How big should this object be? Perceptual influences on viewing-size preferences

Area of Science:

• Visual perception
• Aesthetics
• Cognitive psychology

Background:

• Observers prefer viewing objects at visual sizes that align with their real-world dimensions.
• This preference is often attributed to semantic knowledge of object sizes.
• The role of visual processing independent of semantic knowledge remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether visual features, independent of explicit object recognition, influence preferred visual object size.
• To determine if mid-level visual properties can evoke size preferences.

Main Methods:

• Utilized "texform" images, which retain perceptual texture and contour but lack explicit recognizability.
• Employed a two-interval forced choice task to assess aesthetic preferences for different visual sizes.
• Conducted a control experiment to rule out size priming effects.

Main Results:

• Observers consistently preferred texforms presented at the canonical visual size over slightly larger or smaller versions.
• This preference was observed even when explicit object recognition was prevented.
• Results suggest visual features covarying with real-world size influence aesthetic size judgments.

Conclusions:

• Preferred visual object size is influenced by both semantic knowledge and visual processing of object features.
• Mid-level visual cues systematically related to an object's real-world size can drive aesthetic size preferences.
• Visual processing of texture and contour plays a significant role in aesthetic size perception.