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Presentation
PL-2 Can Artists Really Predict Where You Will Look
Celebration of Research and Creative Scholarship
  • Herbert Helm, Andrews University
  • Karl Bailey, Andrews University
Presenter Status
Professor of Psychology, Dept of Behavioral Sciences
Second Presenter Status
Professor of Psychology, Dept of Behavioral Sciences
Preferred Session
Oral Session
Location
Newbold Auditorium, Buller Hall
Start Date
3-11-2017 12:30 PM
End Date
3-11-2017 2:00 PM
Presentation Abstract

Artists often talk about composition as it is the element which pulls the eye of the viewer across the painting. So if it is true that design elements can be used to lead a viewer’s eye then the artist should be able to predict where the viewer will look. With this in mind, three artists, including an internationally renowned urban landscape painter, were asked to predict where subjects would look in their paintings. Subjects were then hooked up to an eye-tracking device which measures the pupil position 60 times per second and presented the paintings for 30 seconds. Following the collection of data, heat maps were made of the viewers’ fixations. These fixations were then compared to the predictions the artists made. In general, the areas defined as most important by the artists were indeed where the participants predominantly focused. Other findings were also noted via the heat maps.

Citation Information
Herbert Helm and Karl Bailey. "PL-2 Can Artists Really Predict Where You Will Look" (2017)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/herbert_helm/18/