{"title":"How Do We Understand Artworks? Exploring the Role of Artwork Inherent Features in Art Processing","authors":"Eva Specker, Maximilian Douda, Helmut Leder","doi":"10.1177/02762374231201074","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Understanding an artwork is essential for aesthetic experiences. But how does one form an understanding of art? To investigate this still poorly addressed process, we hypothesized that the easier a stimulus is processed (i.e., higher fluency), the easier it should be understood. We focused on artwork inherent features (i.e., style and content) and their interactions affect processing. Making use of the brightness–positivity association, the overall brightness of paintings (i.e., as stylistic feature) was manipulated to match their content (positive vs. negative). We hypothesized that a congruency of style and content would facilitate the processing of paintings resulting in a better understanding, but also, greater liking, and (exploratively) higher artistic value. Our data indicated no congruency effects between brightness and content, but that content alone was a strong predictor for art processing and—in an exploratory approach—highlighted the importance of individual differences in terms of art interest and knowledge in our sample.","PeriodicalId":45870,"journal":{"name":"Empirical Studies of the Arts","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5000,"publicationDate":"2023-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Empirical Studies of the Arts","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02762374231201074","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"HUMANITIES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
Understanding an artwork is essential for aesthetic experiences. But how does one form an understanding of art? To investigate this still poorly addressed process, we hypothesized that the easier a stimulus is processed (i.e., higher fluency), the easier it should be understood. We focused on artwork inherent features (i.e., style and content) and their interactions affect processing. Making use of the brightness–positivity association, the overall brightness of paintings (i.e., as stylistic feature) was manipulated to match their content (positive vs. negative). We hypothesized that a congruency of style and content would facilitate the processing of paintings resulting in a better understanding, but also, greater liking, and (exploratively) higher artistic value. Our data indicated no congruency effects between brightness and content, but that content alone was a strong predictor for art processing and—in an exploratory approach—highlighted the importance of individual differences in terms of art interest and knowledge in our sample.
期刊介绍:
Empirical Studies of the Arts (ART) aims to be an interdisciplinary forum for theoretical and empirical studies of aesthetics, creativity, and all of the arts. It spans anthropological, psychological, neuroscientific, semiotic, and sociological studies of the creation, perception, and appreciation of literary, musical, visual and other art forms. Whether you are an active researcher or an interested bystander, Empirical Studies of the Arts keeps you up to date on the latest trends in scientific studies of the arts.