Visual attention bias for self-made artworks.

Psychology of Aesthetics Creativity and the Arts, vol. 18, pp. 591–606

Abstract

We investigated visual attentional biases toward self-made artworks. Self-made objects tend to be favored, remembered, valued, and ranked above and beyond objects that are not related to the self. On this basis, we set out to test whether the effects of self-relevance would apply to visual art, and via what mechanisms. In three studies, participants created abstract paintings that were then incorporated in a dot-probe task, pairing self-made and other-made stimuli. Our findings confirm that attention and preference are higher for self-made (vs. other-made) artworks. Furthermore, we show that visual attention assessed by a dot-probe task constitutes a reliable measure of preference for art

Authors 6

1. Larissa Mendoza Straffon corresponding Aachen

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Leiden University, Wassenarseweg 52, 2333AK Leiden, Netherlands

2. Georgina Agnew

   University of Bath

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Psychology, University of Bath

3. Chenika Desch-Bailey

   University of Bath

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Psychology, University of Bath

4. Evy van Berlo Aachen Cognitive Psychology Unit

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Cognitive Psychology Unit, Leiden University

5. Małgorzata A. Gocłowska

   University of Bath

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Psychology, University of Bath

6. Mariska Esther Kret Aachen Cognitive Psychology Unit

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Cognitive Psychology Unit, Leiden University