1
|
Trawiński T, Palumbo L, Begum R, Donnelly N. The effect of social factors on eye movements made when judging the aesthetic merit of figurative paintings. Sci Rep 2024; 14:21843. [PMID: 39294260 PMCID: PMC11410938 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-72810-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2023] [Accepted: 09/10/2024] [Indexed: 09/20/2024] Open
Abstract
In the present study we explore how social factors (group contact, individuating experience, implicit racial bias) influence the eye movements made during the visual exploration when judging their aesthetic merit of figurative paintings depicting White and Black sitters. An opportunity sample of participants visiting a gallery in Liverpool viewed ten artworks while their eye movements were recorded and completed a set of individual difference measures. The individual difference measures indicated self-report of art interest, social contact and individuating experience with both Black and White communities, and implicitly held racial bias. The results showed that, despite viewing the paintings for less time, the majority of participants reported paintings showing Black sitters as more interesting, emotionally moving, and pleasurable then those depicting White sitters. However, if a participant reported limited social contact with Black community, and a negative implicit racial bias against them, their rating of aesthetic merit of paintings showing Black sitters was reduced, viewing time increased, and fixations became more focused on faces. The influence of social factors on the viewing of paintings showing White sitters was limited to aesthetic rating. The results are discussed in terms of how social factors influence eye movements when viewing paintings in a real-world setting.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Tobiasz Trawiński
- School of Psychology, Liverpool Hope University, Hope Park, Liverpool, L16 9JD, UK.
| | - Letizia Palumbo
- School of Psychology, Liverpool Hope University, Hope Park, Liverpool, L16 9JD, UK
| | - Rabia Begum
- School of Psychology, Liverpool Hope University, Hope Park, Liverpool, L16 9JD, UK
| | - Nick Donnelly
- School of Psychology, Liverpool Hope University, Hope Park, Liverpool, L16 9JD, UK
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Skripkauskaite S, Mihai I, Koldewyn K. Attentional bias towards social interactions during viewing of naturalistic scenes. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2023; 76:2303-2311. [PMID: 36377819 PMCID: PMC10503253 DOI: 10.1177/17470218221140879] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2022] [Revised: 09/30/2022] [Accepted: 11/04/2022] [Indexed: 09/16/2023]
Abstract
Human visual attention is readily captured by the social information in scenes. Multiple studies have shown that social areas of interest (AOIs) such as faces and bodies attract more attention than non-social AOIs (e.g., objects or background). However, whether this attentional bias is moderated by the presence (or absence) of a social interaction remains unclear. Here, the gaze of 70 young adults was tracked during the free viewing of 60 naturalistic scenes. All photographs depicted two people, who were either interacting or not. Analyses of dwell time revealed that more attention was spent on human than background AOIs in the interactive pictures. In non-interactive pictures, however, dwell time did not differ between AOI type. In the time-to-first-fixation analysis, humans always captured attention before other elements of the scene, although this difference was slightly larger in interactive than non-interactive scenes. These findings confirm the existence of a bias towards social information in attentional capture and suggest our attention values social interactions beyond the presence of two people.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Simona Skripkauskaite
- School of Psychology, Bangor University, Bangor, UK
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Ioana Mihai
- School of Psychology, Bangor University, Bangor, UK
| | | |
Collapse
|
3
|
Trawiński T, Mestry N, Donnelly N. The Effect of Prior Viewing Position and Spatial Scale on the Viewing of Paintings. Vision (Basel) 2023; 7:55. [PMID: 37756129 PMCID: PMC10534493 DOI: 10.3390/vision7030055] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2023] [Revised: 08/08/2023] [Accepted: 08/15/2023] [Indexed: 09/29/2023] Open
Abstract
The visual inspection of scenes is disrupted when participants are forced to begin inspection away from the centre of an image. The present study explored the effect of the starting point on the visual inspection of paintings. Eye movements were recorded while participants viewed paintings for later identification in a yes/no discrimination task. The viewing of each painting was preceded by the presentation of a pseudo-randomly positioned Navon figure. Participants were instructed using a cue to attend to either the local or global level of the Navon figure. Each painting was split into regions of interest (ROIs) defined by face, theme, and context to allow the analysis of eye movements. These data were directly compared with a subset of those initially reported in our previous study in which the same experiment was run but without the inclusion of the Navon figure. The inclusion of the Navon task lowered the discrimination accuracy in the yes/no discrimination task. More importantly, eye movements to the paintings were disrupted across the entire period over which they were viewed and not just in the period following the offset of the Navon figure. The results show the sensitivity of eye movements to the conditions present at the beginning of viewing. The results have implications for the viewing of paintings (and other images) in the real world, where the starting conditions for inspection cannot be controlled.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Tobiasz Trawiński
- Department of Psychology, Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool L16 9JD, UK;
| | - Natalie Mestry
- Department of Psychology, Bournemouth University, Poole BH12 5BB, UK;
| | - Nick Donnelly
- Department of Psychology, Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool L16 9JD, UK;
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Lencastre P, Bhurtel S, Yazidi A, E Mello GBM, Denysov S, Lind PG. EyeT4Empathy: Dataset of foraging for visual information, gaze typing and empathy assessment. Sci Data 2022; 9:752. [PMID: 36463232 PMCID: PMC9719458 DOI: 10.1038/s41597-022-01862-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2022] [Accepted: 11/23/2022] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
We present a dataset of eye-movement recordings collected from 60 participants, along with their empathy levels, towards people with movement impairments. During each round of gaze recording, participants were divided into two groups, each one completing one task. One group performed a task of free exploration of structureless images, and a second group performed a task consisting of gaze typing, i.e. writing sentences using eye-gaze movements on a card board. The eye-tracking data recorded from both tasks is stored in two datasets, which, besides gaze position, also include pupil diameter measurements. The empathy levels of participants towards non-verbal movement-impaired people were assessed twice through a questionnaire, before and after each task. The questionnaire is composed of forty questions, extending a established questionnaire of cognitive and affective empathy. Finally, our dataset presents an opportunity for analysing and evaluating, among other, the statistical features of eye-gaze trajectories in free-viewing as well as how empathy is reflected in eye features.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Pedro Lencastre
- Dep. Computer Science, OsloMet - Oslo Metropolitan University, P.O. Box 4 St. Olavs plass, N-0130, Oslo, Norway.
- OsloMet Artificial Intelligence lab, OsloMet, Pilestredet 52, N-0166, Oslo, Norway.
- NordSTAR - Nordic Center for Sustainable and Trustworthy AI Research, Pilestredet 52, N-0166, Oslo, Norway.
| | - Samip Bhurtel
- Dep. Computer Science, OsloMet - Oslo Metropolitan University, P.O. Box 4 St. Olavs plass, N-0130, Oslo, Norway
- OsloMet Artificial Intelligence lab, OsloMet, Pilestredet 52, N-0166, Oslo, Norway
| | - Anis Yazidi
- Dep. Computer Science, OsloMet - Oslo Metropolitan University, P.O. Box 4 St. Olavs plass, N-0130, Oslo, Norway
- OsloMet Artificial Intelligence lab, OsloMet, Pilestredet 52, N-0166, Oslo, Norway
- NordSTAR - Nordic Center for Sustainable and Trustworthy AI Research, Pilestredet 52, N-0166, Oslo, Norway
| | - Gustavo B M E Mello
- Dep. Computer Science, OsloMet - Oslo Metropolitan University, P.O. Box 4 St. Olavs plass, N-0130, Oslo, Norway
- OsloMet Artificial Intelligence lab, OsloMet, Pilestredet 52, N-0166, Oslo, Norway
- NordSTAR - Nordic Center for Sustainable and Trustworthy AI Research, Pilestredet 52, N-0166, Oslo, Norway
| | - Sergiy Denysov
- Dep. Computer Science, OsloMet - Oslo Metropolitan University, P.O. Box 4 St. Olavs plass, N-0130, Oslo, Norway
- OsloMet Artificial Intelligence lab, OsloMet, Pilestredet 52, N-0166, Oslo, Norway
- NordSTAR - Nordic Center for Sustainable and Trustworthy AI Research, Pilestredet 52, N-0166, Oslo, Norway
| | - Pedro G Lind
- Dep. Computer Science, OsloMet - Oslo Metropolitan University, P.O. Box 4 St. Olavs plass, N-0130, Oslo, Norway
- OsloMet Artificial Intelligence lab, OsloMet, Pilestredet 52, N-0166, Oslo, Norway
- NordSTAR - Nordic Center for Sustainable and Trustworthy AI Research, Pilestredet 52, N-0166, Oslo, Norway
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Mandolesi S, Gambelli D, Naspetti S, Zanoli R. Exploring Visitors' Visual Behavior Using Eye-Tracking: The Case of the " Studiolo Del Duca". J Imaging 2022; 8:jimaging8010008. [PMID: 35049849 PMCID: PMC8781978 DOI: 10.3390/jimaging8010008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2021] [Revised: 12/21/2021] [Accepted: 12/31/2021] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Although the understanding of cognitive disciplines has progressed, we know relatively little about how the human brain perceives art. Thanks to the growing interest in visual perception, eye-tracking technology has been increasingly used for studying the interaction between individuals and artworks. In this study, eye-tracking was used to provide insights into non-expert visitors’ visual behaviour as they move freely in the historical room of the “Studiolo del Duca” of the Ducal Palace in Urbino, Italy. Visitors looked for an average of almost two minutes. This study revealed which parts of the artefact captured visitors’ attention and also gives interesting information about the main patterns of fruition.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Serena Mandolesi
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Ingegneria della Materia, dell’Ambiente ed Urbanistica (SIMAU), Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, 60131 Ancona, Italy; (S.M.); (S.N.)
| | - Danilo Gambelli
- Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie, Alimentari e Ambientali (D3A), Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, 60131 Ancona, Italy;
| | - Simona Naspetti
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Ingegneria della Materia, dell’Ambiente ed Urbanistica (SIMAU), Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, 60131 Ancona, Italy; (S.M.); (S.N.)
| | - Raffaele Zanoli
- Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie, Alimentari e Ambientali (D3A), Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, 60131 Ancona, Italy;
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +39-071-220-4929
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Abstract
In our exploratory study, we ask how naive observers, without a distinct religious background,
approach biblical art that combines image and text. For this purpose, we choose the
book ‘New biblical figures of the Old and New Testament’ published in 1569 as source of
the stimuli. This book belongs to the genre of illustrated Bibles, which were very popular
during the Reformation. Since there is no empirical knowledge regarding the interaction
between image and text during the process of such biblical art reception, we selected four
relevant images from the book and measured the eye movements of participants in order to
characterize and quantify their scanning behavior related to such stimuli in terms of i) looking
at text (text usage), ii) text vs. image interaction measures (semantic or contextual relevance
of text), and iii) narration. We show that texts capture attention early in the process
of inspection and that text and image interact. Moreover, semantics of texts are used to guide
eye movements later through the image, supporting the formation of the narrative.
Collapse
|
7
|
Beelders T, Bergh L. The role that composition plays in determining how a viewer looks at landscape art. J Eye Mov Res 2020; 13:10.16910/jemr.13.2.13. [PMID: 33828794 PMCID: PMC7963460 DOI: 10.16910/jemr.13.2.13] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Viewing artworks may be subject to the same processes as everyday scene selection in respect of gaze behaviour. However, artists may employ carefully constructed composition in their paintings to lead the eyes of viewers along a predetermined path. This paper investigates whether composition is successful through comparison of expected scanpaths (constructed using the known intention of the artist) and actual scanpaths (as captured using an eye-tracker) based on a loci and sequence similarity index. The findings suggest that composition is successful in leading the eye, although the order of fixations can vary. It could thus be concluded that composition is largely successful in terms of salient elements, but less so for guiding elements. Furthermore, using Cognitive Linguistics theories and applying it to the paintings with reference to the statistical results, the Art Creation Continuum that captures the role of composition on a spectrum is proposed.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Tanya Beelders
- University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa
| | - Luna Bergh
- University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Clay V, Schrumpf J, Tessenow Y, Leder H, Ansorge U, König P. A Quantitative Analysis of the Taxonomy of Artistic Styles. J Eye Mov Res 2020; 13:10.16910/jemr.13.2.5. [PMID: 33828791 PMCID: PMC7962801 DOI: 10.16910/jemr.13.2.5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
Classifying artists and their work as distinct art styles has been an important task of scholars in the field of art history. Due to its subjectivity, scholars often contradict one another. Our project investigated differences in aesthetic qualities of seven art styles through quantitative means. This was achieved with state-of-the-art deep-learning paradigms to generate new images resembling the style of an artist or entire era. We conducted psychological experiments to measure the behavior of subjects when viewing these new art images. Two different experiments were used: In an eye-tracking study, subjects viewed art-stylespecific generated images. Eye movements were recorded and then compared between art styles. In a visual singleton search study, subjects had to locate a style-outlier image among three images of an alternative style. Reaction time and accuracy were measured and analyzed. These experiments show that there are measurable differences in behavior when viewing images of varying art styles. From these differences, we constructed hierarchical clusterings relating art styles based on the different behaviors of subjects viewing the samples. Our study reveals a novel perspective on the classification of artworks into stylistic eras and motivates future research in the domain of empirical aesthetics through quantitative means.
Collapse
|
9
|
Ganczarek J, Pietras K, Rosiek R. Perceived cognitive challenge predicts eye movements while viewing contemporary paintings. Psych J 2020; 9:490-506. [PMID: 32462771 DOI: 10.1002/pchj.365] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2019] [Revised: 03/27/2020] [Accepted: 03/29/2020] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Contemporary art is often challenging for the viewer, especially when it violates classic rules of representation. Also, viewers usually have little knowledge about this type of art, making its reception even more difficult. Our main research question was how the cognitive challenge associated with contemporary art affects eye movement. In particular, we aimed to assess the impact on eye movements of (a) object-related cognitive challenge in terms of image properties (syntactic and semantic violations) and (b) subject-related cognitive challenge (composite subjective estimate of image inconsistency, ambiguity, and complexity). The eye movements of expert and naive participants were recorded while they freely viewed digital copies of contemporary paintings (four groups of five paintings each, differing in presence of semantic and syntactic violations). We found that neither violations nor art expertise alone predicted eye movements, although perceived, subjectively experienced cognitive challenge did. In particular, subject-related cognitive challenge was associated with an increase in visual exploration (longer and more numerous fixations, bigger area of exploration, longer viewing time). The roles of object-related and subject-related indicators of cognitive challenge in perception of contemporary art are discussed.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Joanna Ganczarek
- Institute of Psychology, Pedagogical University of Cracow, Kraków, Poland
| | - Karolina Pietras
- Institute of Psychology, Pedagogical University of Cracow, Kraków, Poland
| | - Roman Rosiek
- Institute of Physics, Pedagogical University of Cracow, Kraków, Poland
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Quadflieg S, Westmoreland K. Making Sense of Other People’s Encounters: Towards an Integrative Model of Relational Impression Formation. JOURNAL OF NONVERBAL BEHAVIOR 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s10919-019-00295-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
|
11
|
Lighting Design for Energy Sustainability, Information, and Perception. A Museum Environment as a Case Study. SUSTAINABILITY 2018. [DOI: 10.3390/su10051671] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
|
12
|
Lee YI, Choi Y, Jeong J. Character drawing style in cartoons on empathy induction: an eye-tracking and EEG study. PeerJ 2017; 5:e3988. [PMID: 29152415 PMCID: PMC5687150 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.3988] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2017] [Accepted: 10/13/2017] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
In its most basic form, empathy refers to the ability to understand another person’s feelings and emotions, representing an essential component of human social interaction. Owing to an increase in the use of mass media, which is used to distribute high levels of empathy-inducing content, media plays a key role in individual and social empathy induction. We investigated empathy induction in cartoons using eye movement, EEG and behavioral measures to explore whether empathy factors correlate with character drawing styles. Two different types of empathy-inducing cartoons that consisted of three stages and had the same story plot were used. One had an iconic style, while the other was realistic style. Fifty participants were divided into two groups corresponding to the individual cartoon drawing styles and were presented with only one type of drawing style. We found that there were no significant differences of empathy factors between iconic and realistic style. However, the Induced Empathy Score (IES) had a close relationship with subsequent attentional processing (total fixation length for gaze duration). Furthermore, iconic style suppressed the fronto-central area more than realistic style in the gamma power band. These results suggest that iconic cartoons have the advantage of abstraction during empathy induction, because the iconic cartoons induced the same level of empathy as realistic cartoons while using the same story plot (top-down process), even though lesser time and effort were required by the cartoon artist to draw them. This also means that the top-down process (story plot) is more important than the bottom-up process (drawing style) in empathy induction when viewing cartoons
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yong-Il Lee
- Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea
| | - Yeojeong Choi
- HE Design Lab, LG Electronics, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Jaeseung Jeong
- Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea
| |
Collapse
|
13
|
Hayn-Leichsenring GU. The Ambiguity of Artworks -A Guideline for Empirical Aesthetics Research with Artworks as Stimuli. Front Psychol 2017; 8:1857. [PMID: 29123494 PMCID: PMC5662902 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01857] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2017] [Accepted: 10/04/2017] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The aim of this work is to provide researchers from the field of aesthetics with a guideline on working with artworks as stimuli. Empirical aesthetics research is complicated by the uncertainty of the object of research. There is no way to unquestionably tell whether an object is an artwork or not. However, although the extension of the term artwork (i.e., the range of objects to which this concept applies) remains vague, the different intensions of the term artwork (i.e., the internal concept that constitutes a formal definition) are well defined. Here, I review the various concepts of artworks (i.e., intensions) that scientists from different fields use in current research in empirical aesthetics. The selection of stimuli is often not explained and/or does not match the focus of the study. An application of two or more intensions within one study leads to an indeterminacy of the stimuli and, thus, to systematic problems concerning the interpretation and comparability of the experimental results. Based on these intensions and the Pleasure-Interest Model of Aesthetic Liking (Graf and Landwehr, 2015), I compiled a decision tree in order to provide researchers with an instrument that allows a better control over their stimuli.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Gregor U Hayn-Leichsenring
- Psychology of Beauty Group, Institute of Anatomy I, University Hospital Jena, Jena, Germany.,Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| |
Collapse
|
14
|
Quadflieg S, Penton-Voak IS. The Emerging Science of People-Watching: Forming Impressions From Third-Party Encounters. CURRENT DIRECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2017. [DOI: 10.1177/0963721417694353] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Traditional impression formation studies have focused almost exclusively on the perception and evaluation of isolated individuals. In recent years, however, portrayals of third-party encounters between two (or more) people have been used increasingly often to probe impressions about the interactions and relations between individuals. This tacit paradigm change has revealed an intriguing scope of judgments that concern how and why people relate to one another. Though these judgments recruit well-known neural networks of impression formation, their underlying cognitive operations and functional significance remain largely speculative. By providing an overview of recent theoretical and empirical approaches on encounter-based impressions, this article highlights their prevalent role in human social cognition.
Collapse
|