Titel
How Do We Understand Artworks? Exploring the Role of Artwork Inherent Features in Art Processing
Abstract
Understanding an artwork is essential for aesthetic experiences. But how does one form an understanding of art? To investigate this still poorly addressed process, we hypothesized that the easier a stimulus is processed (i.e., higher fluency), the easier it should be understood. We focused on artwork inherent features (i.e., style and content) and their interactions affect processing. Making use of the brightness–positivity association, the overall brightness of paintings (i.e., as stylistic feature) was manipulated to match their content (positive vs. negative). We hypothesized that a congruency of style and content would facilitate the processing of paintings resulting in a better understanding, but also, greater liking, and (exploratively) higher artistic value. Our data indicated no congruency effects between brightness and content, but that content alone was a strong predictor for art processing and—in an exploratory approach—highlighted the importance of individual differences in terms of art interest and knowledge in our sample.
Stichwort
stylecontentfluencycongruencyambiguityunderstanding
Objekt-Typ
Sprache
Englisch [eng]
Persistent identifier
phaidra.univie.ac.at/o:2040236
Erschienen in
Titel
Empirical Studies of the Arts
ISSN
0276-2374
Erscheinungsdatum
2023
Publication
SAGE Publications
Erscheinungsdatum
2023
Zugänglichkeit
Rechte
Rechteangabe
© The Author(s) 2023
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