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Mere Exposure, Reproduction, and the Impressionist Canon
... Van Gogh paintings, Leder shows that familiarity can increase liking in the case of artworks but that exposure effects can be short-lived and are easily overridden by other factors. Cutting (2003Cutting ( , 2006Cutting ( , 2007 explored mere exposure effects as they relate to the formation of artistic canons. Based on a series of unique experiments he claims that "artistic canons are promoted and maintained, in part, by a diffuse but continual broadcast of their images to the public by museums, authors, and publishers" (2003, p.335). ...
... In a more complicated set of studies Cutting (2003Cutting ( , 2006Cutting ( , 2007 explored the diffuse effects of repetition over time on the maintenance of artistic canons (the culturally sanctioned collections of important artworks). By presenting his unsuspecting students with reproductions of a selection of Impressionist paintings (those most frequently reproduced in textbooks) and then testing their preference of these against a control group, Cutting confirmed a correlation between prior exposure to art and aesthetic preference. ...
The following thesis applies theories and findings from cognitive psychology to notions of pictorial address and seriality in art. It is interdisciplinary and practice-led, culminating in a written outcome and a portfolio of creative work. The thesis suggests a model for the exchange of ideas within experimental psychology, art practice and art theory.
The research evaluates historical and theoretical notions of pictorial address in light of concepts within visual cognition. Theories of address often refer to the temporal, spatial and postural qualities of art spectatorship. Here they are aligned with relevant psychological concepts including gist extraction, spatial representation and embodied simulation in order to make the underlying perceptual and cognitive processes explicit.
There is an emphasis on seriality as a mode of address and pictorial artworks that comprise multiple discrete but related instances displayed together. Two case studies consider the serial output of Claude Monet and Andy Warhol in terms of cognitive theories of concept formation and exposure effects, respectively. The direct impact of features of seriality on the viewer in each case is discussed relative to existing art theory and established art historical narratives.
The thesis culminates with presentation and discussion of the portfolio of creative work that both informed and was informed by the theoretical research. The outcomes comprise paintings, drawings, photography and mixed media installation that explore properties of variation, repetition and relational knowledge within pictorial address.
... As one of prominent theories of aesthetic preference, the processing fluency theory proposed that the more fluently perceivers can process objects, the more positively they appreciate them (Reber et al., 2004;Reber, 2012). One of the determinants of fluency is a prior exposure, as evidenced by the mere exposure effect suggesting a higher preference for frequently exposed, familiar stimuli (Zajonc, 1968;Bornstein, 1989;Cutting, 2007). The fluency theory, however, conflicts with striving for novelty and innovativeness which is a dominant force in the development of art (Martindale, 1988;Arnason and Mansfield, 2013). ...
Familiarity and novelty are fundamental yet competing factors influencing aesthetic preference. However, whether people prefer familiar paintings or novel paintings has not been clear. Using both behavioral and eye-tracking measures, the present study aimed to investigate whether the effect of familiarity-novelty on aesthetic preference is independent or dependent on artwork properties (painting content, visual complexity) and viewer characteristics (experience in art). Participants were presented with two images of paintings, one of which was repeatedly presented but was always paired with a new painting in a randomized lateral arrangement. They were asked to indicate which of the two images they preferred with the degree of their preference. Behavioral results demonstrated an interactive influence of painting content and complexity on familiarity-novelty preference, especially alongside the distinction between representational and abstract paintings. Also, the familiarity-novelty preference was modulated by the degree of art experience, for abstract paintings in particular. Gaze results showed the differential effects of painting content, complexity, and art experience echoing the behavioral results. Taken together, the convergent results derived from behavioral and eye-tracking measures imply that novelty is an important feature of aesthetic appreciation, but its influence is modulated by properties of both the artwork and the beholder.
... The results demonstrated that previous exposure to stimuli can increase people's subsequent preference for those stimuli (for example, Harrison 1977;Zajonc 1968; see also Temme 1984;Zajonc 1980Zajonc , 2001. Surprisingly, this ''mere exposure effect'' (for a discussion on the use of the mere exposure effect in art, see Cutting 2006Cutting , 2007, as it has been named, was strongest when the stimuli were presented subliminally, such that subsequent recognition performance was at chance (for example, Bornstein and d'Agostino 1992;Kunst-Wilson and Zajonc 1980). It is important to note here that the presence of a mere exposure effect has also been reported for objects explored haptically and transfers across sensory modalities (i.e., from visual to tactile stimuli; see Suzuki and Gyoba 2008). ...
The haptic perception of 2D images is believed to make heavy demands on working memory. During active exploration, we need to store not only the current sensory information, but also to integrate this with kinesthetic information of the hand and fingers in order to generate a coherent percept. The question that arises is how much tactile memory we have for tactile stimuli that are no longer in contact with the skin during active touch? We examined working memory using a tactile change detection task with active exploration. Each trial contained two stimulation arrays. Participants engaged in unconstrained active tactile exploration of an array of vibrotactile stimulators. In half of the trials, one of the vibrating tactors that was active in the first stimulation turned off and another started vibrating in the second stimulation. Participants had to report whether the arrays were the same or different. Performance was near-perfect when up to two tactors were used and dropped linearly as the number of the vibrating tactors increased. These results suggest that the tactile working memory off the hand is limited and there is little or no memory integration across hand movements.
... For example, adaptation can help to explain how an innovation in style that is initially rejected can become favourable. French Impressionism demonstrates this quite well since Impressionist works of art initially repulsed and offended audiences whereas today they produce blockbuster exhibitions in major museums (for a related discussion see Cutting, 2003Cutting, , 2007. Artists who create serial artworks inadvertently provide fertile ground for adaptation indicating that beyond mere exposure effects, seriality might be effective in promoting an artist's visual brand. ...
The ability to form stable mental representations (or concepts) from a set of instances is fundamental to human visual cognition and is evident across the formation of prototypes, from simple pseudo-random dot patterns through to the recognition of faces. In this paper we argue that the cognitive and perceptual processes that lead to the formation of stable concepts are also important in understanding spectatorship of a certain class of serial artworks that are composed of multiple discrete but related pictures. This article considers the processes that enable the formation of stable mental representations in relation to a series of paintings of Rouen Cathedral by Claude Monet. The implications of understanding these processes for the spectatorship of this class of serial artworks are discussed.
... Mere exposure has been studied in relation to actual works of art (eg, Berlyne 1970). Cutting (2003; 2007) discussed the application of the idea of mere exposure to the formation and maintenance of artistic canons and provided evidence to support this view in the case of French Impressionism. If exposure is critical for the evaluation of a film, then viewers that have seen the film before may behave differently from viewers that have not seen the film. ...
The mirror reversal of an image is subtly different from the original. Often such change goes unnoticed in pictures, although it can affect preference. For the first time we studied the effect of mirror reversal of feature films. People watched Yojimbo or Sanjuro in a cinema, both classic films by Akira Kurosawa. They knew that this was a study and filled out a questionnaire. On one day Yojimbo was shown in its original orientation, and on another day the film was mirror reversed. Sanjuro was shown reversed on one day and non-reversed on another day. Viewers did not notice the reversal, even when they had seen the film before and considered themselves fans of Kurosawa. We compared this with estimates from a survey. In addition, the question about the use of space (scenography) revealed that although people who had seen the film before gave higher ratings compared with those who had not, this was only true when the film was not reversed.
... The results demonstrated that previous exposure to stimuli can increase people's subsequent preference for those stimuli (e.g., Harrison, 1977; Zajonc, 1968; see also Temme, 1984; Zajonc, 1980; 2001). Surprisingly, this 'mere exposure effect' (see Cutting, 2006, 2007, for a discussion on the use of the mere exposure effect in art), as it has been named, was strongest when the stimuli were presented subliminally, such that subsequent recognition performance was at chance (e.g., Bornstein & d'Agostino, 1992; Kunst-Wilson & Zajonc, 1980). It is important to note here that the presence of a mere exposure effect has also been reported for objects explored haptically and transfers across sensory modalities (i.e., from visual to tactile stimuli; see Suzuki & Gyoba, 2008). ...
The past few decades have seen a rapid rise in the popularity of studies addressing the cognitive and neural correlates of aesthetic judgments in humans. However, despite this growing trend, and despite the fact that artists have, over the centuries, exploited each and every one of the human senses for their communicative purposes, very little research has investigated this important topic from the point of view of the sense of touch. In this review, we highlight for the first time a number of the key characteristics that an aesthetics of touch ought to have. In particular, starting from the artists’ and the visual aesthetics points of view, we summarize those empirical findings relevant to the tactile modality. We suggest that while tactile aesthetics has many similarities with visual aesthetics there are also a number of important differences. In particular, the hedonic experience of touch appears to be more intimate, active (requiring the involvement of body movement), and “primitive” than that generated by visual stimuli. Finally, we show that a widespread network of brain areas appears to be involved in the various different aspects of tactile aesthetic experience.
This chapter considers the music most often heard, the genres considered popular. It focuses on the best-known genres of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a time when electricity made reproductions increasingly available and broadcasting ensured that ever-larger audiences would hear the same performances. When scholars listen to music liked or admired by many people, they first encounter the fundamental question of whether this admiration has grown within a community through shared listening experiences or has been imposed by means of hegemonic force. A symbiotic relationship between film and music continues to the present day. European immigrants composed much of the music heard on Broadway and in films, which tends to preserve the sounds of nineteenth-century Romanticism; paradoxically, a later generation would react disdainfully to symphonies and chamber music composed earlier, claiming they merely imitated Hollywood soundtracks.
Recent onderzoek toont aan dat er een significante discrepantie is tussen het heersende beeld van de kunstwereld als een grotendeels geglobaliseerde sector en de praktijk, die uitwijst dat een beperkt aantal machthebbende landen haar financiële, conceptuele en formele belangen bepaalt. De ‘meesterwerken’ van deze landen liggen ten grondslag aan de historische definities van (grote) kunst, waardoor zij een cultureel en symbolisch kapitaal hebben waar maar weinig andere landen mee kunnen concurreren. Gezien de huidige implosie van de economische, culturele en politieke sectoren, is de vraag hoe de waarde van artistieke productie wordt vastgesteld en wie daar belang bij heeft belangrijker dan ooit tevoren. Lucy Cotter onderzocht hoe curatorschap verband houdt met dit proces van waardeproductie. Door middel van een case study, de representatie van Ierse kunst in Londen, analyseerde zij hoe de transactiegerichte kunstwereld gebruikmaakt van ‘identiteit’. Ook al zijn kunstenaars niet in één identiteit te vangen en horen zij op meerdere plaatsen thuis, toch doen de huidige maatstaven van curatorschap geen recht aan deze complexiteit. Cotter stelt dat het ontwikkelen van een curatorschap ‘nieuwe stijl’ van groot belang is voor de herverdeling van cultureel en symbolisch kapitaal. Ze geeft aanzetten tot ideeën voor verdere ontwikkeling van poststructurele en postrepresentatieve vormen van curatorschap.
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