Stefano Mastandrea

Learning through ancient art and experiencing emotions with contemporary art: Comparing visits in two different museums.

The aim of the present research was to explore possible differences between visitor experiences in two different kinds of art museums according to the art styles of the collections hosted: the Museum Borghese of Rome (ancient art) and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection of Venice (contemporary art). Two questionnaires were administered to 500 Italian participants before and after their visit to one of the museums. Questions (Likert scales and multiple choice) assessed how much visitors liked and were satisfied with the museum and their visit, and the motivations, expectations and preference that drive people to visit museums of ancient versus contemporary art. Results show that people who visit the Guggenheim Museum have higher socio-economic status (education and profession) and visit museums more frequently than those who attend the Borghese Museum. Additionally, educational level relates to the enjoyment of the visit and to the nature of the aesthetic experience; visit conduction by Borghese visitors was driven by the intent of understanding and knowing, while those who attended the Guggenheim took an emotional approach to their experience.

Do automatic mental associations detect a flashbulb memory

Flashbulb memories (FBMs) are defined as detailed memories for the reception context in which people first heard of a public and emotionally relevant event. For many years researchers have been debating whether FBMs can be considered a special class of emotional memories, or whether they suffer the same fate as ordinary autobiographical formations. The debate on the real existence of this special class of memories reflects the difficulty of establishing their accuracy. Three indices have been defined as proxies for FBM accuracy: specificity of recalled details, individuals’ confidence in their memory, and memory consistency over time. However, all approaches to FBM assessment have been based on explicit self-report measures. In two studies we aimed to detect FBMs for two emotional public events, by simultaneously employing explicit traditional FBM measures and implicit measures based on the autobiographical Implicit Association Test (aIAT). Jointly considered, the results from the two studies showed that the implicit measures were able to discriminate a FBM, and appeared significantly associated with explicit traditional measures of FBM Specificity, Confidence, and Consistency. Both explicit and implicit assessments concurred to correctly estimate a FBM. Implications for the FBM debate are discussed.

Flashbulb memories of the Pope's resignation: Explicit and implicit measures across differing religious groups

In the present paper, we aimed to provide evidence in support of the idea tested in a recent study by Lanciano and colleagues that flashbulb memories (FBMs) are a special class of autobiographical memories that can be assessed through the autobiographical implicit association test (aIAT). FBMs and event memories (EMs) for the news of the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI were evaluated in three samples of churchgoer Catholic, non-churchgoer Catholic and Evangelical Italian participants through the traditional self-report measures (specificity/accuracy, confidence, consistency) and aIAT indices. Results confirmed the strength of the association between FBM and true information. The aIAT effect was stronger for FBMs than for EM details, and for Catholic respondents who were the group most concerned by the original event. Furthermore, the use of implicit measures for memory assessment concurs with the traditional self-report indices of FBMs. The present evidence supports the idea that FBMs are special autobiographical memories which remain detailed, certain and consistent over time.

Implicit and Explicit Aesthetic Evaluation of Design Objects

Can a preference for design objects also be achieved automatically? The aim of this study is to examine whether different levels of expertise in industrial design (laypeople versus design experts) can orient the preference towards different styles of design objects (classic chairs versus modern chairs), at both implicit and explicit levels. Implicit and explicit preferences are often mediated by assessor features. The Implicit Association Test (IAT) was used to measure the automaticity of the evaluation. The participants (44 laypeople and 40 experts) performed a categorization task with reference to pictures (five classic and five modern chairs) and words (five positive and five negative aesthetic words). Reaction times were registered. The explicit evaluation of the stimuli was assessed using a seven-point Likert scale referring to the adjectives beautiful, typical, familiar, understandable, complex and interesting in order to appraise overall preferences for both classic and modern design objects.In both measurements, implicit and explicit preferences for classic and modern objects were moderated by expertise: experts were aesthetically more oriented towards modern objects while laypeople did not show a specific preference for one style. This study is one of the first attempts to demonstrate the differences in aesthetic preferences between experts and non-experts at an implicit level.

Meaning of Industrial Design Objects: From Designers to Users

Structural features of everyday objects of industrial design and expressive qualities possibly communicated by the same objects are investigated. The objective may be defined in terms of the following points: (1) communication between designers and users; (2) differences in appraisal between groups of experts and nonexperts; (3) systematic relationships between structural characteristics and expressive qualities of the objects considered. Three groups of subjects were interviewed: four designers responsible for the design of six objects, twenty advanced-level design students (experts), and twenty nonexpert students. All subjects had to fill in a questionnaire based on an open interview with the designers. The questionnaire was divided into two parts: structural characteristics and expressive characteristics. A multifactorial analysis and t-test were performed on the data. The results suggest that (1) communication between designers and users exists in a large number of item appraisals and is not the result of the ambiguity of the physical properties of the objects; (2) specific training in design has a direct influence upon object appraisal, indicating a certain differentiation between the groups of experts and nonexperts; (3) there are no systematic correlations between structural and expressive characteristics except in one very specific case: between the structural characteristic of shape and consistency of material, on the one hand, and the expressive qualities of dynamism, on the other.

Peripheral Factors Affecting the Evaluation of Artworks

The goal of the research was to determine whether artworks said to be created by famous artists were appreciated more than the same artworks attributed to nonfamous artists. Analysis indicated that the works attributed to famous artists were more appreciated than the identical works attributed to nonfamous artists: The works were liked more and judged more interesting and beautiful (all p values < .001). Participants (N = 309), all art nonexperts, also were willing to pay more to see the works if described as created by famous artists (p < .001); importantly, however, no differences were found in ratings of the works’ comprehensibility. This pattern of results suggests that judgmental variations were attributable to participants’ peripheral processing of factors not intrinsic to the work itself. Dual process models of attitudes, popular in social psychology, were invoked to provide a framework for understanding the findings.

Visits to figurative art museums may lower blood pressure and stress

Abstract Background The research aimed to assess, through physiological measurements such as blood pressure and heart rate, whether exposure to art museums and to different art styles (figurative vs. modern art) was able to enhance visitors’ well-being in terms of relaxing and stress reduction. Method Participants (n = 77) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions, on the basis of the typology of the art style they were exposed to in the museum visit: (1) figurative art, (2) modern art and (3) museum office (as a control condition). Blood pressure and heart rate were measured before and after the visits. Results Diastolic values of the participants were quite stable, as expected in people who do not suffer hypertension; we therefore considered only variations in systolic blood pressure. The majority of the participants exposed to figurative art significantly decreased systolic blood pressure compared to those exposed to modern art and museum office. No differences were found in the heart rate before and after the visit for the three groups. Conclusion Findings suggest that museum visits can have health benefits, and figurative art may decrease systolic blood pressure.

Pot/Lid Illusion

A new everyday visual size illusion is presented—the Pot/Lid illusion. Observers choose an unduly large lid for a pot. We ask whether the optic slant of the pot brim would increase its apparent size or if vision underestimates the size of tilted lids.