Cookies help us display personalized product recommendations and ensure you have great shopping experience.

By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
SmartData CollectiveSmartData Collective
  • Analytics
    AnalyticsShow More
    data analytics and truck accident claims
    How Data Analytics Reduces Truck Accidents and Speeds Up Claims
    7 Min Read
    predictive analytics for interior designers
    Interior Designers Boost Profits with Predictive Analytics
    8 Min Read
    image fx (67)
    Improving LinkedIn Ad Strategies with Data Analytics
    9 Min Read
    big data and remote work
    Data Helps Speech-Language Pathologists Deliver Better Results
    6 Min Read
    data driven insights
    How Data-Driven Insights Are Addressing Gaps in Patient Communication and Equity
    8 Min Read
  • Big Data
  • BI
  • Exclusive
  • IT
  • Marketing
  • Software
Search
© 2008-25 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Brain Scans Show No Difference Between Pie Chart and Bar Chart Perception?
Share
Notification
Font ResizerAa
SmartData CollectiveSmartData Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
  • About
  • Help
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
SmartData Collective > Big Data > Data Visualization > Brain Scans Show No Difference Between Pie Chart and Bar Chart Perception?
Data Visualization

Brain Scans Show No Difference Between Pie Chart and Bar Chart Perception?

Timo Elliott
Timo Elliott
3 Min Read
SHARE

Which is better for communicating information: pie charts or bar charts? “Pie charts communicate information poorly… Our visual perception is not designed to accurately assign quantitative values to 2-D areas” says visualization expert Stephen Few in his book “Show Me The Numbers.”

The book backs up the claim with a compelling example that I’ve attempted to recreate below — which of these two charts do you find easier to interpret?

Which is better for communicating information: pie charts or bar charts? “Pie charts communicate information poorly… Our visual perception is not designed to accurately assign quantitative values to 2-D areas” says visualization expert Stephen Few in his book “Show Me The Numbers.”

The book backs up the claim with a compelling example that I’ve attempted to recreate below — which of these two charts do you find easier to interpret?

More Read

Why OLAP?
Forex Trading with R : Part 2
Slides from OSCON
Is Your Company Ready to Deploy Business Intelligence Intelligently?
Choosing colors in R

data visualization

But recent research by Tufts University seems to make the answer less clear-cut.

Researchers monitored the brain activity of participants making a percentage estimation of a chart section compared to a previous chart, using both a bar chart and a pie chart. After examining all the data, their conclusion was that they rejected their “initial hypothesis that brain signals would indicate that bar graphs are easier to use for most people.”

Some participants said they found the task easier using bar charts and others found pie charts easier. This appeared to be backed up by both the observed brain activity and the reaction times and error rates of the two groups. However, the type of chart used didn’t seem to make a difference in terms of analysis performance: “despite a clear separation in brain activity between the bar high demand group and the pie high demand group, we observe very little difference in response time and error.” In addition, “there was no indication that either bar graphs or pie charts were superior across all participants on this particular task.”

Here is a short video summary of the study:

This is clearly one small study that concerned a particular (and potentially unusual) task, and should be considered in light of other research. But more data is better, and I would encourage you to spend as much time understanding what’s interesting about the study as you spend trying to figure out why you can disagree with it… I also hope that it might encourage more nuanced, less dogmatic discussions of data visualization best practice.

Share and Enjoy

TAGGED:bar graphdata visualizationpie chartShow Me The Numbersstephen few
Share This Article
Facebook Pinterest LinkedIn
Share

Follow us on Facebook

Latest News

data analytics and truck accident claims
How Data Analytics Reduces Truck Accidents and Speeds Up Claims
Analytics Big Data Exclusive
predictive analytics for interior designers
Interior Designers Boost Profits with Predictive Analytics
Analytics Exclusive Predictive Analytics
big data and cybercrime
Stopping Lateral Movement in a Data-Heavy, Edge-First World
Big Data Exclusive
AI and data mining
What the Rise of AI Web Scrapers Means for Data Teams
Artificial Intelligence Big Data Exclusive

Stay Connected

1.2kFollowersLike
33.7kFollowersFollow
222FollowersPin

You Might also Like

Visualizing droughts with R

2 Min Read

Analysis Reveals Dramatic Rise in UK Tech Investments

3 Min Read
Image
Uncategorized

How CFOs Benefit from a BI Visualization Tool

6 Min Read

Buyers Beware: Data Visualization Is Not Data Analytics

8 Min Read

SmartData Collective is one of the largest & trusted community covering technical content about Big Data, BI, Cloud, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, IoT & more.

giveaway chatbots
How To Get An Award Winning Giveaway Bot
Big Data Chatbots Exclusive
ai chatbot
The Art of Conversation: Enhancing Chatbots with Advanced AI Prompts
Chatbots

Quick Link

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-25 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Go to mobile version
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?