21 research outputs found
Differences in the Visual Perception of Symmetric Patterns in Orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus abelii) and Two Human Cultural Groups: A Comparative Eye- Tracking Study
Symmetric structures are of importance in relation to aesthetic preference. To
investigate whether the preference for symmetric patterns is unique to humans,
independent of their cultural background, we compared two human populations
with distinct cultural backgrounds (Namibian hunter-gatherers and German town
dwellers) with one species of non-human great apes (Orangutans) in their
viewing behavior regarding symmetric and asymmetric patterns in two levels of
complexity. In addition, the human participants were asked to give their
aesthetic evaluation of a subset of the presented patterns. The results showed
that humans of both cultural groups fixated on symmetric patterns for a longer
period of time, regardless of the pattern’s complexity. On the contrary,
Orangutans did not clearly differentiate between symmetric and asymmetric
patterns, but were much faster in processing the presented stimuli and scanned
the complete screen, while both human groups rested on the symmetric pattern
after a short scanning time. The aesthetic evaluation test revealed that the
fixation preference for symmetric patterns did not match with the aesthetic
evaluation in the Hai//om group, whereas in the German group aesthetic
evaluation was in accordance with the fixation preference in 60 percent of the
cases. It can be concluded that humans prefer well-ordered structures in
visual processing tasks, most likely because of a positive processing bias for
symmetry, which Orangutans did not show in this task, and that, in humans, an
aesthetic preference does not necessarily accompany the fixation preference