Aesthetic Evaluation of Computer Icons: Visual Pattern Differences Between Art-Trained and Lay Raters of Icons

Abstract

Adopting eye-tracking measures, we explored the influence of art experience on the aesthetic evaluation of computer icons. Participants were 27 college students with art training and 27 laypersons. Both groups rated icons of varying complexity and symmetry for “beauty” while we recorded participants’ eye movements. Results showed that art-trained participants viewed the icons with more eye fixations and had shorter scanning paths than participants in the non-art group, suggesting that art-trained participants processed the icons more deliberately. In addition, we observed an interaction effect between art experience and symmetry. For asymmetrical icons, art-trained participants’ ratings tended to be higher than those of lay persons; for symmetric icons, there was no such rater difference. The different visual patterns associated with aesthetic evaluations by these two participant groups suggest that art experience plays a pivotal role in the aesthetic appreciation of icons and has important implications for icon design strategy.

A Narrative Review of Eye-Tracking (ET) Assessment of Esthetic Endpoints in Plastic, Reconstructive, and Craniofacial Surgery

“…This observation is corroborated by a report that observers viewing pre-reconstructive and post-reconstructive surgery images of patients with craniofacial anomaly tend to look less often and for less time at the anomalous side of the face compared with the nonanomalous side 45 . Apparent contradiction between “internal representation of beauty” theory and “beauty demands longer looks” must be viewed in the context that more eye fixation and shorter scanning paths are 2 different attributes of visual processing that are not necessarily mutually exclusive 46 …”

“…45 Apparent contradiction between "internal representation of beauty" theory and "beauty demands longer looks" must be viewed in the context that more eye fixation and shorter scanning paths are 2 different attributes of visual processing that are not necessarily mutually exclusive. 46 Most confusing is probably the interpretation of visual gaze patterns of observers looking at human faces and understanding critical variables that influence the visual processing of faces with deformity. 42 There is general agreement that to immediately detect visible elements vital to initiate and maintain proper communication, esthetic judgment task about human faces reveals preference and proclivity to attributes of greater vitality value regardless of beauty characteristics.…”

“…In a study about abdominoplasty esthetic outcome, looking at preoperative and postoperative images, women with previous cosmetic surgery were more favorable, faster, and focused viewers, fixating more on relevant anatomy features and spending significantly less time evaluating images than women without previous cosmetic surgery 35 . Moreover, ET research has shown that observers with more experience in art and in cosmetic surgery fixate on different areas of the face than laypersons and that sequence of facial feature recognition is influenced by the esthetic liking of the observer, thus biases within an observer population could seriously affect the objectivity of assessment 25,40,46,54 . Observer fatigue and cognitive biases are also other factors to be considered 40 .…”

“…35 Moreover, ET research has shown that observers with more experience in art and in cosmetic surgery fixate on different areas of the face than laypersons and that sequence of facial feature recognition is influenced by the esthetic liking of the observer, thus biases within an observer population could seriously affect the objectivity of assessment. 25,40,46,54 Observer fatigue and cognitive biases are also other factors to be considered. 40 Furthermore, quality of data from ET studies is only as good as the quality of the images used for assessment.…”

The effects of icon updating on user visual discrimination under different working memory load

“…12 According to Shen et al, 24 participants performed significantly better when icons were more familiar (presented more frequently) during the visual search and semantic information recall tasks. Hu et al 26 hypothesized that art-trained participants had more eye gaze and shorter scan paths than those in the non-art group, suggesting that art-trained participants processed these icons more intentionally. Although the aforementioned researchers proposed that user familiarity can be enhanced through training, Huang et al 27 demonstrated that older adults still did not perform well when using the human-machine interface after receiving training.…”