RL RR

RL RR

Filler Mean Rating (N=32)

African 6.406Singer 6.250Blake 6.219Buettner2 5.969 Saper 5.938Kinstler2 5.688

Buettner 5.375 Kinstler 5.219 Hopper 4.969 Horton 4.844 Paint4.812Pastel 4.719

Drut 3.688Drut23.469Freud 3.406 Monahan 3.344 Tibet 3.312Sutherland 3.031 Horton2 2.938 Rodwell 2.875

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A painted portrait differs from a photo in that the artist intentionally selects only certain regions for fine detail (i.e., narrow versus broad brushwork) and the contrast level of edges. Although artists and art critics have claimed that these choices guide the viewer’s eyes, this claim has not been thoroughly tested. In past studies of viewers gazing at original works of art, interpretation is complicated because regions of fine and coarse detail also differ in other ways (e.g., whether they are foreground or background). Here we monitored the gaze of participants viewing photos and paintings of the same portrait view, inspired by Rembrandt’s portraits (e.g., Self Portrait with Beret, 1659). The paintings were created by a non-photorealistic rendering technique to mimic Rembrandt’s style (DiPaola, 2007). In each painting, four regions of interest were selected for systematic variation in level of detail: left versus right eye region in finer detail and left versus right collar region in finer detail. Both original and mirror image views were tested to control for side biases. Participants viewed each portrait for a 5 sec period — in the context of viewing many portraits rendered in a wide range of styles —assigning ratings of artistic merit to each portrait. Analysis of the gaze patterns showed that fewer fixations were made overall when viewing paintings than photos, and that viewer’s eyes were both attracted to and dwelt longer in the eye region of a portrait that was rendered in finer detail. Even regions of the paintings that were rarely fixated directly (i.e., collar regions below each face) nevertheless guided the gaze of viewers, specifically enhancing the salience of eyes rendered in fine detail on the same side of the portrait. This implies that Rembrandt and other master portraitists use an effective implicit theory of gaze direction. - Riebe, DiPaola, Enns,

Working Abstract

Following the masters: Viewer gaze is directed by relative detail in painted portraits

Total Fixation Frequency (all image types)

12

13

14

15

16

17

Tot

al F

ixat

ion

Fre

quen

cy

Filler Art Input Photos Opposite Same-side

Focus Regions in Critical Images

- critical art has fewer fixations (fewer saccades) overall than either filler art or photos

- reducing detail and selectively emphasizing detail “quiets” the eye

FOCUSBlur FOCUSBlur

SHARPsoft

SHARP soft

Total Dwell Time (all image types)

3800

3850

3900

3950

4000

4050

4100

4150

4200

Tot

al F

ixat

ion

Tim

e (m

s)

Filler Art Input Photos Opposite Same-side

Focus Regions in Critical Images

- photos have slightly longer total fixation dwell times than either filler art or critical art (across all fixations)

- very small effect (~ 50 ms)

FOCUSBlur FOCUSBlur

SHARPsoft

SHARP soft

First Fixation Time to either Eye Region (ROI 1, 2) “Attention-getting”

800

850

900

950

1000

1050

1100

1150

1200

Tim

e of

Firs

t F

ixat

ion

Original Photo

Sharp Edge on Side of Blur

Focus Blur Focus Blur

Sharp Edge on Side of Focus

- focused eye region attracts first fixation faster than blurred eye region

-100-200 ms effect!

- fixation to blurred eye region is especially slow when there is a sharp edge on same side as the blur

FOCUSBlur FOCUSBlur

SHARPsoft

SHARP soft

First Fixation Duration in Eye Regions (ROI 1, 2) “Attention-holding”

200

220

240

260

280

300

320

340

Firs

t F

ixat

ion

Dur

atio

n

Original Photo

Sharp Edge on Side of Blur

Focus Blur Focus Blur

Sharp Edge on Side of Focus

-focused eye region holds first fixation longer than blurred eye region, more so when sharp edge on same side

- 20 - 40 ms effect!

- background: attended/remembered regions are fixated longer

- sharp edge is an attractant that is stronger when its on opposite side of current fixation

FOCUSBlur FOCUSBlur

SHARPsoft

SHARP soft

Frequency of Fixations in Eye Regions: Repeated “Attention-getting”

2.5

2.7

2.9

3.1

3.3

3.5

3.7

3.9

4.1

4.3

4.5

Fix

atio

n F

requ

ency

Original Photo

Sharp Edge on Side of Blur

Focus Blur Focus Blur

Sharp Edge on Side of Focus

- eyes in critical art attract more looks than eyes in photos

- focused eye region attracts repeated fixation more than blurred eye region, but only when sharp edge on opposite side of focused eye

-more back-forth competition from opposite side attractor than from same side??

FOCUSBlur FOCUSBlur

SHARPsoft

SHARP soft

Proportion Dwell Time in Eye Regions (ROI 1, 2)

.10

.15

.20

.25

.30

.35

.40

Pro

por

tion

of T

ime

in E

ye R

egio

ns

Original Photo

Sharp Edge on Side of Blur

Focus Blur Focus Blur

Sharp Edge on Side of Focus

- eyes in critical art attract more looking time than eyes in photos

-focused eye region attracts more overall gaze than blurred eye region, but only when sharp edge on opposite side of focused eye

-more back-forth competition from opposite side attractor than from same side??

FOCUSBlur FOCUSBlur

SHARPsoft

SHARP soft

Frequency of Successive Saccades in Eye Regions (ROI 1, 2)

Stay

Move

.6

.8

1.0

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

2.0

Input Photo Focus Region Blur Region

Critical Images

Fre

quen

cy o

f N

ext

Sa

ccad

e

FOCUSBlur

- eyes in critical art attract more successive looks in same region than eyes in photos

- focused eye region attracts more successive fixations than blurred eye region

Probability Moving from one Eye Region to another vs Staying in Same Region

.20

.25

.30

.35

.40

.45

.50

.55

.60

Pro

po

rtio

n S

acc

ad

es

to N

ew

Re

gio

n

Original Photo

Sharp Edge on Side of Blur

Focus -> Blur

Sharp Edge on Side of Focus

Blur -> Focus

Focus -> Blur

Blur -> Focus

- move vs stay probability is 50% in photos

- move from blur -> focused eye more likely when sharp edge on opposite side of focused eye

FOCUSBlur FOCUSBlur

SHARPsoft

SHARP soft