Student Responses - Studying Vision & Art

Photo Credit: Richard Howard

Professor Bevil Conway asked students, "Do you think the study of art is enhanced by an understanding of the visual system and visual processing? Do you think studying art can tell us anything about how the brain works?" Below are some of their answers.

"When we study art we talk about the way in which it is constructed and received, as well as the context of the creator, the viewer, and the piece. Understanding the components of how our visual system functions provides a useful framework for these conversations. For example, I can talk about the experience of my eye being drawn to a certain point in a composition, but I may not be able to say why this occurs without understanding that our visual system is set up to identify regions of high local contrast and discontinuities in form. And without studying art, I may not have ever been made aware of the fact that my eyes’ focus and movement can be guided by elements of visual composition, and so would never have pursued a neurobiological explanation of the phenomenon. Figuring out how something works is all about asking the right questions. We are not always in the position to ask the right question. The more we learn, the more questions we can ask."

- Rosa Lafer-Sousa '09

"Studying art as a means of furthering the study of visual perception is extremely valuable. In many respects artists themselves have spent the last two thousand years doing the fieldwork that is necessary to begin understanding the visual system. They have pushed the boundaries of color, shape and line, finding what works and what doesn't work. They know what shortcuts can be taken to depict a realistic scene without having to employ the psychotic attention to detail of the Northern renaissance artists. These shortcuts can provide neuroscientists with clues as to which aspects of the world are fundamental to our visual understanding and which are not. We know from the biology of the eye and brain that our eyes are not like cameras. They do not simply record every detail of a scene as it is but instead pick and choose key features. We can use art to figure out what those key features are. Take shadows, for example. Artists have a tremendous amount of flexibility when depicting shadows. The shadow doesn't have to be pointing in the same direction as other shadows or even really correspond to the visible light source. As long as it is darker than the object creating it and doesn't appear to have volume of its own, it will be read by the visual system as a shadow. This provides many questions that the neuroscientist can begin to answer, most fundamentally, why do these types of tricks work? What are the evolutionary and biological reasons that we don’t pick up on sometimes glaring discrepancies between what and what? The study of art has the potential to open up a new world of questions and discoveries for the vision researcher."

- Colleen Kirkhart '09

"By developing one’s knowledge of the visual system and visual processing one is able to understand precisely why the color wheel works, why certain artistic techniques are effective and why other things go unnoticed. For example, impressionism was an effective style of painting because the human eye does not need to see distinct lines to be able to perceive a figure in its intended form but rather the patterns of color combined with the visibility of the brush strokes is enough to allow for adequate perception. The same is true for line drawings. We do not need to see a fully embellished drawing comprised of complete outlines in order to decipher an image because we are able to pick out enough details to find the object in the image. The same ideas apply to "mistakes" in artwork. A shadow does not have to be drawn scientifically for the viewer to accept that it is there. Usually, unless you are committed to a careful observation and study of a piece or it is blatantly obvious, you do not immediately notice the exact locations of the light source and so do not really notice if a shadow is going the wrong direction, or at least it is of no real consequence if the shadow is inconsistent with the light source. However, understanding the way the visual system works allows you to realize why Monet’s sunsets are so captivating, (his unrealistic color choices develop the illusion of brightness) or why perspective makes sense,( we live in 3-D not 2-D) or why chiaroscuro is effective."

- Marielle Noble '08