Is Beauty in the Hand of the Writer? Influences of Aesthetic Preferences through Script Directions, Cultural, and Neurological Factors: A Literature Review

Page, Alexander Gamst; McManus, Chris; González, Carmen Pérez; Chahboun, Sobh

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01325

Cited by 10 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 75 publications

(170 reference statements)

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“…Although reading habits have been considered as a main cultural factor in directionality research [4][5][6][7][8][9][10], reading directions do not seem to explain the cultural differences, at least in this perceptual evaluation task. As mentioned in the Introduction section, if one's reading direction enhances the preference for the facing direction that matches this habit, unidirectional English readers would show a larger bias than multidirectional Japanese readers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

“…However, research has repeatedly demonstrated that an object facing one direction is preferred over the same object facing the opposite direction. Most interestingly, the preferred direction varies considerably across cultures [4] (see for a recent review). In particular, participants' native reading and writing directions have attracted attention [5,6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The cultural differences in preferred object orientation have been attributed to reading habits, in that people prefer object pictures possessing the same directionality as their reading habits [4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. However, there are several difficulties in this account of the preferred facing direction of single static objects.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Besides the direction that the objects are facing, people often find that one view looks better or more "right" than its mirror-reversed view. This disposition is called "directionality" [4,13]. Directionality appears in several domains, including movement direction and spatial compositions, and it has been proposed to be influenced not only by cultural factors, but also by biological factors.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Which Side Looks Better? Cultural Differences in Preference for Left- or Right-Facing Objects

et al. 2020

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An oblique view of three-dimensional objects is preferred over a frontal or lateral view, partly because it is more familiar and easily recognizable. However, which side of a symmetric object looks better remains unsolved. Reading direction, handedness, and the functionality of objects have been suggested as the potential sources of directional bias. In this study, participants of three online surveys (total N = 1082) were asked to choose one item that looked better or was more aesthetically pleasing; the test was performed between 100 pairs of left- and right-facing mirror-images. The results showed that Japanese participants (both vertical and left-to-right readers) and Israeli participants (right-to-left readers) preferred left-facing images over right-facing images, whereas American participants (left-to-right readers) preferred right-facing images over left-facing images. Weak effects of handedness and object functionality were also found: Left-handers tended to choose right-facing images more than right-handers, and the view of objects with a handle that is graspable by the dominant hand was more likely to be chosen over the opposite side view, regardless of culture. Although previous studies have emphasized the role of reading direction, a close look at the results suggests that it cannot fully account for the preferred facing direction of oblique objects.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Which Side Looks Better? Cultural Differences in Preference for Left- or Right-Facing Objects

et al. 2020

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“…There is now a wide literature that suggests that habitual reading and writing direction (RWD) affects many levels of the cognitive system. At higher levels, besides time and number it can also affect how events [11,12] and sentences describing spatial scenes are represented [13], as well as the aesthetic experience of artists and the public alike [14]. At lower levels, it induces spatial biases in lateral motion perception [15], word reading [16], perceptual span [17], visual exploration [18,19] and spatial attention [20].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scanning of speechless comics changes spatial biases in mental model construction

Román¹,

Flumini²,

Santiago³

2018

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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The mental representation of both time and number shows lateral spatial biases, which can be affected by habitual reading and writing direction. However, this effect is in place before children begin to read. One potential early cause is the experiences of looking at picture books together with a carer, as those images also follow the directionality of the script. What is the underlying mechanism for this effect? In the present study, we test the possibility that such experiences induce spatial biases in mental model construction, a mechanism which is a good candidate to induce the biases observed with numbers and times. We presented a speechless comic in either standard (left-to-right) or mirror-reversed (right-to-left) form to adult Spanish participants. We then asked them to draw the scene depicted by sentences like 'the square is between the cross and the circle'. The position of the lateral objects in these drawings reveals the spatial biases at work when building mental models in working memory. Under conditions of highly consistent directionality, the mirror comic changed pre-existing lateral biases. Processes of mental model construction in working memory stand as a potential mechanism for the generation of spatial biases for time and number.This article is part of the theme issue 'Varieties of abstract concepts: development, use and representation in the brain'.

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Abstract concepts: external influences, internal constraints, and methodological issues

Borghi

Shaki

Fischer

2022

Psychological Research

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There is a longstanding and widely held misconception about the relative remoteness of abstract concepts from concrete experiences. This review examines the current evidence for external influences and internal constraints on the processing, representation, and use of abstract concepts, like truth, friendship, and number. We highlight the theoretical benefit of distinguishing between grounded and embodied cognition and then ask which roles do perception, action, language, and social interaction play in acquiring, representing and using abstract concepts. By reviewing several studies, we show that they are, against the accepted definition, not detached from perception and action. Focussing on magnitude-related concepts, we also discuss evidence for cultural influences on abstract knowledge and explore how internal processes such as inner speech, metacognition, and inner bodily signals (interoception) influence the acquisition and retrieval of abstract knowledge. Finally, we discuss some methodological developments. Specifically, we focus on the importance of studies that investigate the time course of conceptual processing and we argue that, because of the paramount role of sociality for abstract concepts, new methods are necessary to study concepts in interactive situations. We conclude that bodily, linguistic, and social constraints provide important theoretical limitations for our theories of conceptual knowledge.

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Is Beauty in the Hand of the Writer? Influences of Aesthetic Preferences through Script Directions, Cultural, and Neurological Factors: A Literature Review

Cited by 10 publications

References 75 publications

Which Side Looks Better? Cultural Differences in Preference for Left- or Right-Facing Objects

Which Side Looks Better? Cultural Differences in Preference for Left- or Right-Facing Objects

Scanning of speechless comics changes spatial biases in mental model construction

Abstract concepts: external influences, internal constraints, and methodological issues

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