The influence of lateral organization on the evaluation of paintings

Abstract

This study examines the influence of directional properties of lateral organization on evaluation of paintings. Lateral organization, as defined here, has two dimensions: (1) left or right location of the principal figure; and (2) left-to-right or right-to-left sequence of figures represented by the direction of suggested movement, action, or lines. That previous studies have failed to demonstrate consistently a relationship between evaluations and directional properties is attributed to methodological shortcomings involving lack of control of stimulus properties and exposure time. Here, on the basis of a well-defined judging procedure, paintings were distinguished according to whether each dimension of lateral organization depicted one or more than one direction. Under two exposure conditions, 5 and 20 s, three evaluations (general preference, balance, and dynamics) were made for paintings which were presented simultaneously in the artist-created, original view, and the mirror-image, reversed view. It was found that evaluations were influenced by directional properties (sequence of figures) with a 5 s exposure and by more inclusive formal features with a 20 s exposure. Implications of the findings for perception and aesthetics are considered.

Presentation-order effects for aesthetic stimulus preference

“…3, there was no significant valencelevel-dependent SOE-neither the regression slope nor the intercept was significant, t(9) 0 −1.19, p 0 .267, and t(9) 0 −1.89, p 0 .096, 4 respectively-which is in line with the results of preference comparisons of paintings presented simultaneously (Freimuth & Wapner, 1979), but contrary to those of comparisons of line length (Hellström, 2003). According to the SW model, the absence of a valencelevel-dependent SOE suggests equal mean stimulus weights over durations (M s1 ≈ M s2 ; see Eq.…”

“…According to the SW model, an absence of differential weighting means an absence of SOEs, and vice versa, unless a response bias is involved. Therefore, the lack of SOEs in Freimuth and Wapner's (1979) study also suggested that we would find an absence of differential stimulus weighting.…”

“…Regarding SOEs in preference comparisons of aesthetic stimuli, the literature seems even scarcer; we found only one study (Freimuth & Wapner, 1979). Freimuth and Wapner's participants made paired comparisons of paintings in which the pairs were composed of one painting and its mirror image.…”

Anticlockwise or clockwise? A dynamic Perception-Action-Laterality model for directionality bias in visuospatial functioning

“…Numerous studies have demonstrated that the asymmetry in aesthetic judgment is related to handedness of the observers. For example, studies employing mirror image pairs of landscape photographs and paintings showed that right-handers prefer pictorial arrangements possessing left-to-right directionality or that contain the region of greatest weight or interest on the right side (e.g., Beaumont, 1985; Freimuth & Wapner, 1979; Levy, 1976; Mead & McLaughlin, 1992). On the contrary, left-handers typically exhibit preferences for patterns having right-to-left directionality or for those that contain the region of greatest weight or interest on the left side (e.g., Banich, Heller, & Levy, 1989; Christman & Dietsch, 1995; Levy, 1976; Mead & McLaughlin, 1992).…”

“…Orientation perception does not influence only information processing efficiency and social orienting responses, but the aesthetic preference for a particular arrangement of stimuli or pictures as well. People usually prefer pictorial arrangements that possess left-to-right directional cues over their mirror reversed pictures; and this preference can be associated with handedness (Freimuth & Wapner, 1979; McLaughlin, Dean & Stanley, 1983; Mead & McLaughlin, 1992) and cultural factors, such as reading/writing habits (Chokron & De Agostini, 2000; Friedrich & Elias, 2016). In addition to such a horizontal directionality bias in aesthetic judgment of visual arts, further evidence indicates that left-to-right directional preference or bias might also occur in other visuospatial tasks, such as line bisection (Bowers & Heilman, 1980; for a metaanalytic review, see Jewell & McCourt, 2000) and vernier offset detection (Karim & Kojima, 2010a, b).…”