title: When art moves the eyes: a behavioral and eye-tracking study.
abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate, using eye-tracking technique, the influence of bottom-up and top-down processes on visual behavior while subjects, naïve to art criticism, were presented with representational paintings. Forty-two subjects viewed color and black and white paintings (Color) categorized as dynamic or static (Dynamism) (bottom-up processes). Half of the images represented natural environments and half human subjects (Content); all stimuli were displayed under aesthetic and movement judgment conditions (Task) (top-down processes). Results on gazing behavior showed that content-related top-down processes prevailed over low-level visually-driven bottom-up processes when a human subject is represented in the painting. On the contrary, bottom-up processes, mediated by low-level visual features, particularly affected gazing behavior when looking at nature-content images. We discuss our results proposing a reconsideration of the definition of content-related top-down processes in accordance with the concept of embodied simulation in art perception.
authors.affiliation: Research Unit on Theory of Mind, Department of Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy. davide.massaro@unicatt.it
authors.forename: Davide
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Massaro
authors.forename: Federica
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Savazzi
authors.forename: Cinzia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Di Dio
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Freedberg
authors.forename: Vittorio
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Gallese
authors.forename: Gabriella
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gilli
authors.forename: Antonella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Marchetti
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001154:Art; D001288:Attention; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003116:Color; D004954:Esthetics; D053483:Eye Movement Measurements; D005133:Eye Movements / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*