从视觉神经科学的视角看地图视觉变量理论

Revisiting cartographic visual variables from a perspective of visual neuroscience

地图是地理学的语言,视觉变量是地图学的基础理论。然而,当前对地图视觉变量的研究主要以经验描述归纳为主,视觉机理解释不足,存在感知顺序不清晰、“形状”视觉变量划分粒度不精细、“位置”视觉变量界定不清楚3个基本问题。本文在总结眼—脑系统中的主要视觉神经元的基础上,详细分析了视觉变量的神经机理,研究发现:①视觉变量的感知顺序首先是亮度和色彩,其次是简单的位置、方向、尺寸,最后是复杂的形状和纹理;旅游图的眼动实验表明,利用色彩能够被优先感知的特点,可以将色彩作为视觉线索,用于加强地图的视觉层次,引导读者的视觉注意力。②曲率可作为形状视觉变量的细分变量;可持续发展制图案例表明,曲率视觉变量可以有效用于表达定性、定量信息。③位置能够被视觉神经元直接高效识别和处理,应该被定义为一个视觉变量,但是在强调图形位置精度的情况下,它不宜变化。导航地图和印象地图的对比实验表明,位置视觉变量能够引起显著的视觉和情感唤醒度差异。本文研究结果可加深对地图视觉变量理论的理解,可为可持续发展制图、个性创意地图设计等提供新的视觉设计理论。

Maps are the language of geography and visual variables serve as fundamental theories in the fields of cartography.However,current research on visual variables in cartography predominantly relies on empirical description and induction,and the explanation of visual mechanism is insufficient.There are still three fundamental issues:the perceptual sequence of the visual variables is unclear,the granularity of the"shape"visual variable division is not precise,and the definition of the"location"visual variable is unclear.Based on the summary of the main visual neurons in the eye-brain system,this paper analyzes the neural mechanisms of visual variables in detail.The study uncovers several key findings:(1)The perception sequence of visual variables follows a pattern,starting with value and color,followed by simple location,orientation,size,and finally complex shape and texture.Eyetracking experiments conducted on tourist maps show that using the feature that color can be perceived first,color can be used as a visual cue to strengthen the visual hierarchy of the map and guide the visual attention of the readers.(2)Curvature can be used as a subdivision variable of shape visual variable.The case study in the context of sustainable development mapping shows that curvature variables can be effectively used to express both qualitative and quantitative information.(3)Location can be directly and efficiently processed and recognized by visual neurons,and thus it should be defined as a visual variable.However,it should not be changed when the accuracy of graphic position is emphasized.Comparative experiments between navigation map and city image map show that the location variable can cause significant evoke differences in visual perception and emotional arousal.The research in this paper contributes to a deeper understanding of the theory of visual variables and provides new visual design theory for sustainable development mapping,creative and personalized mapping.