Cognitive Style Differences in Attention Distribution Regarding Calligraphic Perception

Calligraphy is the most unique form of artistic expression in Chinese culture. However, most studies that used calligraphy as a research object only explored its artistic value from an artistic perspective. Thus, we know little about the information processing and influencing factors of calligraphic perception. Thus, we aimed to determine whether there are differences in attention distribution due to cognitive style in the process of calligraphic perception.

The calligraphy of Lan Ting Ji Xu, which is known as the first running script in the history of Chinese calligraphy, was selected as the experimental material. The study used eye movement experiments to explore the differences in cognitive styles of attention distribution when perceiving calligraphy, through the analysis of eye movement data of participants.

The results showed that field-independent participants had more fixation duration, number of fixations, and saccade angle when they perceived calligraphic works than those who were field-dependent. In other words, field-independent individuals spend more attention resources in the perceptual process. In addition, through data analysis, it was found that fixation duration, number of fixations, and saccade angle in the middle position of calligraphy are larger than the data on both sides of the calligraphy. In other words, when individuals perceive calligraphy, the content in the middle position can attract more attention resources than those on both sides.

We found that individuals with different cognitive styles have differences in attention distribution in the process of perceiving calligraphy.