Is Less More? Exploring the Visual Processes of Minimalist and Complex Photography Through Eye Tracking and EEG

In a world filled with an overwhelming amount of visual information, the clean and distinctive visual style of minimalist photography stands out. However, empirical research on how minimalist style affects visual cognition and psychological responses remains limited. The present study investigated the effects of photographic style (minimalist versus complex) on viewers' visual behavior, emotional responses, and brainwave state by conducting quantitative psychological experiments. Thirty participants viewed photographs in one of the two styles. Eye-tracking, consumer-grade electroencephalography (EEG), and subjective psychological assessment data were collected, enabling comprehensive evaluation of how the participants looked at, responded to, and emotionally engaged with the images. At the level of visual behavior, minimalism elicited significantly reduced number of fixations and saccades, but the duration of a single fixation is significantly longer, and the heatmap hotspots are highly concentrated, presenting a focused processing pattern of fewer but longer gazes. On a psychological level, minimalism evoked significantly less feeling of complexity and greater relaxation, although there was no significant difference in the aesthetics score between the two styles. In terms of brainwave state, viewing minimalist images resulted in significantly higher attention eSense levels, while the meditation eSense level did not show a significant difference. The results of this study therefore show that minimalist composition may influence the visual search pattern to be more focused, which is compatible with the tendency of simplified organization predicted by the principle of simplification. This study not only deepens the theoretical understanding of the psychological mechanisms of minimalist aesthetics, but also provides practical reference for visual communication and image creation of minimalist composition serving as an effective strategy for guiding the eyes toward the core subject.