affect how viewers judge the credibility of information as well as the complexity and potential harm of pathogens. A first experiment was conducted to assess whether a round, fluent shape elicits a different response than pathogens featuring disfluent components such as thread‐like appendages. Visualizations of disfluent bacteria were rated as more credible than those of fluent bacteria. In Experiment 2, bacteria were either presented as realistic renderings or as cartoon‐like line drawings (varied between‐subjects). Furthermore, half of the six bacteria had fluent shapes, while the other half featured disfluent shapes, resulting in the within‐subjects factor of fluency. Participants were asked to rate the credibility, complexity, and risk of serious illness associated with these bacteria. We found that disfluent bacteria were perceived as having a more complex metabolism and as holding a higher risk for serious illness. Furthermore, realism and disfluent shapes increase the credibility of visualizations, but not the credibility of additional information. These results have important implications for the field of science communication.

COVID ‐19 information fatigue? A case study of a German university website during two waves of the pandemic

“…For instance, a recent study found that even minor changes in the (visual) presentation of pathogens can have a substantial effect. The subjective level of danger felt when being presented with visualizations of pathogens can be affected by their shapes (Skulmowski & Rey, 2020b). As the type of visualization used to accompany information on pathogens can thus potentially contribute to a heightened level of anxiety, the mere selection of graphics that are used in a news report becomes a task with a high responsibility (Skulmowski & Rey, 2020b).…”

“…The subjective level of danger felt when being presented with visualizations of pathogens can be affected by their shapes (Skulmowski & Rey, 2020b). As the type of visualization used to accompany information on pathogens can thus potentially contribute to a heightened level of anxiety, the mere selection of graphics that are used in a news report becomes a task with a high responsibility (Skulmowski & Rey, 2020b). Considering the highly emotional responses in the first wave (e.g., Su, Wu, Li, Xue, & Zhu, 2021), the aspect of how and at which rate information is conveyed to the public during such long emergency situations needs to be taken into account.…”

Is a Preference for Realism Really Naive After All? A Cognitive Model of Learning with Realistic Visualizations

“…For instance, the credibility of learning content is a highly relevant factor for educational contexts (Chinn et al, 2020;Scharrer et al, 2019). The stronger resemblance between realistic visualizations and the real world is a major advantage over schematic visualizations that has been demonstrated in empirical studies (Skulmowski & Rey, 2021b;Zanola et al, 2009). Zanola et al (2009) compared three visualization styles regarding their credibility ratings: a sketch style mimicking hand-drawn lines, a clean technical style lacking details, and a realistic style featuring even small details.…”

“…In that study, a higher level of realism was associated with higher credibility ratings as indicated by differences between the ratings for these visualizations. In another study, Skulmowski and Rey (2021b) demonstrated that pictures of pathogens (bacteria) were rated as more credible than "toon" renderings of the same bacteria. Results such as these could be considered as evidence for a naive trust in realistic graphics in line with the assumptions of naive realism.…”