Formal semantics of higher-level information of graphical representations that informs the study of diagrams comprehension

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It is known that diagrams simultaneously express information with different specificity and abstractness. We examined eye movements of people who read diagrams in order to determine whether high-abstraction information (called "higher-level information") was actually used in diagram comprehension. We found that it was actually used, and obtained the hypothesis that there is a specific way people control their attention to diagram elements and making such a control easier is a main function of diagrammatic representations as opposed to text-baed information.