Abstract: We present a human cognition framework for information visualization. This framework emphasizes how top-down cognitive processing enables the induction of insight, reasoning, and understanding, which are key goals of the visual analytics community. Specifically, we present a set of six leverage points that can be exploited by visualization designers in order to measurably influence certain aspects of human cognition: (1) exogenous attention; (2) endogenous attention; (3) chunking; (4) reasoning with mental models; (5) analogical reasoning; and (6) implicit learning.