Effects of Information Conflict and Complexity in Visual Figures on Voluntary Visual Exploration, Using Structural Information Theory

Abstract

This study was designed to examine the effects of information conflict and complexity on voluntary visual exploration quantitatively. 31 adults viewed each of 16 slides of geometrical figures and places for as long as they wished. The stimuli had two values of information conflict and complexity which had been calculated by means of structural information theory. Free looking times indicated that only when information conflict was low, voluntary visual exploration was positively correlated with complexity. Furthermore, voluntary visual exploration correlated positively with information conflict when complexity was low.

Familiarity and Novelty in Aesthetic Preference: The Effects of the Properties of the Artwork and the Beholder

“…The differential gaze biases toward representational and abstract paintings also imply the differences in the aesthetic appraisal of the two types of paintings. One may argue that complexity, not familiarity-novelty preference, was reflected in the gaze results showing a larger gaze bias toward novelty in abstract paintings and complex paintings, as it takes longer to process complex stimuli than simple stimuli (Berlyne, 1958;Nunnally, 1967, 1968;Lemond et al, 1974;Akai and Nakajima, 1989). However, this does not seem to be the case; the gaze ratio in simple abstract paintings was much higher than in simple portraits and simple landscapes although the mean complexity score of simple abstract paintings (Z = −0.54) was lower than that of simple portraits (Z = −0.35) or simple landscapes (Z = −0.36).…”