Proper use of Borders around content … looking for good set of rules to follow

I am looking for some heavy duty papers and research about when and how to best utilize borders. I found the following UX StackExchange question which had some great advice What makes a border a good border in a webpage element?

I can use all the information I can get. I wanted to see if anyone knew of a good book, or publication or study on the subject matter of borders.

I know this sounds like a vague questions. I am hoping to find a methodical process of grouping data and after grouped, a good set of rules to determine the best placement for borders, line for separation, or just using white-space for separation. I think there should be a logical approach to this since this is dependent on how our eyes see data, our range of vision and how our brain works.