Visual Preference for Curvature and Art Paintings: Some Data

Abstract

The visual preference for curvature is a human phenomenon that has been found on numerous studies. After the success of Bar and Neta (2006) on finding the preference for curvature using sharp-angled and curved versions of the same object, our research group replicated those results using the same stimuli but with a forced choice task in an approach-avoidance framework. With this new task, the effect of preference for curvature was also found in short exposure times: 40 and 80 miliseconds. Next we decided to apply the same paradigm but using art paintings. Pairs of similar abstract art images –a curved version and a sharp-angled one- were created. We used both color and black and white paintings. Only a weak effect was found in the color pairs with 40 ms exposure time. After these results we have revised the paradigm: (a) modifiyng some edges in sharp-angled images to have a more analogous set of curved images and (b) using a Likert scale with the aim to simulate art appreciation.