Mick McQuaid

Last week, someone in class mentioned that people are more likely to accept nonsensical conclusions if supported by attractive visualizations. In response, I mentioned a book by R”udiger Pohl, Cognitive Illusions, Psychology Press, 2004. I claimed that this was a separate topic from establishing definitions about information graphics. I looked at the book (you can see this part of it as a Google Books preview, and found a complementary case where external cognition (called external representation there) facilitates reasoning. It seems worthwhile to share it. (more…)