We Like The Original Versions Of Abstract Artworks More Than Colour-Shifted Ones

By Emma Young Take a look at this 1930 painting, “Rhythm, Joy of Life”, by French artist Robert Delaunay. Do you find it colourful? And do you like it? Robert Delaunay – Rhythm, Joy of Life (1930) Now what if every pixel in a digital version was rotated an equal distance on a “colour wheel” that represents every colour that people can see? Technically, the number of different colours in the image would be the same — but you’d probably perceive it to be less colourful. And, even if you’d never seen the original before, you’d probably like it less.  That, at least, is the conclusion of a fascinating new paper in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance. The work contributes to our understanding not only of why certain colours are more common in art, but also of how we perceive colour. Carolin S. Altmann and colleagues at the Experimental Aesthetics Group at Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany, first identified 100 colourful abstract artworks by well-known artists. They then rotated each through a 360-degree wheel of perceivable colours, in steps of 60 degrees at a time. This gave them six differently coloured digital versions of each artwork, so 600 images in total. Twenty young participants with normal vision used six-point scales to rate each version of every artwork for “colourfulness” and, separately (on another day), for how much they liked them. Rotated versions...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Perception Source Type: blogs