Reflections in art

Cavanagh, Patrick; Chao, Jessica; Wang, Dina

doi:10.1163/156856808784532581

Cited by 14 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 24 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Using this approach, studies have uncovered various artistic strategies reflecting fundamental operations of the neural mechanisms for sensation and perception [7],[8],[12]–[14]. For example, depictions of shadows in paintings often do not correspond to the light sources that cause them [15]. Such unnoticed deviations from veracity reveal important adaptations of the brain to ecological pressures during evolution and development—in the case of shadows, the relationship of objects to light sources is in flux and therefore not a stable feature.…”

Section: First Steps In Neuroaesthetics: Sensation Perception and Artmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neuroaesthetics and the Trouble with Beauty

Conway

Rehding

2013

PLoS Biol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Section: First Steps In Neuroaesthetics: Sensation Perception and Artmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neuroaesthetics and the Trouble with Beauty

Conway

Rehding

2013

PLoS Biol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This has already brought vision scientists to look closer at paintings and link painters’ techniques with human perception ( Cavanagh, 2005 ; Di Cicco et al., 2018 ; Sayim & Cavanagh, 2011 ; van Zuijlen et al., 2020 ). For example, to depict glossiness, painters usually place a lighter spot of paint aligned with the curvature of the objects ( Cavanagh et al., 2008 ). The contrast and sharpness of this spot provide a strong cue of the perceived glossiness ( Di Cicco et al., 2019 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Analyzing these shortcuts can thus help us to understand how we perceive our world. These studies cover various subjects such as our perception of transparent objects ( Sayim & Cavanagh, 2011 ) or of reflections ( Cavanagh et al., 2008 ). For example, it was shown that we are not sensitive to inconsistencies in illumination in a scene ( Ostrovsky et al., 2005 ) and that many paintings exhibit such inconsistencies in favor of visual effect ( Cavanagh, 2005 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perception of material appearance: A comparison between painted and rendered images

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Painters are masters in replicating the visual appearance of materials. While the perception of material appearance is not yet fully understood, painters seem to have acquired an implicit understanding of the key visual cues that we need to accurately perceive material properties. In this study, we directly compare the perception of material properties in paintings and in renderings by collecting professional realistic paintings of rendered materials. From both type of images, we collect human judgments of material properties and compute a variety of image features that are known to reflect material properties. Our study reveals that, despite important visual differences between the two types of depiction, material properties in paintings and renderings are perceived very similarly and are linked to the same image features. This suggests that we use similar visual cues independently of the medium and that the presence of such cues is sufficient to provide a good appearance perception of the materials.

show abstract

“…In this sense painters have functioned as early vision scientists, discovering techniques of depiction that work for the sets of laws the visual system actually uses and revealing rules that do not. For example, observers are insensitive to impossible reflections in mirrors (eg, Croucher et al 2002 ; Bertamini et al 2003 ; Cavanagh et al 2008 ), physically inconsistent shadows (Casati 2004 ; Mamassian 2004 ; Cavanagh 2005 ) and illumination inconsistencies (Ostrovsky et al 2005 ). These unnoticed errors reveal the “naive” physics used by the visual brain to interpret scenes—a set of assumptions about the world that is in many cases quite different from real world physics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Art of Transparency

Sayim

Cavanagh

2011

i-Perception

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Artists throughout the ages have discovered a number of techniques to depict transparency. With only a few exceptions, these techniques follow closely the properties of physical transparency. The two best known properties are X-junctions and the luminance relations described by Metelli. X-junctions are seen where the contours of a transparent material cross contours of the surface behind; Metelli's constraints on the luminance relations between the direct and filtered portions of the surface specify a range of luminance values that are consistent with transparency. These principles have been used by artists since the time of ancient Egypt. However, artists also discovered that stimuli can be seen as transparent even when these physical constraints are not met. Ancient Greek artists, for example, were able to depict transparent materials in simple black-and-white line drawings. Artists also learned how to represent transparency in cases where neither X-junctions nor Metelli's constraints could apply: for example, where no portions of the objects behind the transparent material extend beyond it. Many painters convincingly portrayed transparency in these cases by depicting the effects the transparent medium would have on material or object properties. Here, we show how artists employed these and other techniques revealing their anticipation of current formalizations of perceived transparency, and we suggest new, as-yet-untested principles.

show abstract

Reflections in art

Cited by 14 publications

References 24 publications

Neuroaesthetics and the Trouble with Beauty

Neuroaesthetics and the Trouble with Beauty

Perception of material appearance: A comparison between painted and rendered images

The Art of Transparency

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About