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Home > Scholarly Contributions > Abstracts > Volume 20 Issue 1
Volume 20 Issue 1
WHAT MAKES A POLYGON PLEASING?
BRUCE F. KATZ, 2002, 20:1, 1-19.
Abstract: Extensive preference data has been collected on Birkhoff's set of 90 polygons; therefore, they make an excellent test of any theory of aesthetics. None of the prior methods of explaining these data, however, are motivated by a theory of visual processing. Moreover, they do not provide an account of the response differences between artistically-trained and control subjects. The proposed method, based on a neurally-inspired model, attempts to correct these deficiencies. It is first argued that by measuring classification activity, one can gauge the extent to which the classical desideratum of unity in diversity is met. A classification model is then described in which this measure can be applied. It is based on the idea that recognition of an object can be thought of as a process of building up the object from its constituent parts. In this case, lines are built from localized line detectors and line-end detectors, polygon parts are built from lines, and the polygon itself is constructed from the parts. It is shown that the activity measure applied to this network correlates strongly with the preference data for the polygons for which the artists and controls agree. It is then demonstrated that the preference data for the polygons on which the artists and the controls differ can be accounted for by the effect of exposure on the network. Finally, it is argued that modeling preference data can provide a method of complementing other investigations into the nature of visual processing.

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WHY DOES MUSIC EXPRESS ONLY SOME EMOTIONS? A TEST OF A PHILOSOPHICAL THEORY
GEOFFREY L. COLLIER, 2002, 20:1, 21-31.
Abstract: Two experiments empirically tested a philosophical theory propounded by Kivy (1980, 1990) and Putnam (1987) about what distinguishes emotions that can or cannot be readily expressed by music ("musical relevance"). A unidimensional scaling was performed for 183 emotion terms. Four subsets of 17 words were extracted, the subsets being positively valenced, musically relevant, positive irrelevant, negative relevant, and positive irrelevant. The musical relevance of each word was judged directly by college professors, and indirectly by students, using a sentence frame methodology. The results favored the theory that musically relevant emotions are ones that are general, mood based, and do not require conscious knowledge of the causal source.

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PORTRAIT PROFILES AND THE NOTION OF AGENCY
ANJAN CHATTERJEE, 2002, 20:1, 33-41.
Abstract: Artists tend to draw portraits from an angle so that more of one side of the subject's face is depicted. The tendency to draw more of the left or right side of the face is influenced by gender, social, and personality characteristics of the subjects, and has changed over time. Several hypotheses have been advanced to account for these orientation biases, including effects of maternal imprinting, hemispheric specialization for emotional expression, hemispheric specialization for facial perception, and some form of symbolic communication. None of these hypotheses seem to account adequately for the range of observations reported thus far. I propose an agency hypothesis, which is based on the fact that right-handed subjects tend to conceptualize agents of actions to the left of where they conceptualize recipients of actions. This hypothesis emerged from studies on the interactions of language and space, and seems in accord with the art observations. The agency hypothesis suggests that remarkably simple spatial schemas influence several cognitive domains, including language and aesthetics.

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THE MEMORIAL BASE FOR THE PICTURE-REVERSAL EFFECT
OHN P. MCLAUGHLIN, JILL C. SABSEVITZ, ELIZABETH A. HUTWELKER, EMILY J. MULLER, 2002, 20:1, 43-47.
Abstract: Right-handed subjects preferred paintings containing cues that suggested left-to-right (LTR) motion over their mirror-reversed versions when the versions were presented successively back-to-back. The preference disappeared when other pairs requiring judgment were interpolated between the versions and also when intervals filled with patterned or nonpatterned stimuli were interpolated. The preference was restored when subjects considered definitions of abstract terms during a visually blank interval. These data suggest that the important information in the memory trace upon which the preference effect depends is geometric.

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AN OBLIQUE EFFECT IN THE SELECTION OF LINE ORIENTATION BY TWENTIETH CENTURY PAINTERS
RICHARD LATTO and KIRSTY RUSSELL-DUFF, 2002, 20:1, 49-60.
Abstract: In 88 paintings from the Israel Museum, Jerusalem the proportions of horizontal, vertical, and oblique lines were determined in order to ascertain whether artists preferentially use lines orientated in the horizontal and vertical directions rather than the oblique. Frame orientations were also examined to determine their effect on these line orientations. The results showed a preference for the vertical and the horizontal over the oblique. This effect was very robust, occurring with both landscape and portrait formats and over a variety of different styles and categories of paintings. There was also an interaction between line orientation and frame orientation with an increased use of vertical lines with portrait format paintings and an increased use of horizontal lines with landscape format. It is suggested that the basic finding of an orientation anisotropy in line selection is related to the oblique effect in line perception, the finding that horizontal and vertical lines are more readily perceived than oblique lines in a wide variety of situations. This supports the idea that stimuli like horizontal and vertical lines, which are preferentially processed by the visual system, are also aesthetically more powerful.

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A CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY OF RESPONSE TO ICELANDIC AND ITALIAN FOLKTALES
SERGIO MORRA and SIMONA LAZZARINI, 2002, 20:1, 61-82.
Abstract: This study investigated, in a cross-cultural context, broad issues in response to literature, such as the relationships among comprehension processes, cognitive and emotional variables, appraisal of story endings, familiarity, interest, and liking. An Icelandic and an Italian folktale were presented to 55 Icelandic and 55 Italian undergraduates for reading, oral recall, and evaluation on a set of rating scales. The results revealed major similarities, but also a number of differences, between Icelandic and Italian readers' responses to the two stories. Both groups liked better the same story; this difference between stories was largely accounted for by ease of comprehension, happy end and just outcome, final resolution, elicited emotions, and imagery. Different understanding of the two stories was detected at the level of mental models, not of propositional representations. Cognitive processes strongly affected emotional response and interest, rather than vice versa. A number of interaction effects between story and readers' nationality revealed cross-cultural differences in structural recall, rated visual imagery, ratings of various aspects of the story endings, and some aspects of emotional response. Familiarity with similar stories accounted for only some of these cultural differences.

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WHAT DESIGN FOR A PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY? COMPLEXITY, TYPICALITY, ORDER, AND HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
JACK L. NASAR, 2002, 20:1, 83-99.
Abstract: Research shows that preference for scenes rest more in the character of the scene than in the observers. What features fit the design of a presidential library, such as the one under consideration by former president Clinton? The present study used six color photographs that represented various styles of architecture for institutional buildings such as a library or museum. The study used the photos to gather two kinds of data. For the independent variables, one sample of eight observers rated each building on four features: goodness of example, order, complexity, and historical significance. For the dependent variable, interviewers had a cluster sample of 130 respondents in central Ohio evaluate each building. The interviewers asked them to pick the building they liked the most for a presidential or senatorial library, the building they liked the least for that purpose, to report the reasons for the choices, and to rate each building on five 7-point evaluative scales. The analysis confirmed that importance of building over respondents features in the evaluations; and it showed that participants preferred designs with moderate levels of complexity and order, and moderate to high goodness of example. Open ended responses also indicated a preference for historic significance and symbols of popular over high style.

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