Escaping Flatland

Graphics, Dimensionality, and Human Perception

Tyler Wiederich, Erin Blankenship & Susan Vanderplas

2024-07-01

Perception and Dimensionality

Cleveland and McGill (1984)

Figure 4, Cleveland & McGill (1984). Different types of comparisons with bar charts.

  • Hierarchy of visual features:
    • Accuracy for length > area > volume
    • Experiments manipulated position and angle
      (no actual area/volume experiments)
  • Type 1 vs. 3 comparisons: cognitive grouping

Zacks et al. (1998)

Common Graph Types. (Modified from Figure 2)

  • Matching task: higher error on volume than area

  • Estimation task: Error for volume > line > area

Illusions and Context

  • Optical Illusions where 3D heuristics are applied to 2D objects
    • Muller-Lyer
    • Sine Illusion
    • Color constancy

Developments in 3D Graphics

  • Generated with OpenSCAD or rayshader in R

  • Realistic environment

    • Rotation
    • Zoom
    • Interactivity

Developments in 3D Graphics