How do we understand artworks? Investigating the role of congruency in art perception

Eva Specker, Maximilian Douda, Helmut Leder

Veröffentlichungen: Beitrag in FachzeitschriftArtikelPeer Reviewed

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.

OriginalspracheEnglisch
Seiten (von - bis)469-497
Seitenumfang29
FachzeitschriftEmpirical Studies of the Arts
Jahrgang42
Ausgabenummer2
Frühes Online-Datum2023
DOIs
PublikationsstatusVeröffentlicht - Juli 2024

ÖFOS 2012

  • 501021 Sozialpsychologie
  • 501030 Kognitionswissenschaft
  • 501001 Allgemeine Psychologie
  • 501006 Experimentalpsychologie

Zitationsweisen