It is really interesting whether visualized data lives longer in our long-term memory. I believe it is. And here are at least 2 reasons:
- Visualization is attractive. We pay more attention to interesting visualization. We dig into details, this spending more time looking into data, reading labels, etc. More time — better memorization.
- Visualization builds associations. When you see a number and a visual, you have more chances to remember this number. If you see a car and label “9,000,000 produced”, most likely you will build an association that 9M cars were produced somewhere and it will be more effective that just read the text. There are numerous mnemonic techniques based on associations, so I think visualization utilizes them naturally.
Are there any researches that prove that concept? I’d be very curious to know…