Abstract:Color composition in paintings is a critical factor affecting observers’ aesthetic judgments. We examined observers’ preferences for the color composition of Japanese and Occidental paintings when their color gamut was rotated. In the experiment, observers were asked to select their preferred image from original and three hue-rotated images in a four-alternative forced choice paradigm. Despite observers’ being unfamiliar with the presented artwork, the original paintings (0 degrees) were preferred more frequen… Show more
“…The average selection rate for the original images (0°) was significantly higher than that of the other hue angles (0° vs. 90°, P < 0.001; 0° vs. 180°, P < 0.001; 0° vs. 270°, P < 0.001; Wilcoxon signed-rank test with Bonferroni correction). The selection rate for the original images was above chance level, χ 2 (1) = 10,314.4, P < 0.001, confirming the superiority of original colour compositions observed in previous studies 18 – 21 . Figure 3 Distribution of the selection rates for the original and three hue-rotated images.…”
Section: Resultssupporting
confidence: 83%
“…If, as previous studies 6 – 10 argued, the aesthetic preference for art paintings is mediated by similarity to natural scenes, and if colour composition sufficiently influences the paintings' aesthetic preference, the matching-to-nature hypothesis might also arise for colour composition, that is, the preference for the colour composition of paintings depends on the extent to which the paintings resemble the colour statistics of natural scenes. Although colour preference has been mainly studied in the context of a single colour or a limited number of colours 1 – 3 , 17 , more recent studies have focused on the preference of colour composition in paintings 18 – 21 . These studies manipulated only colour composition by rotating the three-dimensional colour volume of unfamiliar paintings.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…These studies manipulated only colour composition by rotating the three-dimensional colour volume of unfamiliar paintings. Observers were asked to adjust the hue angle to obtain the best subjective visual impression 18 , to select their preference among pairs of hue-rotated versions of the same painting 19 , 21 , or to rate their personal evaluation of each original or hue-rotated painting presented 20 . Despite the minor differences in methodology, these studies commonly found that observers typically prefer a chromatic composition very close to the original, rather than one that is hue-rotated, even in the case of non-figurative or spatially scrambled paintings 19 , or patchwork images comprising different art paintings 21 .…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Observers were asked to adjust the hue angle to obtain the best subjective visual impression 18 , to select their preference among pairs of hue-rotated versions of the same painting 19 , 21 , or to rate their personal evaluation of each original or hue-rotated painting presented 20 . Despite the minor differences in methodology, these studies commonly found that observers typically prefer a chromatic composition very close to the original, rather than one that is hue-rotated, even in the case of non-figurative or spatially scrambled paintings 19 , or patchwork images comprising different art paintings 21 . These results, showing the superiority of the colour composition of original paintings, may lead the hypothetical explanations that the superiority of original paintings could be attributed to colour statistics similar to those of natural scenes, and that the similarity may have been broken by the hue-rotation.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…We first conducted a preference judgement experiment with 31,353 participants that employed a four-alternative forced-choice (4AFC) paradigm by using the original (0°) and hue-rotated versions (90°, 180° and 270° in hue angle), as shown in Fig. 1 , similar to a previous study 21 . Hue rotation was performed in the CIELAB colour space 27 , which represents colours by using the coordinates in a uniform colour space consisting of lightness variable L* and chromaticity indices a* and b* (Fig.…”
This study explores the role of colour statistics in painting preferences and tests the ‘matching-to-nature’ hypothesis which posits that the preference for the colour composition of paintings depends on the extent to which the paintings resemble the colour statistics of natural scenes. A preference judgement experiment was conducted with 31,353 participants using original and hue-rotated versions of 1,200 paintings. Multiple regression analyses were performed between the measured preferences and paintings’ colour statistics to reveal which colour statistics explained the preference data and to what extent. The colour statistics of art paintings that explained the preference data were compared to the colour statistics of natural scenes. The results identified the colour statistics that significantly contributed to explaining painting preferences, and the distributions of the paintings’ colour statistics systematically differed from those of natural scenes. These findings suggest that the human visual system encodes colour statistics to make aesthetic judgements based on the artistic merit of colour compositions, and not on their similarity to natural scenes.
“…The average selection rate for the original images (0°) was significantly higher than that of the other hue angles (0° vs. 90°, P < 0.001; 0° vs. 180°, P < 0.001; 0° vs. 270°, P < 0.001; Wilcoxon signed-rank test with Bonferroni correction). The selection rate for the original images was above chance level, χ 2 (1) = 10,314.4, P < 0.001, confirming the superiority of original colour compositions observed in previous studies 18 – 21 . Figure 3 Distribution of the selection rates for the original and three hue-rotated images.…”
Section: Resultssupporting
confidence: 83%
“…If, as previous studies 6 – 10 argued, the aesthetic preference for art paintings is mediated by similarity to natural scenes, and if colour composition sufficiently influences the paintings' aesthetic preference, the matching-to-nature hypothesis might also arise for colour composition, that is, the preference for the colour composition of paintings depends on the extent to which the paintings resemble the colour statistics of natural scenes. Although colour preference has been mainly studied in the context of a single colour or a limited number of colours 1 – 3 , 17 , more recent studies have focused on the preference of colour composition in paintings 18 – 21 . These studies manipulated only colour composition by rotating the three-dimensional colour volume of unfamiliar paintings.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…These studies manipulated only colour composition by rotating the three-dimensional colour volume of unfamiliar paintings. Observers were asked to adjust the hue angle to obtain the best subjective visual impression 18 , to select their preference among pairs of hue-rotated versions of the same painting 19 , 21 , or to rate their personal evaluation of each original or hue-rotated painting presented 20 . Despite the minor differences in methodology, these studies commonly found that observers typically prefer a chromatic composition very close to the original, rather than one that is hue-rotated, even in the case of non-figurative or spatially scrambled paintings 19 , or patchwork images comprising different art paintings 21 .…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Observers were asked to adjust the hue angle to obtain the best subjective visual impression 18 , to select their preference among pairs of hue-rotated versions of the same painting 19 , 21 , or to rate their personal evaluation of each original or hue-rotated painting presented 20 . Despite the minor differences in methodology, these studies commonly found that observers typically prefer a chromatic composition very close to the original, rather than one that is hue-rotated, even in the case of non-figurative or spatially scrambled paintings 19 , or patchwork images comprising different art paintings 21 . These results, showing the superiority of the colour composition of original paintings, may lead the hypothetical explanations that the superiority of original paintings could be attributed to colour statistics similar to those of natural scenes, and that the similarity may have been broken by the hue-rotation.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…We first conducted a preference judgement experiment with 31,353 participants that employed a four-alternative forced-choice (4AFC) paradigm by using the original (0°) and hue-rotated versions (90°, 180° and 270° in hue angle), as shown in Fig. 1 , similar to a previous study 21 . Hue rotation was performed in the CIELAB colour space 27 , which represents colours by using the coordinates in a uniform colour space consisting of lightness variable L* and chromaticity indices a* and b* (Fig.…”
This study explores the role of colour statistics in painting preferences and tests the ‘matching-to-nature’ hypothesis which posits that the preference for the colour composition of paintings depends on the extent to which the paintings resemble the colour statistics of natural scenes. A preference judgement experiment was conducted with 31,353 participants using original and hue-rotated versions of 1,200 paintings. Multiple regression analyses were performed between the measured preferences and paintings’ colour statistics to reveal which colour statistics explained the preference data and to what extent. The colour statistics of art paintings that explained the preference data were compared to the colour statistics of natural scenes. The results identified the colour statistics that significantly contributed to explaining painting preferences, and the distributions of the paintings’ colour statistics systematically differed from those of natural scenes. These findings suggest that the human visual system encodes colour statistics to make aesthetic judgements based on the artistic merit of colour compositions, and not on their similarity to natural scenes.
Colour composition is acknowledged as a key contributor to aesthetic evaluation in visual art. Adult observers tend to prefer colour compositions that are particularly close to the original, regardless of the painting's category or the observer's cultural background. In this study, we examined whether children aged 5–12 years expressed a preference for the colour composition of original paintings using three scene types: abstract, figure, and botanical. The children each selected one of their preferred images from the paintings with four different colour compositions, including the original hue. A preference for the colour compositions of original figure paintings emerged between the ages of 5 and 8, and a similar preference for abstract and botanical paintings emerged between the ages of 9 and 12. Thus, preferences regarding colour composition in paintings are gradually acquired from childhood to adulthood.Highlights
Children aged 9–12 years showed a preference for colour compositions closer to the originals, as did adults.
Children aged 5–8 years showed no particular colour preference for abstract or botanical paintings but did show a preference for figure paintings that were closest to the original with respect to colour composition.
Preferences for original colour composition in painting develop gradually from childhood to adulthood.
Findings regarding the direction of pupil modulation (dilation/constriction) related to aesthetic preference are often contradictory, partly because preference is determined by multiple factors depending on the target. Research has demonstrated that art paintings with image features similar to those of natural scenes are preferred, suggesting that the perception of naturalness is one factor affecting preference. This study aimed to test the hypothesis that the pupil dilation in response to visual examination of a preferred painting may be caused by the perceived naturalness of the color composition of the painting. We investigated the relationship between pupil response and preference/perception of naturalness by manipulating the color composition of art paintings. First, we found that when compared to hue-rotated paintings, the paintings presented with their original color composition were preferred and perceived as more natural. Second, the extent of the pupil dilation had a significant positive correlation with the perceptions of naturalness for the painting, whereas there was no significant correlation between pupil dilation and preference. This result indicates that the pupil dilation during the viewing of the paintings is not caused by preference but by the perceived naturalness regarding the color composition of paintings. This was observed not only in representational paintings but also in abstract paintings, suggesting that the color composition of a painting itself, rather than memory colors-the standard, known hues of objects-or other influences, is an important factor of perceived naturalness that produces pupil dilation.
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