New Findings in Risk Management Described from Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (Does Iconicity in Pictographs Matter? The Influence of…

New Findings in Risk Management Described from Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (Does Iconicity in Pictographs Matter? The Influence of Iconicity and Numeracy on Information Processing, Decision Making, and Liking in an Eye-Tracking Study)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Weekly News -- Investigators publish new report on Risk Management. According to news reporting originating in Zurich, Switzerland, by VerticalNews journalists, research stated, "Researchers recommend the use of pictographs in medical risk communication to improve people's risk comprehension and decision making. However, it is not yet clear whether the iconicity used in pictographs to convey risk information influences individuals' information processing and comprehension."

Financial support for this research came from Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Forderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung.

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, "In an eye-tracking experiment with participants from the general population (N = 188), we examined whether specific types of pictograph icons influence the processing strategy viewers use to extract numerical information. In addition, we examined the effect of iconicity and numeracy on probability estimation, recall, and icon liking. This experiment used a 2 (iconicity: blocks vs. restroom icons)x2 (scenario: medical vs. nonmedical) between-subject design. Numeracy had a significant effect on information processing strategy, but we found no effect of iconicity or scenario. Results indicated that both icon types enabled high and low numerates to use their default way of processing and extracting the gist of the message from the pictorial risk communication format: high numerates counted icons, whereas low numerates used large-area processing. There was no effect of iconicity in the probability estimation. However, people who saw restroom icons had a higher probability of correctly recalling the exact risk level. Iconicity had no effect on icon liking. Although the effects are small, our findings suggest that person-like restroom icons in pictographs seem to have some advantages for risk communication."

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: "Specifically, in nonpersonalized prevention brochures, person-like restroom icons may maintain reader motivation for processing the risk information."

For more information on this research see: Does Iconicity in Pictographs Matter? The Influence of Iconicity and Numeracy on Information Processing, Decision Making, and Liking in an Eye-Tracking Study. Risk Analysis, 2017;37(3):546-556. Risk Analysis can be contacted at: Wiley, 111 River St, Hoboken 07030-5774, NJ, USA. (Wiley-Blackwell - www.wiley.com/; Risk Analysis - onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1539-6924)

Our news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained by contacting C. Kreuzmair, Swiss Fed Inst Technol, Inst Environm Decis IED, Consumer Behav, CH-8092 Zurich, Switzerland. Additional authors for this research include M. Siegrist and C. Keller.

Keywords for this news article include: Zurich, Switzerland, Europe, Risk Management, Risk and Prevention, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.

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