Primary supervisor

Benjamin Tag

Co-supervisors

Human Perception and Cognition in Visualization is a field of research that focuses on understanding how people perceive and understand visual representations of data. Many questions about how investigating visual representations of data can influence user perceptions, decision-making, and memory, are unanswered.
Human perception and cognition play a critical role in the effectiveness of visualization. The goal of this project is to study visualization techniques in Virtual Reality (VR) that support human cognitive processes, making it easier for people to extract meaningful insights from data.

In particular, this project aims to investigate how visual representations of data in VR can support or influence the decisions that people make. Specifically, we want to answer one or more of the following questions:


1.    How do different visualization techniques in VR influence decision-making?
2.    What are the most effective visualization techniques in VR for supporting decision-making?
3.    What makes cognitive processes involved in decision-making in VR different from cognitive processes in non-immersive environments?

 

Student cohort

Double Semester

Aim/outline

The project scope includes the following:

  • Literature Review: The first step will be to review existing research on visualization and decision-making. This will provide a foundation for the study and help identify key investigation areas.
  • Experimental Design: The study will involve a controlled experiment in which participants will be presented with different visual representations of data in an immersive environment and asked to make decisions based on the data. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of several groups, each receiving a different visualization technique.
  • Data Collection: The participants will be asked to make decisions based on the data presented in each visualization, and their choices will be recorded. In addition, participants will be asked to complete a survey to gather information on their background, reasoning, and perceptions of the visualization techniques used in the experiment.
  • Data Analysis: The data collected in the experiment will be analyzed to understand the impact of different visualization techniques on decision-making. This will include statistical analysis to compare the decision-making accuracy of participants in each group and qualitative analysis of the survey data to understand the participants' perceptions of the visualization techniques used in the experiment.

Required knowledge

Skills required:

  • VR development experience (e.g., Unity)
  • Data analysis
  • Interest in running user studies

Beneficial:

  • Interest in VR, immersive environments
  • Academic writing/research skills
  • Interest in running user studies
  • Independent decision making