Memorability of data physicalisation with relatable shapes

This paper describes a user study intended to gain insight into whether users' ability to recall is affected by whether the data physicalisations resemble the actual objects. This study looked specifically at the question, “Will data physicalisations with literal shapes help users to better remember the data, than using data physicalisations with more abstract shapes?”. Over 30 participants were asked to interact with data physicalisations that represents the amount of caffeine in different drinks. The physicalisation either resembles the shape of the actual drink or is a cube shape. The participants were asked to remember the relative order of different drinks in terms of their caffeine amount and their recommended daily caffeine limit. This was tested immediately after the interaction and again one week later. There is no significant difference between the two groups, but there are some interesting observations worth further investigation. Not enough evidence was found to suggest that creating a physicalisation that actively resembles the data topic, makes a difference in the recall ability of the user. The suggestion is that if the data and task are relatively simple (as in this study), the shape of the physicalisation does not further add to the recall ability.