Preconscious perception and persuasion: the physiology of visual art and advertising

Boston University. University Professors Program Senior theses

How sketches work: a cognitive theory for improved system design

Evidence is presented that in the early stages of design or composition the mental processes used by artists for visual invention require a different type of support from those used for visualising a nearly complete object. Most research into machine visualisation has as its goal the production of realistic images which simulate the light pattern presented to the retina by real objects. In contrast sketch attributes preserve the results of cognitive processing which can be used interactively to amplify visual thought. The traditional attributes of sketches include many types of indeterminacy which may reflect the artist's need to be "vague". Drawing on contemporary theories of visual cognition and neuroscience this study discusses in detail the evidence for the following functions which are better served by rough sketches than by the very realistic imagery favoured in machine visualising systems. 1. Sketches are intermediate representational types which facilitate the mental translation between descriptive and depictive modes of representing visual thought. 2. Sketch attributes exploit automatic processes of perceptual retrieval and object recognition to improve the availability of tacit knowledge for visual invention. 3. Sketches are percept-image hybrids. The incomplete physical attributes of sketches elicit and stabilise a stream of super-imposed mental images which amplify inventive thought. 4. By segregating and isolating meaningful components of visual experience, sketches may assist the user to attend selectively to a limited part of a visual task, freeing otherwise over-loaded cognitive resources for visual thought. 5. Sequences of sketches and sketching acts support the short term episodic memory for cognitive actions. This assists creativity, providing voluntary control over highly practised mental processes which can otherwise become stereotyped. An attempt is made to unite the five hypothetical functions. Drawing on the Baddeley and Hitch model of working memory, it is speculated that the five functions may be related to a limited capacity monitoring mechanism which makes tacit visual knowledge explicitly available for conscious control and manipulation. It is suggested that the resources available to the human brain for imagining nonexistent objects are a cultural adaptation of visual mechanisms which evolved in early hominids for responding to confusing or incomplete stimuli from immediately present objects and events. Sketches are cultural inventions which artificially mimic aspects of such stimuli in order to capture these shared resources for the different purpose of imagining objects which do not yet exist. Finally the implications of the theory for the design of improved machine systems is discussed. The untidy attributes of traditional sketches are revealed to include cultural inventions which serve subtle cognitive functions. However traditional media have many short-comings which it should be possible to correct with new technology. Existing machine systems for sketching tend to imitate nonselectively the media bound properties of sketches without regard to the functions they serve. This may prove to be a mistake. It is concluded that new system designs are needed in which meaningfully structured data and specialised imagery amplify without interference or replacement the impressive but limited creative resources of the visual brain

States of suspension : exploring suspended experience of sound and light in popular music and imagery

This practice-based research project explores, defines and demonstrates the state of spatio-temporal suspension, or suspended experience, where abstract characteristics of sound and light in music and imagery coalesce to afford audience and performer the experience of liminal or “between” aesthetic zones, in turn providing a gateway into imaginative worlds. Informed by the author’s background in the performance and composition of forms of experimental popular music as well as graphic design and photography, the investigation utilises a combination of creative research methods and research-led analysis within a phenomenological framework to interrogate the physiological and neurological basis for this state. In order to better understand and define this concept, relevant creative exemplars including music and music videos, experimental films and site-specific installations are examined. The analysis draws upon a range of relevant philosophies and theories of perception relating to time and space, including phenomenology, liminality, the Japanese concept of Ma and heterotopia. Perceptual and psychological theories, including affect as felt experience and its role in aesthetics are considered, as well as embodied cognition in aesthetics and ecological approaches to perception. These theories and concepts consider humans as integral parts of a dynamic ecosystem of individual and shared information and perception, providing insight into the perceptual basis of suspension and why it is often encountered as a cross-modal experience. Through the analysis of creative works and the author’s self-observation and journaling of the audiovisual exploration of suspension in performance and practice, the research identifies compositional features that are prevalent in works that facilitate and enhance the potential for suspended experience. These features are explored and realised through creative works that examine how suspension is imparted through an audiovisual composition, how it is experienced by the practitioner through the recording process and as an improvised performance, and how the works are received and experienced by others, via examination of responses to specially designed reception tests. The findings are expressed in the conception and realisation of two major bodies of work: an audiovisual suite, Suspension Studies (2020), comprised of musical and visual studies of suspension as an immobile work; and a site-specific performance work, States of Suspension (2018), which affords audiences and performers an active aesthetic experience of suspension in situ. The enquiry contributes to the understanding of a relatively unexplored phenomenon in music and visual arts and intends to encourage further discourse and investigation into this topic

Image and Evidence: The Study of Attention through the Combined Lenses of Neuroscience and Art

: Levy, EK 2012, ‘An artistic exploration of inattention blindness’, in Frontiers Hum Neurosci, vol. 5, ISSN=1662-5161.Full version unavailable due to 3rd party copyright restrictions.This study proposed that new insights about attention, including its phenomenon and pathology, would be provided by combining perspectives of the neurobiological discourse about attention with analyses of artworks that exploit the constraints of the attentional system. To advance the central argument that art offers a training ground for the attentional system, a wide range of contemporary art was analysed in light of specific tasks invoked. The kinds of cognitive tasks these works initiate with respect to the attentional system have been particularly critical to this research. Attention was explored within the context of transdisciplinary art practices, varied circumstances of viewing, new neuroscientific findings, and new approaches towards learning. Research for this dissertation required practical investigations in a gallery setting, and this original work was contextualised and correlated with pertinent neuroscientific approaches. It was also concluded that art can enhance public awareness of attention disorders and assist the public in discriminating between medical and social factors through questioning how norms of behaviour are defined and measured. This territory was examined through the comparative analysis of several diagnostic tests for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), through the adaptation of a methodology from economics involving patent citation in order to show market incentives, and through examples of data visualisation. The construction of an installation and collaborative animation allowed participants to experience first-hand the constraints on the attentional system, provoking awareness of our own “normal” physiological limitations. The embodied knowledge of images, emotion, and social context that are deeply embedded in art practices appeared to be capable of supplementing neuroscience’s understanding of attention and its disorders

Designers Who Don’t Draw: An Investigation into Sketch Inhibition among Undergraduate Designers

Sketch inhibition in undergraduate designers is a phenomenon widely acknowledged by educators, yet one garnering little attention from the academy. Defined as a reluctance or inability to use sketching effectively, it impacts negatively upon design ideation and the representation, evaluation and communication of information essential for successful design. The uniqueness of sketching was confirmed by the study; as a personalised icon-based language, a method of cognitive support for mental imagery and a tool for analysis. Ideation - the combination of intrinsically linked micro-activities within mental imagery and their representation - relies upon effective offloading of the working memory, the sketch being an irreplaceable tool for this purpose. Sketch inhibition is a complex behavioural phenomenon with single or multiple causes. These include, but are not limited to, skill-set deficiency, social anxiety and previous negative educational experience. Symptoms include reluctance to engage, deferral to other tools and poor quality design output. Effects are embodied in the inability to conceptualise and develop design information effectively, with impact graduate employability and commercial activity. Although purported to be integral to design higher education, considerable problems exist regarding its teaching and use at strategic, institutional and pedagogic levels. This includes the erroneous assumption that sketching is an intuitive activity that need not be taught. Examples of best practice suggest that, much like language, it needs to be formally taught and practised in order to develop both vocabulary and fluency in its use, in order that it can support design ideation successfully. This study applies a Grounded Theory approach to investigation of sketch inhibition and subsequently formulates a theory of the phenomenon. A pedagogic framework for sketch inhibition within design education is presented and evaluated, suggesting the command of it is possible - and on the part of the sufferer, even enjoyable.De Montfort Universit

Change blindness: eradication of gestalt strategies

Arrays of eight, texture-defined rectangles were used as stimuli in a one-shot change blindness (CB) task where there was a 50% chance that one rectangle would change orientation between two successive presentations separated by an interval. CB was eliminated by cueing the target rectangle in the first stimulus, reduced by cueing in the interval and unaffected by cueing in the second presentation. This supports the idea that a representation was formed that persisted through the interval before being 'overwritten' by the second presentation (Landman et al, 2003 Vision Research 43149–164]. Another possibility is that participants used some kind of grouping or Gestalt strategy. To test this we changed the spatial position of the rectangles in the second presentation by shifting them along imaginary spokes (by ±1 degree) emanating from the central fixation point. There was no significant difference seen in performance between this and the standard task [F(1,4)=2.565, p=0.185]. This may suggest two things: (i) Gestalt grouping is not used as a strategy in these tasks, and (ii) it gives further weight to the argument that objects may be stored and retrieved from a pre-attentional store during this task

Philosophy & Architecture

Philosophy & Architecture special number of philosophy@LISBON (International eJournal) 5 | 2016 edited by Tomás N. Castro with Maribel Mendes Sobreira Centro de Filosofia da Universidade de Lisboa ISSN 2182-437

Perceptual rigidity in Parkinson's disease and normal aging

Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by rigidity symptoms that extend motoric symptoms, including cognitive rigidity (e.g., reduced cognitive set-shifting) and "rigid" personality (e.g., reduced novelty-seeking). These non-motor symptoms have been associated with fronto-striatal dysfunction in this disorder. Disruption of fronto-parietal attentional networks in PD suggests rigidity may extend to perception. To examine perceptual rigidity, non-demented individuals with mild-moderate PD (16-27/experiment), matched normal control (NC; 15-25/experiment) and young control adults (YC; 17-22/experiment) were presented with bistable images. Study 1 examined perceptual flexibility in normal aging. The Necker cube, a bistable image that can be perceived as having the upper-left or lower-right face in front, was presented under passive-viewing and two volitional-control conditions: hold one percept in front, and switch between the two percepts. Under passive viewing, dominance durations (time spent on each percept) were shorter in YC than NC. Relative to YC, NC were less able to increase dominance durations in the hold condition but were comparable in the switch condition. Study 2 applied the Necker-cube experiment to PD and extended it to passive viewing during binocular rivalry. Inconsistently with our hypotheses, PD showed comparable dominance durations to NC in the passive viewing – Necker cube, while demonstrating shorter dominance durations (equivalent to faster perceptual alternation) during binocular rivalry. Relative to passive viewing, PD showed a trend toward less ability than NC to increase dominance durations in the Hold condition, and were significantly less able than NC to reduce dominance durations in the Switch condition, both results indicative of perceptual rigidity. Dominance durations on passive viewing correlated with personality (novelty-seeking) in PD, and not with cognitive rigidity in either group. Study 3 examined whether enhancement of low-level visual cues would reduce perceptual rigidity in PD. Low level cues helped both PD and NC to exert better control over the conditions they did not demonstrate difficulties in Study 1 and Study 2. These results suggest that perceptual rigidity occurs in mild-moderate PD. The provision of cues, however, does not compensate for this rigidity. Finally, these results further suggest an association in PD between novelty-seeking and the ability to explore the perceptually ambiguous world.2017-11-18T00:00:00

From Photography to fMRI

Hysteria, a mysterious disease known since antiquity, is said to have ceased to exist. Challenging this commonly held view, this is the first cross-disciplinary study to examine the current functional neuroimaging research into hysteria and compare it to the nineteenth-century image-based research into the same disorder. Paula Muhr's central argument is that, both in the nineteenth-century and the current neurobiological research on hysteria, images have enabled researchers to generate new medical insights. Through detailed case studies, Muhr traces how different images, from photography to functional brain scans, have reshaped the historically situated medical understanding of this disorder that defies the mind-body dualism

From Photography to fMRI: Epistemic Functions of Images in Medical Research on Hysteria

Hysteria, a mysterious disease known since antiquity, is said to have ceased to exist. Challenging this commonly held view, this is the first cross-disciplinary study to examine the current functional neuroimaging research into hysteria and compare it to the nineteenth-century image-based research into the same disorder. Paula Muhr's central argument is that, both in the nineteenth-century and the current neurobiological research on hysteria, images have enabled researchers to generate new medical insights. Through detailed case studies, Muhr traces how different images, from photography to functional brain scans, have reshaped the historically situated medical understanding of this disorder that defies the mind-body dualism