Why do people stop and look at images?

Why do people stop and look at images?
Ronald Hünneman & Floris de Jonge
University of Groningen
DHBenelux
13.06.2014

• Relevance
• Theoretical Framework
• Hypothesis
• Test methodology
• Discussion of results
• Follow-up research
Ronald Hünneman & Floris de Jonge
DHBenelux, 13.06.2014
Contents

“Participants were faster in making automatic
associations between figurative art and positive
words than between abstract art and positive
words”
(Mastandrea et al, 2011: 129).
Ronald Hünneman Floris de Jonge
Relevance

Enactivism:
Behaviour is geared to particular behaviour-
eliciting situations
Theoretical
Framework

Enactivism:
Language:
Instrument for social behaviour
Theoretical
Framework

Enactivism:
Language:
Instrument for social behaviour
Perception:
Instrument to perceive behavioural possibilities
(affordances) in the environment
Theoretical
Framework

Images:
Affordances eliciting certain behaviours in viewers
Theoretical
Framework

Images:
Affordances eliciting certain behaviours in viewers
Affordances:
Dependent upon object properties and
characteristics of organisms
Theoretical
Framework

The research by Mastandrea et al. doesn’t show
the participants associations or preferences for
types of art or architecture, but rather the most
dominated linguistic behaviour in her or his
prominent social situations.
Hypothesis

Participants
• 38 people (19 females and 19 males)
• aged between 19 and 66 years old
(M=32.8; SD=16.5)
• 13 with professional training in art
Test methodology

Materials: images
• 20 art paintings
(figurative and abstract)
• 30 graphical posters
• 40 stills tv commmericals
Test methodology

Materials: software
The Exposition Game,
Delphica/Triangle Studios
Test methodology
© Delphica

Jacques-Louis David, Comte Potocki (1780-81)
Test methodology
Materials: software
• ImageJ, National Institutes of
Health
• ImageShapes, Software Studies
Initiative California Institute
for Telecommunication and
Information Technology

Binary Black and White rendering of
Test methodology

Mask of
Test methodology

Mask of
Giovanni Antonio Canal (Canaletto),
Il Campo di Rialto (1758-63)
Mask of
Kazimir Malevich,
Suprematist Painting (1915)
Test methodology

Results
Why people have preferences for certain images:

Results
1. The correlation between viewing time and the
amount of shapes

Results
1. The correlation between viewing time and the
amount of shapes
2. The role of art education in viewing and
evaluative behaviour

Results
0
150
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
Viewingtime(seconds)
Amount of shapes
Art paintings
(right):
Correlation=0,61;
N=19; p=0,005
All images:
Correlation=0,37;
N=88; p=0,0004
Posters:
Correlation=0,38;
N=29; p=0,04

Results
Three categories of art education:
1. no art education
2. some art education
3. professional art education

Results
0
50
100
150
200
250
3 1
VieweingTime(seconds)
Art education
Art education (3)
N=13
M=157,80
SD=34,49
Art education (1)
N=12
M=86,20
SD=27,14
p=0,00006

Results
0
0,5
1
1,5
2
2,5
3
3,5
4
4,5
3 1
Preferenceforabstractart
Art education
Art education (3)
N=13
M=2,83
SD=1,4
Art education (1)
N=12
M=1,23
S=1,17
p=0,005

Main conclusions
• Art education influences the preference for a
specific type of images

Main conclusions
• The amount of shapes influences how long people
look at images

Main conclusions
• The amount of shapes influences how long people
look at images
Providing better behavioral paramaters for the study
of images, in comparison with the IAT

The combination of big data and small empirical
research should be able to explain why people stop
and look, instead of only counting how often people
stop and look.

Why do people stop and look at images?

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Why do people stop and look at images?