William S. Cleveland & Robert McGill (1984)
Journal of the American Statistical Association, 79(387), 531-554.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01621459.1984.10478080
Abstract. The empirical study that produced the Cleveland-McGill hierarchy of perceptual tasks — position (best) → length → angle → area → volume → colour (worst). Quantifies the trade-off between perceptual accuracy and information density in graphical encoding. Cited by every chart-style argument since.
Tags: visualisation perception foundational empirical