From the course: Design Theory for Data Visualization

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Preattentive processing for pattern recognition

Preattentive processing for pattern recognition

From the course: Design Theory for Data Visualization

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Preattentive processing for pattern recognition

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- Beyond basic visual hierarchy, how does our brain prioritize what to process from all of the sensory information coming in? Before I tell you the how and the why, let's look at an example together. Can you locate the highest and lowest number pictured here? What about now? Much easier the second time, right? Do your eyes quickly see the patterns uncovered through color, gravitating to the dark green number, 47, and the dark red number, 3? With the element of color added, making this a heat map table, you can pull out the highest and lowest numbers in a matter of seconds. This circles back to our question of how and why our brain prioritizes what to process when flooded with information. The answer? Preattentive processing. Preattentive processing is the subconscious accumulation of information from your environment. This instinct originally evolved in humans as a way to quickly assess a situation, discern a pattern, and choose whether to react. All the information we're exposed to…

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