A depiction of types of visual inference showing four main transformations. Moves from pattern to structure (arc BC) and from structure to process (CD) are generative and expand information content. Moves from unresolved phenomena to a pattern (arc AB), from process to structure or from structure to pattern (CB, DC, DB) are also generative but reduce the information content of an image.

From Beyond illustration: 2d and 3d digital technologies as tools for discovery in archaeology by Bernard Frischer and Anastasia Dakouri-Hild