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This study investigated the role of expertise and personality in reactions to challenges in contemporary paintings, here operationalized as violations in syntax and semantics. Thirty-eight expert and 56 naïve art viewers appraised 20 paintings (divided into four groups, i.e. no violation, only syntactic or semantic violation, and both semantic-syntactic violations) on scales of valence, activation, sense-making, understanding and appreciation. Viewing time was also recorded and participants filled in questionnaires measuring the Big Five model of personality and Need for Closure. Separate mixed linear models were fit for each outcome variable (rating scales and viewing time) with the type of violations, expertise and personality measures as predictors. It was found that syntactically violated paintings predicted best viewers' reaction to art. Such paintings were viewed longer and evoked reactions modulated by individual differences and expertise. Expertise was found to be a positive predictor of understanding and appreciation of paintings with syntactic violations. Conversely, need for closure turned out to be a negative predictor of sense-making, understanding, and liking those types of art. Similarly, people high in neuroticism liked syntactically violated artworks less. Only openness to experience turned out to be a positive predictor of sense-making and activation in all types of stimuli. The results are discussed in terms of elevated challenge, which syntactically violated paintings present, and different strategies of viewers to cope with this.

Despite its mathematical simplicity and ubiquity in imaging technology, there has long been doubt about the ability of linear perspective to best represent human visual space, especially at wide-angle fields of view under natural viewing conditions. We investigated whether changes to image geometry had an impact on participants' performance, specifically in terms of non-metric distance estimates. Our multidisciplinary research team developed a new open-source image database to study distance perception in images by systematically manipulating target distance, field of view, and image projection using non-linear natural perspective projections. The database consists of 12 outdoor scenes of a virtual three-dimensional urban environment in which a target ball is presented at increasing distance, visualised using both linear perspective and natural perspective images, rendered, respectively, with three different fields of view: 100°, 120°, and 140° horizontally. In the first experiment (N = 52), we tested the effects of linear versus natural perspective on non-metric distance judgements. In the second experiment (N = 195), we investigated the influence of contextual and previous familiarity with linear perspective, and individual differences in spatial skills on distance estimations. The results of both experiments showed that distance estimation accuracy improved in natural compared with linear perspective images, particularly at wide-angle fields of view. Moreover, undertaking a training session with only natural perspective images led to more accurate distance judgements overall. We argue that the efficacy of natural perspective may stem from its resemblance to the way objects appear under natural viewing conditions, and that this can provide insights into the phenomenological structure of visual space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aphantasia is a relatively new term referring to the experience of lack of visual imagery. Here, we present a literature review on aphantasia in the context of memory as well as a case report of congenital aphantasia in a 24-year old female, A.B., who became aware of her particular condition only recently. The aim of this article is to draw attention to the concept of aphantasia and describe the patient's experiences as well as her performance in mental imagery, memory, and intelligence tests. We believe that our paper may be useful for both research in psychology and clinical practice. Analysis of aphantasia may allow to assess the importance of mental imagery in other cognitive processes, like working memory or autobiographical memory. Moreover, the phenomenon of aphantasia emphasises the need to consider individual differences in mental imagery and inspires new research. Last but not least, we present a series of psychotherapeutic implications of aphantasia, such as deficits in autobiographical memory or difficulties with imagery-based techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]