Risk perception evaluation of epidemic maps using event-related potentials.

Epidemic maps, by incorporating outbreak characteristics and visually presenting the data, have become the primary means for the public to grasp spatiotemporal risk insights. This study aims to provide design strategies to enhance the readability and risk perception effectiveness of epidemic maps, optimizing their visual design to improve information acquisition efficiency and risk perception efficacy. Employing a synthesis of event-related potentials and questionnaires, we integrate participants’ subjective perceptions for six epidemic map types with EEG metrics, probing the cognitive underpinnings as they engage with diverse symbol and risk categorizations. The results reveal significant differences in participants’ subjective risk perception scores across the six types of epidemic maps, with notable variances in the amplitude and latency of P200 and P300 components triggered by these different maps. The above findings indicate: (1) Point-symbol epidemic maps exhibit a higher arousal level, more effectively capturing individual attention; (2) Area-symbol characteristics in low-risk contexts aid in enhancing information retrieval efficiency; (3) High-level risk information garners more attentional resources from individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]