Simona Ruggi

Visual exploration patterns of human figures in action: an eye tracker study with art paintings.

Art exploration is a complex process conditioned by factors at different levels and includes both basic visual principles and complex cognitive factors. The human figure is considered a critical factor attracting the attention in art painting. Using an eye-tracking methodology, the goal of this study was to explore different elements of the human figure performing an action (face and body parts in action) in complex social scenes characterized by different levels of social interaction between agents depicted in scenes (individual vs. social). The sample included 44 laypersons, and the stimuli consisted of 10 fine art paintings representing the figurative style of classical art. The results revealed different scanning patterns of the human figure elements related to the level of social interaction of agents depicted in the scene. The agents’ face attracted eye movements in social interaction scenes while the agents’ body parts attracted eye movements only when the agents were involved in individual actions. These processes were confirmed specifically in participants with high empathic abilities who became immediately fixated on faces to develop a mimetic engagement with other agents. Future studies integrating other measures would help confirm the results obtained and strengthen their implication for embodiment processes.

Personality Factors and Depressive Configurations. An Exploratory Study in an Italian Clinical Sample

Introduction: This study focuses on the relationship between personality configurations and depressive experiences. More specifically, the aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between self-criticism and dependency and personality styles or disorders, exploring the association between personality features and depressive symptoms. The two-configurations model of personality developed by Blatt (2004, 2008) is adopted as a reference point in sharing a valid framework and in understanding the results. Methods: Five instruments are administered to 51 participants with a diagnosis of depressive disorder, in accordance with DSM-IV-TR (American Psychiatric Association, 2000): Self-criticism and dependency dimensions of depression are measured with the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (DEQ); self-reported depression is assessed with the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II); observer-rated depression is assessed with the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS); personality is assessed with the Clinical Diagnostic Interview (CDI) and the Shedler Westen Assessment Procedure-200 (SWAP-200). Results: Only self-criticism, and not dependency, is associated with depressive symptoms. In addition, the SWAP Borderline PD Scale and the Dysphoric: Emotionally dysregulated Q-factor emerge as significant in predicting depression. Conclusions: Findings support the assumption that depressive personality configurations can enhance the vulnerability to developing depression. Theoretical and clinical implications of these results are discussed.

How Children's Mentalistic Theory Widens their Conception of Pictorial Possibilities

An interpretative theory of mind enables young children to grasp that people fulfill varying intentions when making pictures. We tested the hypothesis that in middle childhood a unifunctional conception of artists’ intention to produce a picture widens to include artists’ intention to display their pictures to others. Children aged between 5 and 10 years viewed a brief video of an artist deliberately hiding her picture but her intention was thwarted when her picture was discovered and displayed. By 8 years of age children were almost unanimous that a picture-producer without an intention to show her work to others cannot be considered to be an artist. Further exploratory studies centered on aspects of picture-display involving normal public display as well as the contrary intentions of hiding an original picture and of deceitfully displaying a forgery. Interviews suggested that the concept of exhibition widened to take others’ minds into account viewers’ critical judgments and effects of forgeries on viewers’ minds. The approach of interpolating probes of typical possibilities between atypical intentions generated evidence that in middle childhood the foundations are laid for a conception of communication between artists’ minds and viewers’ minds via pictorial display. The combination of hypothesis-testing and exploratory opening-up of the area generates a new testable hypothesis about how an increasingly mentalistic approach enables children to understand diverse possibilities in the pictorial domain.

Valutare la familiarita artistica: la proposta di un questionario

Nell’ambito delle ricerche inerenti le preferenze pittoriche, la comprensione artistica, il giudizio estetico e i comportamenti artistici viene messo spesso in luce il ruolo della familiarita artistica, ovvero quella dimensione socio-culturale che media il rapporto tra le caratteristiche dell’individuo e l’artefatto. Dall’analisi della letteratura si evince come questa dimensione si costituisca nel tempo grazie alla sensibilizzazione operata in primis dalla famiglia d’origine e poi dalle agenzie educative. In particolar modo la scuola che puo favorirne lo sviluppo promuovendo il confronto e la discussione tra pari. Nel corso del tempo la familiarita puo essere ulteriormente incentivata da alcuni comportamenti sia di produzione sia di fruizione artistica e dall’esposizione inintenzionale a stimoli grafico-pittorici diversi. La familiarita, pur essendo riconosciuta come fondamentale, non e mai stata studiata in modo sistematico, bensi la sua rilevazione e stata affidata a poche domande o e stata controllata attraverso la suddivisione dei soggetti coinvolti nelle ricerche in esperti e non esperti. Scopo di questo lavoro e quello di presentare un questionario volto a cogliere la dimensione della familiarita artistica nelle sue diverse sfaccettature, al fine di poter raccogliere dati di ricerca maggiormente attendibili e confrontabili. Lo strumento, composto nella versione finale da 44 item, e stato somministrato a 680 soggetti e sottoposto ad analisi fattoriale esplorativa e confermativa. Si sono attenute prove di validita interna, esterna (attraverso la correlazione con una prova di riconoscimento) e discriminante (differenze di genere e di eta), pertanto se ne consiglia l’adozione negli studi di psicologia dell’arte.

Contributo alla validazione italiana del Nuovo Test Estetico di Lindauer

Il presente studio vuole offrire un contributo alla validazione della versione italiana del Nuovo Test Estetico proposto da Lindauer nel 1985 adattato da Dogana et al. (1999, 2002). Il costrutto che misura e quello della sensibilita estetica, ovvero il tratto di personalita con le sue declinazioni cognitive, esperienziali e comportamentali che porta le persone esteticamente sensibili a mostrare un profondo interesse per la bellezza nelle sue varie forme e una vivida vita immaginativa. Il questionario adattato da Dogana et al. (1999, 2002) nella versione a 25 item era stato testato su un numero ridotto di adolescenti (16-20 anni). Somministrandolo a un campione di 1046 soggetti, dai 15 ai 50 anni equamente distribuiti per genere, e stato possibile testarne la struttura fattoriale attraverso un’analisi fattoriale esplorativa e confermativa. Lo strumento si e dimostrato valido e affidabile, inoltre ha permesso di valutare differenze di genere (la sensibilita estetica si conferma a maggior appannaggio femminile) ed eta (questa dimensione personologica tende ad accentuarsi con la maturita).