Ninety university undergraduate students were tested on a number of tasks assessing their recognition of possible and impossible figures, mental rotation, ideational fluency, and self-report artistic and creative characteristics. Scores on the Impossible Figures Task (IFT-14) and the Mental Rotation Test, and self-ratings on the Artistic…

A eulogy to art educator and researcher Henry Schaefer-Simmern, explaining his theory of gestalt visual conceiving and artistic cognition. (SJL)

Based on the more general principle that all thinking (including reasoning) is basically perceptual in nature, the author proposes that visual perception is not a passive recording of stimulus material but an active concern of the mind. He delineates the task of visually distinguishing changes in size, shape, and position and points out the…

The scientific study of the visual communication media arts must be based on both general theories regarding these media and specific theories developed for each medium. Although it is possible that the delay in the development of vigorous scientific studies and empirical research findings in the visual communication media of television has caused…

Reviews empirical and theoretical writings showing how visual arts affect: growth of perception and awareness through use of the senses; clarification of styles of thought and their effect on personal expression; inventiveness and general problem-solving ability; feelings of confidence and self-worth; and general learning motivation and success.…

The seven papers that comprise this book were presented at the 1977 National Art Education Association Conference on Reading, the Arts, and the Creation of Meaning held to bring together people in the arts and the fields of reading, psychology, and philosophy to explore the relationships that exist between these fields of study. Topics discussed…

This paper illustrates and explains the relationship between drawing ability and spatial and visual-perceptual ability; it defines those terms and explores their connection to intelligence and information processing as well as their potential implications for education and training. Discussion covers results of recent studies, which suggest that…

Total comprehension and understanding of visual images (particularly moving images) are the result of a series of complex biological (brain) and mental (mind) processes and activities. Whereas perceptual psychology and neurophysiology are among the two main academic disciplines that explain the functions performed by the organs of visual and…

Argues that illusion is the separation between belief and knowledge; "trompe l'oeil" works by delaying knowledge so that belief supersedes. Presents five lessons: two concern "trompe l'oeil" and its ability to present believable illusions, the other three build on these, emphasizing illusionism, film, and aesthetics in relation…

The book contains papers and discussion summaries from a conference on the relationship of the arts to cognition and basic skills and the relevance of art and aesthetics research to art education. The papers suggest researchable questions in the arts and provide examples of ongoing studies in these areas. These questions are grouped into three…

The study of metaphor involves numerous fields in recent history from cognitive neuroscience to linguistics. Visual metaphor research occupies an underrepresented area of inquiry. With the development of the cognitive sciences, a cognitive view of metaphoric thinking is emerging. This calls for a reconsideration of visual metaphor in the…

The case study of Nadia, an autistic child, documents the phenomenally accurate drawings she made. Nadia's precocious drawing capacity raises questions about the drawing hypothesis adhered to by F. Goodenough and D. B. Harris and Gestalt theories of perception and representation. The argument is made that Nadia drew realistically because she…