What is it about?
When people view artworks, especially abstract ones, very simple extra information about the type of artwork (e.g., portrait or landscape) doesn’t affect how they look at the piece in the first few seconds. Early eye movements are automatic and largely driven by the features of artworks.
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Photo by Eri Pançi on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Having prior knowledge of extremely simple categorical information about types of abstract artwork had no effect on how people viewed them. Early eye movements are automatic and help viewers quickly get a general sense of the piece. Prior contextual information starts to influence viewing only after the initial moments, guiding the viewer’s eyes to focus more on specific, meaningful parts of the artwork. In short, the study shows that while context can shape how we look at art, it only matters after our initial, instinctive scan of the piece—especially with abstract art.
Perspectives
Previous research has shown that broad categorical information about scenes is extracted extremely quickly. It was very surprising to me that this type of information did not change how people look at abstract art right from the first eye movement.
Eugene McSorley
University of Reading
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Viewing of abstract art follows a gist to survey gaze pattern over time regardless of broad categorical titles, PLOS One, June 2025, PLOS,
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0308591.
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