Gestalt PrincipleS in Data Visualization

2022 Undergraduate Research & engagement Symposium

Authors: Natalie Tse, Dinko Bačić
august 2021-april 2022

What are Gestalt Laws? Proximity closure

GESTALT LAWS OR PRINCIPLES ARE KNOWN TO BE A OBJECTS THAT ARE SPACED CLOSER TOGETHER CAN BE
COMPLEX PATTERNS OR ELEMENTS WILL BE REARRANGED INTO A
PSYCHOLOGICAL SCHOOL OF THOUGHT ON HOW
WE(‘HUMANS’)PERCEIVE OBJECTS. AS WE OBSERVE
PERCEIVED AS MORE RELATED THAN THINGS THAT ARE SPACED
FURTHER APART
SINGLE AND RECOGNIZABLE PATTERNS
Data Uncovered Data Covered
methodlogy
THE WORLD AROUND US WE ARE CONSTANTLY SUBJECTS WILL OBSERVE STIMULI REPRESENTING ALL
STIMULATED WITH COMPLEX PATTERNS AND DESIGNS, GESTALT PRINCIPLES AND RESPOND TO A GIVEN
GESTALT PRINCIPLES AIM TO CATEGORIZE HOW WE TASK. THE FOLLOWING STEPS WILL BE AS FOLLOWED:
GROUP WHAT WE SEE IN VISUALIZATION. THERE ARE
8 GROUPING PRINCIPLES OF GESTALT: CLOSURE, 1.) WELCOME AND CONSENT FORM COLLECTION
COMMON FATE, CONTINUATION, SIMILARITY, FIGURE- 2.) CALIBRATION OF EQUIPMENT
GROUND, PROXIMITY, SYMMETRY, AND SIMILARITY 3.) DEMOGRAPHIC SURVEY
4.) EX1- GESTALT LAW OF PROXIMITY
5.) EX2- GESTALT LAW OF CLOSURE
6.) EX3 - GESTALT LAW OF CONTINUITY
Horizontal Equidistant 7.) EX4- GESTALT LAW OF SIMILARITY
objective RQ4a: Does the principle of closure influence our viewing behavior
8.) GESTALT LAW OF CONNECTEDNESS
9.) END
EXPLORE THE IMPACT OF GESTALT PRINCIPLES IN
and performance when reading line charts with missing data (without a
VISUALIZATION USING STIMULI TO RECORD THE
specific tasks)?
PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSE AS INDICATORS OF THE
Task: Look at this trend line for 6 seconds
USERS’ COGNITIVE PROCESS.
Vertical
Collected data: Time,Eye-tracking data (fixation count, duration,
fixation sequencing/direction, gaze heat map, AOIs)
next steps
similarity RQ2a: Does the principle of proximity influence our viewing behavior
when using various table designs without a specific task?
Literature Review
OBJECTS THAT ARE SIMILAR ARE PERCEIVED TO BE
RELATED TO ELEMENTS THAT ARE NOT.
Task: Observe each stimuli for 6 seconds
Collected data: Eye-tracking data (fixation count, duration, fixation
connectedness
sequencing/direction, gaze heat map, AOIs) OBJECTS THAT ARE ARRANGED IN A LINE WILL BE PERCEIVED AS IRB Approval
MORE RELATED

Stimuli Creation

data collection

Vertical
RQ1a: Is there a difference in how we achieve similarity Equidistant Dots Without Line
analysis of results
(shape, color, or label) impact our viewing behavior and
Vertical RQ5a: Does the principle of connectedness influence our viewing
performance ?
RQ3a: Does the principle of proximity influence our viewing behavior behavior and performance in a grouping task?
Task: How many groups of related items do you see?
(basic shapes) ? Task: How many groups of related dots do you see?
Collected data: Eye-tracking data (fixation count, duration,
Task: Observe each stimuli for 6 seconds Collected data: Accuracy, Time, Eye-tracking data (fixation count, publication & peer reviewed
fixation sequencing/direction, gaze heat map, AOIs)
Collected data: Eye-tracking data (fixation count, duration, fixation duration, direction, gaze heat map, AOIs)
sequencing/direction, gaze heat map, AOIs)