How universal is preference for visual curvature? A systematic review and meta‐analysis

Chuquichambi, Erick G.; Vartanian, Oshin; Skov, Martin; Corradi, Guido; Nadal, Marcos; Silvia, Paul J.; Munar, Enric

doi:10.1111/nyas.14919

Cited by 12 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 132 publications

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“…Examining the database allowed Chuquichambi and colleagues to identify factors that affected the participants’ geometry preferences, which included stimulus types, presentation time, experimental paradigms, environmental contexts, task/activities, and participants’ design expertise. They finally concluded that “people's preference for curvature in the visual domain is general and common, though not universal and invariant.” 1 …”

Section: Affordances and Curvature Preferencementioning

confidence: 99%

Affordances and curvature preference: The case of real objects and spaces

Djebbara

Kalantari

2023

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

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Chuquichambi and colleagues recently questioned the prevailing belief that a universal human visual preference exists for curved shapes and lines. Their comprehensive meta‐analysis demonstrated that while curvature preference is widespread, it is not universally constant or invariant. By revisiting their dataset, we made an intriguing discovery: a negative relationship between curvature preference and an object's “affordances.” Taking an embodiment perspective into account, we propose an explanation for this phenomenon, suggesting that the diminished curvature preference in objects with abundant affordances can be understood through the lens of embodied cognition.

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Section: Affordances and Curvature Preferencementioning

confidence: 99%

Affordances and curvature preference: The case of real objects and spaces

Djebbara

Kalantari

2023

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

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“…However, it is plausible to extend the current findings to abstract or figurative artworks because the same effect has been found using both meaningless and figurative images. For example, the findings of the meta-analysis conducted by Chuquichambi et al (2022) found a moderate-to-large effect size for meaningless stimuli and moderate for figurative stimuli.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, a considerable number of participants did not follow this trend, supporting the idea that preference for visual features coexists with a remarkable interindividual and intraindividual variation (Corradi et al, 2020) that merits further research. For example, in a recent meta-analysis, Chuquichambi et al (2022) showed that the effect of curvature is not fixed but flexible, and moderated by contextual (e.g., task, stimulus type, and presentation time) and individual difference factors (e.g., expertise).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A fundamental dimension underlying deep structure in the visual perception of any stimulus is the presence or absence of edges or contours in images (Cupchik, 2016). Over the course of the last two decades, contour has been a widely studied perceptual attribute in the field of visual preference, specifically curved versus sharp-angled contours (Chuquichambi et al, 2022; Corradi & Munar, 2020; Gómez-Puerto et al, 2016). For instance, it has been studied in mobile interface preference (J.…”

Section: Curvature Affects Preference For Paintings Viewed In Museumsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Preference for curvature in paintings extends to museum context.

Munar,

Chuquichambi,

Ruta

et al. 2023

Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts

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In the last two decades, contour shape has been widely studied as a factor in visual aesthetic preference. Many studies have shown that humans and other species usually prefer curved to sharp-angled contours. The reasons for this preference, although keenly debated, still remain unclear. Studies of preference for curvature have tended to rely on simple visual stimuli due to the need to control confounding variables, which has limited investigation of this effect in complex stimuli like artworks. Our objective in this study was to test whether the effect of preference for curvature can be extended to the art domain in an ecologically valid setting. We conducted two studies using original artworks exhibited in a museum context. Stimuli consisted of a series of 48 paintings divided into 16 sets with three versions in each set: one curved, one sharp-angled, and one mixed, while color, size and style were controlled for across each set. In both studies, we recorded participants’ preferred viewing distance and responses about liking and wanting the paintings. The results showed that participants looked at the curved paintings from a closer distance than the sharp-angled paintings, which we used as an implicit measure of approachability. Participants also liked and wanted the curved paintings significantly more than the sharp-angled paintings. We conclude that contour curvature is an important perceptual factor in people’s aesthetic judgments about artworks viewed in an ecologically valid setting.

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“…Velasco et al, 2016c). Potentially relevant to the emotional mediation account, individual differences in the preference for curvature in objects have also been reported (Cotter et al, 2017), possibly mediated by shape familiarity (Chuquichambi et al, 2021), expertise (Silvia and Barona, 2009), self-construal (Zhang et al, 2006), and even an individual's feelings of loneliness (Chen et al, 2021b; see also Chuquichambi et al, 2022) (Note 8).…”

Section: Emotional/hedonic Mediationmentioning

confidence: 90%

Explaining Visual Shape–Taste Crossmodal Correspondences

Spence

2023

Multisens. Res.

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A growing body of experimental research now demonstrates that neurologically normal individuals associate different taste qualities with design features such as curvature, symmetry, orientation, texture and movement. The form of everything from the food itself through to the curvature of the plateware on which it happens to be served, and from glassware to typeface, not to mention the shapes of/on food product packaging have all been shown to influence people’s taste expectations, and, on occasion, also their taste/food experiences. Although the origins of shape–taste and other form–taste crossmodal correspondences have yet to be fully worked out, it would appear that shape qualities are occasionally elicited directly. However, more often, there may be a metaphorical attempt to translate the temporal qualities of taste sensations into a spatial analogue. At the same time, emotional mediation may sometimes also play a role in the affinity people experience between shape properties and taste. And finally, it should be acknowledged that associative learning of the relation between packaging shapes, glassware shapes, logos, labels and iconic food forms that commonly co-occur with specific taste properties (i.e., in the case of branded food products) may also play an important role in determining the nature of shape–taste correspondences. Ultimately, however, any attempt to use such shape–taste correspondences to nudge people’s behaviour/perception in the real world is made challenging due to the fact that shape properties are associated with multiple qualities, and not just taste.

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How universal is preference for visual curvature? A systematic review and meta‐analysis

Cited by 12 publications

References 132 publications

Affordances and curvature preference: The case of real objects and spaces

Affordances and curvature preference: The case of real objects and spaces

Preference for curvature in paintings extends to museum context.

Explaining Visual Shape–Taste Crossmodal Correspondences

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