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Published on: November 16, 2017
Spatial-attention and emotional evocation: line bisection performance and visual art emotional evocation
Valeria Drago1, Glen R Finney, Paul S Foster
1Department of Neurology, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL 32610-0236, USA. valeria.drago@neurology.ufl.edu
Brain and Cognition
|August 8, 2007
Summary
Individuals with better spatial attention allocation show greater emotional responses to art. This suggests attentional bias may influence art
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Art Perception
Background:
- The right temporal-parietal region (RTP) is crucial for spatial attention and emotional processing.
- Individual differences in spatial attention may correlate with emotional responses to art.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between spatial attention allocation and the evocative impact of art.
- To explore if attentional bias influences emotional processing of visual stimuli.
Main Methods:
- Seventeen healthy participants performed a line bisection task to assess spatial attention accuracy, creating more accurate (mALB) and less accurate (lALB) groups.
- Participants rated paintings on qualities including Evocative Impact, Aesthetics, and Technique.
Main Results:
- Significant differences in line bisection accuracy were found between the mALB and lALB groups.
- The mALB group reported a significantly greater Evocative Impact from the paintings compared to the lALB group.
Conclusions:
- Attentional bias, as measured by line bisection performance, influences emotional reactions to art.
- Spatial attention abilities may serve as an indicator for other right temporal-parietal region functions, including emotional processing.
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