Figure 2.1. Ren

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Figure 2.1. René Magritte, 1928 The Lovers (Les
Amants), oil on canvas, 54 cm x 73 cm, National
Gallery of Australia, Canberra.
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Stages in Cognitive Model for Perceiving
Art (Solso, 1994)
Stage What happens Example
1 Light is taken into eye and converted to neural codes Look at The Lovers by Magritte (Figure 2.1)
2 Eye and brain process neural codes Objects\shapes are identified Figure is differentiated from backgorund A man and woman stand together, facing the viewer in the foreground. A pastoral scene is in the background with trees and grass.
3 Brain associations occur Personal memories (episodic) General knowledge (semantic) I was at a funeral of my aunt when my parents were dressed like this. The clothing of the couple is for a formal occasion in 20th Century.
Figure 2.2. Robert Solso's (1994) model with
three cognitive stages for perceiving art.
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STEPS IN PERCEPTION WHERE IT HAPPENS
(Solso's Stage 2)
( PROBABLY )
Outside world image itself reflects light
PIXELS of image
DOTS are perceived by eye
eye retina (3 layers of neurons)
LINES are made up of connected dots
eye retina subcortex structure called the
thalamus
EDGES are seen as boundaries of OBJECTS
Cortex occipital lobe, visual receiving area
inferior temporal (IT) lobe
Cortex inferior temporal lobe and medial
temporal lobe (MT)
Objects are seen as parts of a SCENE
All brain IT, MT lobes, frontal lobes, subcortex
Viewers give MEANING to the scene
Figure 2.3. Model of six steps of visual and
cognitive processing of an image along with its
probable location in the nervous system. This
model is used by perceptual psychologists and
neuroscientists.
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B
A
C
Figure 2.4. (a) Anatomical tracings of three
differently-shaped neurons A is a pyramidal
cell, B is a spiny stellate neuron, and C is a
Purkinje cell found in abundance in the
cerebellum brain structure. (b) Parts of a
neuron in schematic drawing (1) dendrites, (2)
cell body, and (3) axon leading to cell B.
Cell body
Axon
Dendrites receiving impulses from previous neurons
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Figure 2.5. Calvin and Hobbes illustrating how a
neural impulse is an all-or-none event of energy
output.
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Figure 2.6. (a) A seascape photograph. (b)
Brightness map of the photo of the sea
representing the neural coding of brightness,
color and orientation of image (Parkhurst et
al., 2002).