How the Visitors’ Cognitive Engagement Is Driven (but Not Dictated) by the Visibility and Co-visibility of Art Exhibits

Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts

Text available via DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00350
Final published version
Available under license: CC BY: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Keywords

art gallery, co-visibility, eye-tracking, memory, museum, visibility

View graph of relations

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

Published

Standard

How the Visitors’ Cognitive Engagement Is Driven (but Not Dictated) by the Visibility and Co-visibility of Art Exhibits. / Krukar, J.; Dalton, R.C.
In: Frontiers in Psychology, Vol. 11, 350, 03.03.2020.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

Bibtex

@article{e3f9847cdaa54744aa72ed50b62ca83e,

title = "How the Visitors{\textquoteright} Cognitive Engagement Is Driven (but Not Dictated) by the Visibility and Co-visibility of Art Exhibits",

abstract = "The spatial arrangement of artworks is recognized as one of the key elements of exhibition design. The underlying assumption is that the layout can strengthen the impact of individual exhibits, because the way visitors visually engage with artworks affects how they are cognitively processed. This paper explores the influence of the exhibits' visual properties on the visitors' attention and their memory of artworks. Attention was recorded with the use of mobile eye-tracking and memory was measured by an unanticipated recognition test immediately after the visit. The paper analyses both the total amount of attention spent on interacting with each artwork, as well as the strategy through which attention was allocated: through primarily longer ({"}diligent{"}) looks, versus primarily shorter ({"}distracted{"}) glimpses. Results of two experiments demonstrate that the visibility and co-visibility of artworks affected the amount of attention allocated to them, and the strategy of attention allocation. While the amount of attention contributed to improving the recognition memory of pictures, the strategy of attention allocation did not. These findings demonstrate the power of the exhibition's visual properties to influence the experience of museum visitors but also highlight the visitors' ability to employ alternative viewing strategies without diminishing the cognitive processing of artworks.",

keywords = "art gallery, co-visibility, eye-tracking, memory, museum, visibility",

author = "J. Krukar and R.C. Dalton",

note = "Copyright {\textcopyright} 2020 Krukar and Dalton.",

year = "2020",

month = mar,

day = "3",

doi = "10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00350",

language = "English",

volume = "11",

journal = "Frontiers in Psychology",

issn = "1664-1078",

publisher = "Frontiers Media S.A.",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - How the Visitors’ Cognitive Engagement Is Driven (but Not Dictated) by the Visibility and Co-visibility of Art Exhibits

AU - Krukar, J.

AU - Dalton, R.C.

PY - 2020/3/3

Y1 - 2020/3/3

N2 - The spatial arrangement of artworks is recognized as one of the key elements of exhibition design. The underlying assumption is that the layout can strengthen the impact of individual exhibits, because the way visitors visually engage with artworks affects how they are cognitively processed. This paper explores the influence of the exhibits' visual properties on the visitors' attention and their memory of artworks. Attention was recorded with the use of mobile eye-tracking and memory was measured by an unanticipated recognition test immediately after the visit. The paper analyses both the total amount of attention spent on interacting with each artwork, as well as the strategy through which attention was allocated: through primarily longer ("diligent") looks, versus primarily shorter ("distracted") glimpses. Results of two experiments demonstrate that the visibility and co-visibility of artworks affected the amount of attention allocated to them, and the strategy of attention allocation. While the amount of attention contributed to improving the recognition memory of pictures, the strategy of attention allocation did not. These findings demonstrate the power of the exhibition's visual properties to influence the experience of museum visitors but also highlight the visitors' ability to employ alternative viewing strategies without diminishing the cognitive processing of artworks.

AB - The spatial arrangement of artworks is recognized as one of the key elements of exhibition design. The underlying assumption is that the layout can strengthen the impact of individual exhibits, because the way visitors visually engage with artworks affects how they are cognitively processed. This paper explores the influence of the exhibits' visual properties on the visitors' attention and their memory of artworks. Attention was recorded with the use of mobile eye-tracking and memory was measured by an unanticipated recognition test immediately after the visit. The paper analyses both the total amount of attention spent on interacting with each artwork, as well as the strategy through which attention was allocated: through primarily longer ("diligent") looks, versus primarily shorter ("distracted") glimpses. Results of two experiments demonstrate that the visibility and co-visibility of artworks affected the amount of attention allocated to them, and the strategy of attention allocation. While the amount of attention contributed to improving the recognition memory of pictures, the strategy of attention allocation did not. These findings demonstrate the power of the exhibition's visual properties to influence the experience of museum visitors but also highlight the visitors' ability to employ alternative viewing strategies without diminishing the cognitive processing of artworks.

KW - art gallery

KW - co-visibility

KW - eye-tracking

KW - memory

KW - museum

KW - visibility

U2 - 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00350

DO - 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00350

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 32194488

VL - 11

JO - Frontiers in Psychology

JF - Frontiers in Psychology

SN - 1664-1078

M1 - 350

ER -

Research

Links

Text available via DOI:

Keywords