We’re “Over the rainbow” with this new paper

We’re glad to announce the publication in Neuroimage of our new open-access paper written in collaboration with researchers at Monash University (Australia).

“Over the rainbow: Guidelines for meaningful use of colour maps in neurophysiology” is our response to the challenges posed by the visualization of complex, multidimensional data, which is now commonplace in neurophysiology research.

In this article, we highlight specific perceptual biases (such as that of false, abrupt changes data distributions) and issues (including those experienced by color blind readers) related to the ongoing misuse of variations of the rainbow colour scheme in scientific publications. We use time-frequency decompositions in electrophysiology as an illustrative example of these issues and their solutions.

We review the risks of biased interpretation of neurophysiological data in this context, and provide guidelines to improve the use of the most appropriate colormaps to visualise complex, multidimensional data.