Post thoughts + Museum Marathon

I was thinking again about what I said earlier about expanding this blog to include design inspiration. But as I have also said before I already have a blog for design inspiration, and so it seems stupid to have to categorize which blog the inspiration is relevant to. So the plan at the moment will be to keep this a research blog, and keep the inspiration on the other blog. If I post something on the other blog that is relevant to my thesis project then I will post a link to it here. Or maybe even just repost it.
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So while on the topic of relevant inspiration....

I really like going to museums, and I had some free time the last few days, so lets just say I went to more than a few museums. And I don't just rush through to say I went, I'm usually the straggler that has to get kicked out because the museum closed 25 minutes ago.

I will be posting all of the inspiration on my other blog as I just said, but below is and outline of what is to come.

All of these will become updated links as I work on posting everything...

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Pt 1: Tate Britian: Turner Prize 08

Pt 2: Tate Britian: Francis Bacon

Pt 3: Tate Britian: Misc

Pt 4: Garden History Museum

Pt 5: Haribo Heaven (I am telling you it was extremely inspirational)

Pt 6: Tate Modern: Misc (this was at least my 5th trip there)

Pt 7: Science Museum: Japan Car

Pt 8: Science Museum: Birth of Hi-tech Britain

Pt 9: Science Museum: Listening Post

Pt 10: Science Museum: Plasticity

Pt 11: V&A: Fashion V Sport

Pt 12: V&A: Cold War Modern: Design 1945-7

Pt 13: V&A: Misc

Pt 14: Natural History Museum: Misc

Pt 15: Wellcome Collection: War + Medicine

Pt 16: Wellcome Collection: The Watch Man

Pt 17: Wellcome Collection: Medicine Man

Pt 18: Wellcome Collection: Medicine Now

Pt 19: Barbican: Curve Art Installation

Pt 20: Barbican: On the Subject of War

Pt 21: Barbican: Robert Capa and Gerda Taro

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So much exhibition design inspiration it's not even funny.
I also have so many out of control sketches of the design and layouts of all of these exhibits it's ridiculous.

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Neuroesthetics, Love and Literature

Finally got around to retyping my notes from the Semir Zeki and A S Byatt's Lecture at University of Bristol a few weeks ago.
Lost my notes twice already, thank you very little safari, third times a charm.

Not ideal, but I am going to organize my notes just with bullets and indentations.

A lot of the notes are very simple/obvious. There was soo much more covered, the main goal of my notes was just to trigger my memory about everything discussed since I couldn't is all down at the time.

Regular type represents notes from the lecture,
Italics represent my personal thoughts and reactions at the time the topics were discussed.

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NOTES


• The potential for reward is in a sense more fulfilling than the actual reward in contributing to happiness

• The anticipation is better than the actual thing

• Transgression of the forbidden, heightens the pleasure, or potential for pleasure

• Freud pinpoints love as the only time that a person goes out of his narcissistic state

•Is love a disease?

- Zeki argues 'yes' in the sense that if you were to go to a hospital to take the reading of your bodily functions and levels you would find chemicals such as serotonin and others that differ from the normal level

- Comparison of love and obsessive compulsive disorder

• Can neuroscience ever explain fully the importance of the metaphor?

• Why is it so important to us that one thing must represent another?

- Art usually seeks to express with metaphors, therefore will neuroscience ever be able to fully explain art

- Zeki never fully argues whether neuroscience will be able to or not

• Zeki speaks of the incapacity of the human brain to fully realize the concepts behind a work of art, if all the metaphors were completely realized, it would destroy the art

(what about the artist? Are they unconscious of the metaphors they are creating? Can they not fully be realized even by him due to his own lack of knowledge of all human nature and instinct? Or is the artist aware, but because meaning may be different between persons, is it that reason it can never be fully realized by anyone other than the person that created it? Is this discussed further in his book?)

• Zeki wonders if you can ever be fully satisfied with a metaphor?
(Possibly because it is always going to be a one-step removed indirect means?)

• The task of art can be so great at times, to create a single metaphot for what is to be expressed

-i.e. artist (name?) wanted to make a painting to represent all of the women he loved but could never have

• Zeki said the only way to have a successful single metaphor is to freeze an experience and not allow it to change or develop
(not fully sure what that means if there is an example of it or if it is only theoretical ideal)

• In mothers, passive activity in their brain when they look at their child (baby) is the same as lovers looking at each-other

- Except hypothalamus is not active (involved with sex)
- Both follow same basic pattern of love in the brain

• Cognitive thinking triggering physical response question asked by audience, such as getting butterflies when you see your lover. Is there are difference between the sexes?

- Seki hasn't seen large difference between male and female brain differences, hasn't seen any convincing evidence that there is a difference

- Male behavior in falling in love is very similar to female, possibly not as complex.

• Audience question about if animals experience love and happiness and attachment in the same was as people do

- Voles-> Neurochemically become very attached to each-other, become suicidal if partner is removed, also happens with monkeys

- Dogs-> Attach themselves obsessively and almost jealously to a particular person, just as people may to each-other

- Animals do have memory and desire, only problem for them is they do not have language to communicate it with
(Debatable? What about whales/dolphins communication with each-other, birds, etc etc?)

• Zeki wonders if even our language is adequate for fully expressing emotions such as love

- A S Byatt argues our language is adequate, while Zeki is not convinced, why then are their some emotions such as love, or powerful visuals experience, etc that are so strong yet intangible so they cannot be described verbally?

• Zeki does not believe in paternal love (audience looked shocked).

He beleieve that fathers see their children as a product of themselves so they have a more selfish/narcissitic love compared to maternal love, which is more genuine.

• Romantic love VS Maternal love

- Both are preparing for agressive behavior,
- Both follow almost same basic brain pattern

- Zeki proposed a 3 year max on passionate love

- Audience member tries to convince him citing Shakespear's Antony and Cleopatra, Zeki is not convinced

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(^A S Byatt on left, Semir Zeki on right)
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I have an improved/clarified/simplified idea of exactly what my thesis project will consist of.

To put it short and sweet...
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I am going to be designing an exhibition about neuroesthetics and visual perception.

The vehicle for communication will be exhibition design, and the content of that exhibition will consist of selected research about neuroesthetics and visual perception. Specifically, it will give an overview of the fields, their recent developments, as well as hopefully express the relevance of these fields to art and design and how having an understanding of visual perception and neuresthetics will lead to creating more effective visual communication.

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A problem I have been having is that my research for content and research for design has been blurry. The closest example I can think of is if you were making a book about typography. The emphasis of that project could be on the typographical layout of the content, or on creating the verbal content for the book. So, I had important realization, that at the very core of my project, the most important part needs to be the design (mainly exhibition and information). As much as I love researching the content for it, I am not a neurology or psychology major, this is not a neurology or psychology thesis, it is a communication design thesis. My main goal needs to be creating the most effective visual design to communicate the content. Because the content of my exhibition is so intriguing to me, I might choose to pursue that field of interest further, but for now, it needs to be all about the design.

Also, as a result of this realization, the content of this blog needs to expand, to not only research about neuroesthetics/perception/etc. It also needs to contain is visual research and inspiration in the areas of exhibition, information, environmental, and interactive design, etc.

I guess that about sums it all up.
More research to come, inspiration, semir zeki lecture notes, exhibition visits, etc etc etc!

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TOMORROW! Tuesday, November 25, 2008

SEMIR ZEKI and A S Byatt's Lecture

Neuroesthetics, Love and Literature

6pm at the University of Bristol, Wills Memorial Building, Queen's Road, Clifton


You do not even understand how much I want to meet this man!


more info
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The Human Visual System 101

Lovely diagrams (well 3 of the 4), that break the visual system down to its basics...

Fun!

The Whitest Boy Alive - Golden Cage

Not that the visuals are at all relevant to the music,
but it does go well with the beat and presents some fun optical illusions...



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Thanks to my friend anna for showing it to me.

Also see you here...

Institute of Philosphy, School of Advanced Study: London Aesthetics Forum

4 Dec 2008
Toward a Non-Minimalist Conception of Aesthetic Experience
Jerrold Levinson

4pm-6pm in NG16, North Block, Senate House, WC1, London
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See you there...

Autumn Art Lectures 2008
The Creative Brain: Conversations between Art and Science


25 November 2008
Neuroesthetics, Love and Literature
Semir Zeki and A S Byatt
(obviously going to be related to Zeki's book that comes out this week)

2 December 2008
Art Inspired by Science
Lizzie Burns and Karen Ingham

9 December 2008
In Two Minds: Neuroscience of Perception and Creativity
Mark Lythgoe and Richard Wentworth

15 December 2008
The Power of Art and Science to Understand the World
Paul Nurse and Jason Brooks
CANCELLED!

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All events take place at 6pm in the University of Bristol, Wills Memorial Building, Queen's Road, Clifton.
Open to all, no prior booking.
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Your eye is not a camera. Part 1 of ∞

If you are not convinced vision isn't always veridical (coinciding with reality),
I will have lots of visual illusions soon to change your mind.
I've been a little caught up in research (sans visuals) lately.
So now I am looking for lots of illustrations to help get back to inspiring the visual basis of all this.
They can be more than a little headache-inducing at times though, so I don't want to post tons at a time.
Here's one to get the ball rolling...

(This is a still image. Any perceived motion is an illusion.)

source


One of the most important concepts I want to stress is that our perceptions are internal constructions of hypothesized external realities!!!

(I put the 2nd half in italics because it is quoted from my notes for my Visual Perception class last semester.
It may have been a direct quote from my teacher, Adrien Mack, or it may just be me summarizing her lecture.)
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Surrealism.

This past week in my class, Dreams, Desire & the Unconscious, we studied the interconnections between surrealist art and psychoanalytic theory. Our primary subjects of discussion were a film written by Salvador Dalí entitled, Un chien andalou, and Matthew Barney's Cremaster 3: The Order. Below is the full Dalí film in 2 parts and an excerpt from Barney's film.
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Un chien andalou

Director: Luis Buñuel
Writers: Salvador Dalí and Luis Buñuel





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Cremaster 3: The Order

Director: Matthew Barney
Writer: Matthew Barney


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Visual Perception + Neuroscience x4

The Neural Correlates of Desire
by Hideaki Kawabata and Semir Zeki



Abstract:
In an event-related fMRI study, we scanned eighteen normal human subjects while they viewed three categories of pictures (events, objects and persons) which they classified according to desirability (desirable, indifferent or undesirable). Each category produced activity in a distinct part of the visual brain, thus reflecting its functional specialization. We used conjunction analysis to learn whether there is a brain area which is always active when a desirable picture is viewed, regardless of the category to which it belongs. The conjunction analysis of the contrast desirable > undesirable revealed activity in the superior orbito-frontal cortex. This activity bore a positive linear relationship to the declared level of desirability. The conjunction analysis of desirable > indifferent revealed activity in the mid-cingulate cortex and in the anterior cingulate cortex. In the former, activity was greater for desirable and undesirable stimuli than for stimuli classed as indifferent. Other conjunction analyses produced no significant effects. These results show that categorizing any stimulus according to its desirability activates three different brain areas: the superior orbito-frontal, the mid-cingulate, and the anterior cingulate cortices.
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The Encoding of Temporally Irregular and Regular Visual Patterns in the Human Brain
by Semir Zeki, Oliver J. Hulme, Barrie Roulston, Michael Atiyah



Abstract:
In the work reported here, we set out to study the neural systems that detect predictable temporal patterns and departures from them. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to locate activity in the brains of subjects when they viewed temporally regular and irregular patterns produced by letters, numbers, colors and luminance. Activity induced by irregular sequences was located within dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, including an area that was responsive to irregular patterns regardless of the type of visual stimuli producing them. Conversely, temporally regular arrangements resulted in activity in the right frontal lobe (medial frontal gyrus), in the left orbito-frontal cortex and in the left pallidum. The results show that there is an abstractive system in the brain for detecting temporal irregularity, regardless of the source producing it.
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Seeing without Seeing? Degraded Conscious Vision in a Blindsight Patient
by Morten Overgaard, Katrin Fehl, Kim Mouridsen, Bo Bergholt, Axel Cleeremans



Abstract:
Blindsight patients, whose primary visual cortex is lesioned, exhibit preserved ability to discriminate visual stimuli presented in their “blind” field, yet report no visual awareness hereof. Blindsight is generally studied in experimental investigations of single patients, as very few patients have been given this “diagnosis”. In our single case study of patient GR, we ask whether blindsight is best described as unconscious vision, or rather as conscious, yet severely degraded vision. In experiment 1 and 2, we successfully replicate the typical findings of previous studies on blindsight. The third experiment, however, suggests that GR's ability to discriminate amongst visual stimuli does not reflect unconscious vision, but rather degraded, yet conscious vision. As our finding results from using a method for obtaining subjective reports that has not previously used in blindsight studies (but validated in studies of healthy subjects and other patients with brain injury), our results call for a reconsideration of blindsight, and, arguably also of many previous studies of unconscious perception in healthy subject
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The Golden Beauty: Brain Response to Classical and Renaissance Sculptures
by Cinzia Di Dio, Emiliano Macaluso, Giacomo Rizzolatti



Abstract:
Is there an objective, biological basis for the experience of beauty in art? Or is aesthetic experience entirely subjective? Using fMRI technique, we addressed this question by presenting viewers, naïve to art criticism, with images of masterpieces of Classical and Renaissance sculpture. Employing proportion as the independent variable, we produced two sets of stimuli: one composed of images of original sculptures; the other of a modified version of the same images. The stimuli were presented in three conditions: observation, aesthetic judgment, and proportion judgment. In the observation condition, the viewers were required to observe the images with the same mind-set as if they were in a museum. In the other two conditions they were required to give an aesthetic or proportion judgment on the same images. Two types of analyses were carried out: one which contrasted brain response to the canonical and the modified sculptures, and one which contrasted beautiful vs. ugly sculptures as judged by each volunteer. The most striking result was that the observation of original sculptures, relative to the modified ones, produced activation of the right insula as well as of some lateral and medial cortical areas (lateral occipital gyrus, precuneus and prefrontal areas). The activation of the insula was particularly strong during the observation condition. Most interestingly, when volunteers were required to give an overt aesthetic judgment, the images judged as beautiful selectively activated the right amygdala, relative to those judged as ugly. We conclude that, in observers naïve to art criticism, the sense of beauty is mediated by two non-mutually exclusive processes: one based on a joint activation of sets of cortical neurons, triggered by parameters intrinsic to the stimuli, and the insula (objective beauty); the other based on the activation of the amygdala, driven by one's own emotional experiences (subjective beauty).
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Don't say I didn't warn you.

I scanned most of my long-hand notes so far.

If you are really bored and want to look at all 47 pages, click here to see a pdf.

As I said, these are my notes. I do not always indicate whether something is a quotation or summarization, they are informally structured for my personal use. The only reason I even scanned them is to send them to my teachers to show my progress. And if anyone else finds them at all beneficial, the more the merrier.



They may take a bit to load, there are 47 scans after all.
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Thesis ideas...

Thesis Idea #1.

Create a series of information design pieces or a book detailing the relations between past and current research in the field of visual perception and art, and how that research can be applied towards creating more effective graphic design. Areas of interest to include may consist of improving composition, visual organization, color theory, typographic readability, etc. Also include research into visual information processing with an emphasis on how a better understanding of it may improve areas such as information design, wayfinding, and environmental graphics. In addition to using purely psychological theories to support these suggestions, include clinical trial results, and neurological findings, all presented visually as well as verbally. Also introduce ideas of complexity, entropy, and physics of information and how they may be applied in creating the most effective balance of aesthetics and communication in graphic design of any form.

Primary concentration will be on applying many of Rudolf Arnheim’s theories of art and visual perception to graphic design instead of the areas he primarily concentrated on: fine art, sculpture, and film. Then, expanding on his theories by incorporating research from other prominent experts in the fields of psychology, physics, neurology, neuroesthetics, design, and art theory. To fill in gaps where clinical evidence of different concepts actually benefiting design is scarce, independent visual experiments may be set up to test the accuracy of the different proposals presented.

While verbal explanations of most of the information presented will be necessary to fully provide the preferred depth of information, the primary mode of communicating these concepts will be visual. Most past and current information regarding visual perception is consistently presented verbally, and as a result alienates itself from the very phenomena being discussed. I aim to integrate the use of visuals with verbal explanations in a much more cohesive manner that has been directly informed by the very information it is presenting.

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Thesis Idea #2.

Exhibition design on the topic of visual perception and art. This hypothetical exhibit would be designed for display at either a science, natural history, or modern art museum. The purpose of the exhibit would be to educate people of the general public, as well as individuals with a deeper interest into the links between psychology and the arts. Information will concentrate mainly on theories explored by the top three most influential experts in the field: Rudolf Arnheim, V.S. Ramachandran, and Semir Zeki. Their approaches and contributions have had profound effects on the field of art and visual perception, and the understanding of the fundamental ways in which we perceive the world around us. Contents within the exhibition may include historical timelines, interactive elements, master artworks, other physical specimens, etc. Topics in consideration to be covered include the following (areas overlap and not in specific order):

    1. visual perception & cognition
    2. information processing
    3. visual thinking
    4. creativity and cognitive processing
    5. altered or enhanced visual perception
    6. creative personality
    7. the creative impulse
    8. entropy and physics of information
    9. order and disorder, complexity
    10. art history and visual organization
    11. organizational theory and composition
    12. aesthetic perception and philosophy
    13. neuroesthetics
    14. other misc.

Visitors of the exhibition should leave with an enlightened view of the way they and others perceive the world visually, and how that influences visual communication through art from both the side of the creator and observer.

I will write all of the contents of the exhibit, as well as design information, environmental, and exhibition graphics to enhance the experience and absorption of the material presented. The layout of the exhibit as well as the physical and interactive elements of it will be created in the form of a small-scale model, and necessary parts may be presented and built to scale.
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Ames room

Ya know this scene from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind?...



Well it is done using an Ames Room. Learn more about it here.





Now ya know.
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Synaesthesia

Some of the most fascinating topics within the category of 'Visual Perception and Cognition' are the so-called 'disorders'. While some of them can be incredibly debilitating, others may enhance one's perceptual experience of the world. The later is usually the case for people with synaesthesia.

Last semester I became increasingly interested with this condition of sorts, and chose it as my topic of concentration for an essay in a graduate Visual Perception and Cognition course. For anyone interested, below is my essay. As well as my list of resources, which may prove helpful for further information on this topic.

(Not sure if this was the final-final-edited-version, so please excuse any small grammatical/spelling errors)

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Synaesthesia: Current Research and Findings
Kaile Smith
Visual Perception and Cognition
Professor Dr. Arien Mack
New School University

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Abstract

Synaesthesia is a perceptual and cognitive phenomenon “in which an otherwise normal person experiences sensations in one modality when a second modality is stimulated” (E.D. Hubbard, 2005, p.509). One of the most common forms is grapheme-colour synaesthesia, in which when a synaesthete views a particular letter or number, it elicits a specific colour response. In this essay I will summarize and critique current research concentrating on grapheme-colour synaesthesia, as well as other relevant findings regarding synaesthesia in general.

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“When I see the real figure or grapheme as it is represented on whatever medium is right in front of me, or I hear it spoken, I understand it how it exists in reality, but also, a picture develops in my head of a colour and I understand it to be that colour even though I do not directly see it. From that I can remember static numbers and letters as a colour scheme, as well as a larger picture. Not only colour is associated, but also in semi-linear space like an ocean landscape and also in relation to a family structure. Especially with the numbers 1-9, and the alphabet less so. I understand them as personalities and they have a familial relationship. The number 23, is rose and green, 2 is a mom and a 3 is a pet or young baby. 19 is black and then yellow, and has a father and his oldest son relationship.”

-Rebecca O’Brien, age 22, synaesthete

Synaesthesia is a “condition in which an otherwise normal person experiences sensations in one modality when a second modality is stimulated.” Synaesthesia was first researched over one hundred years ago, and remained a popular topic of interest until halfway through the nineteenth century. Within the last ten to fifteen years there has been a revival of interest in the phenomenon due renewed interest in perceptual and cognitive processes added by advances in neurology and technology (E.D. Hubbard, 2005, p.509). While there are many variations of synaesthesia, grapheme-colour synaesthesia is believed to be the most common form, and as a result has been the most heavily studied in recent years. Topics within synaesthesia research varies from identifying processing levels, if some of synaesthetic associations are learned, the role of attention in synaesthetic experience as well as if the phenomenon is unidirectional or bidirectional.

One of the most common questions addressed in current grapheme-colour synaesthesia research is to try to “identify the level of processing involved in the formation of the subjective colours experienced by synaesthetes: are they perceptual phenomena or are they due to memory and association learning” (C. Gheri, S. Chopping, M.J. Morgan, 2008, p.841).

As a result of advances made in synaesthesia research, grapheme-colour synaesthesia is commonly broken into two major categories consisting of lower synaesthetes and higher synaesthetes, or projectors and associators, respectively, as a result of their different stages in processing. It is believed that lower synaesthetes “may have cross-wiring (or cross activation) within the fusiform gyrus.” When projector synaesthetes look at a grapheme, they see a colour projected or overlaid on the physical printed letter, number or symbol, studies have shown that the individual processes these projections as concrete perceptual phenomenon. In contrast, higher synaesthetes, “may have cross-activation in the angular gyrus” as a result of a genetic mutation casing “defective pruning of connections between brain maps,” so when associator synaesthetes look at a grapheme, they see a colour in a more conceptual manner, somewhere in their mind’s eye, or just know that the grapheme is a certain colour (V.S. Ramachandran & E.M. Hubbard, 2001, p4, E.M. Hubbard, 2005, p.509). The pruning theory is a commonly held explanation for all forms of synaesthesia as well because it has “been suggested that infants may be innately synaesthetic with sensory differentiation coming only with development and the gradual pruning of connections (or at least development of inhibition) between sensory areas” (Witthoft & Winawer, p.1).

Grossencacher and Lovelace (2001) came across another important associator synaesthetic finding. They observed “for most synaesthetes font and case have no impact on the colour.” What this argues is that if font and case did have an effect, that would mean that they synaesthetic experience was triggered by specific shape information, but because that is not the case it shows “that the representation that produces the concurrent is more abstract, concerned with the category to which the letter belongs” (Witthoft & Winawer, p.5). This is also supported by findings by Mills et al. (2002) in which a particular synaesthete, AED, was studied in depth to find many similaries between her colour associations in both English and Cyrillic letters that held similar conceptual similarities (Witthoft & Winawer, p.2).

An area of inquiry that is currently being investigated in depth, regards frequency correlates in grapheme-colour synaesthesia. Researchers have been finding important connections that shed light on what may cause certain colour associations to be more common among many grapheme-colour synaesthetes and to what extent these associations are learned. Studies by Rich et al. (2005) have shown “significant prevalences” of certain grapheme-colour associations. For example, common letters tend to be associated with common colours, i.e. in roughly forty percent of participants; A was red (Rich, 2008, p.1). Associations have also been shown to reflect the colours’ name, i.e. B is often blue or brown, and y is often yellow (G. Beeli, Mm. Esslen, L. Jancke, 2007, p.788). However, these are only approximations because each synaesthete sees a very specific hue, saturation, and lightness for each colour, which may be quite different from another synaesthete’s although both are categorized as red, for example.

Raaikmakers and Shiffrin (1992) did a test with a group of nineteen “colour-hearing” synaesthetes to prove this. “Each letter or digit was spoken aloud by the experimenter,” and all of the participants reported perceiving “the induced colour automatically and immediately after hearing the inducing letter or digital stimulus.” The participants were then asked to reproduce their synaesthetic colour via Adobe Photoshop 7.0 on a HSL scale (RGB hue, saturation, and lightness). This allowed them “to choose from 16,777,216(256^3) colours.” The participants were then asked to repeat the task 57 days later, “all of them demonstrated consistency.” The results found eighteen of the nineteen synaesthetes experiences the digit 0 as uncoloured (saturation =0). For letters, “there was a high incidence of white and yellow colours for I, j, and s (G. Beeli, Mm. Esslen, L. Jancke, 2007, p.789). The reported colours for 1 and I were highly similar in about half the subjects.” Letters and digits were also compared to “the seminal publication of Benford (1938); for letter frequency,” and “recommendations of Larch and Myers (1990);” for number frequency (G. Beeli, Mm. Esslen, L. Jancke, 2007, p.790). The test showed no relation between digit frequency and hue, although there was a slightly positive correlation between increasing digit frequency and increasing luminance. For letters there was a postitive correlation observed for letter frequency and saturation, so if a letter was more frequent, it had a higher saturation. Due to other strong evidence that synaesthesia has a genetic origin (Baron-Cohen, Burt, Smith-Laittan, Harrison, & Bolton, 1996), but is believed to be “not entirely genetically determined” (Smilek, Dixon, & Merikle, 2005) as proven through twin studies (G. Beeli, Mm. Esslen, L. Jancke, 2007, p.790), this holds consistent to Raaikmakers and Shiffrin’s results. They concluded that synaesthesia is modified by experience, i.e. increased or decrease exposure to different letters and numbers based on their frequency.

Another result of this investigation in frequency findings, was the prevalence of the digits 1 and 0, and letters i and o as commonly being associated as being colourless or white. This is believed to be a result of the characters being made up of natural shapes, a line and a circle, “that we learn to recognize before mastering the alphabet or learning to count,” thus overriding typical alpha-numerical associations (New Scientist, 2007, Vol. 196, Issue 2630). This might imply that “synaethetic linkage [takes] place very early in development, when children have typically not yet learned the digit 0 and its concept” (G. Beeli, Mm. Esslen, L. Jancke, 2007, p.791).

Another test that is commonly done to research the effects of synaesthesia, as well as identify the level of processing in which the phenomenon occurs is by using modified Stroop interference paradigms. This research has proven shown that “synaesthesia is automatic and perhaps obligatory” (Hubbard & Ramachandran, 2005, p.509). Stroop interference paradigms were tested between a group of synaesthetes, projector and associator, as well as a group of otherwise similar control subjects. Traditional Stroop paradigms were given to the controls, while modified version were given to the synaesthetes to be either purposefully congruent or incongruent to each particular synaesthete’s colour associations. For example, “for a synaesthete who sees 7 as yellow, a 7 presented in yellow would be congruent, and a 7 presented in any other colour would be incongruent.” Results showed that in the incongruent condition, for projector synaesthetes, their responses were typically much slower than in congruent conditions. In contrast, incongruent and congruent conditions did not prove to have any corollary results for associator synaesthetes in comparison to the controls taking the Stroop interference paradigms (Hubbard & Ramachandran, 2005, p.509). This reveals the differing levels of processing of synaesthesia between projector and associator synaesthetes.

These Stroop interference paradigm results have been similar to findings reported using search-related paradigms. In a study done by Hubbard and Ramachandran (2001), they “adapted a texture segregation test to subjects with displays in which one of four shapes (4-AFC) composed of a target grapheme was embedded in a background of distracter graphemes. Synaesthetes were significantly more accurate than control subjects in identifying which of the target shapes was presented.” This is congruent to a study by Palmeri et al. (2002) in which search-related tasks were given to synaesthetes in which target and distracter colours were either similar or contrasting. In cases where the target and distracters were similar, synaethete’s were much less efficient than control subjects, and more efficient than controls when the target and distracters were contrasting. These results are consistent with the idea commonly held that synaesthesia is evoked early in perceptual processing. It should be noted however that both of these tests were done with projector grapheme-colour synaesthetes, and evidence has not proven the same results for associator synaesthetes (Hubbard & Ramachandran, 2005, p510).

The question of unidirectional or bidirectional effect is also currently being explored in regards to synaesthesia, among both lowers and higher synaesthetes. Studies seem to lean towards unidirectional effect, as “an object of some sort is required to bind the synaesthetic experiences. For example, when a synaesthete views a letter, it evokes a colour, so there is a visual image that the colour is being ascribed to, be it as a projection, or in the “mind’s eye.” So far there is little evidence to show the reverse of this in which a colour evokes a number because “the number may not be able to be represented as a stimulus with physical properties of size, distance, and the like.” However, there have been arguments made for a bidirectional effect, stating, “the connections leading to synaestetic experience are of the appropriate strength or form to reach conscious awareness, whereas the connections that support bidirectional effects are not” (Hubbard & Ramachandran, 2005, p516). The exactly reasons for this difference however, is still being explored.

Yet another topic of interest among researchers is the relationship between attention and synaesthesia. Similar search-related paradigm tests by Laeng et al. (2004) have suggested, “that perceptual enhancement might occur only within the ‘functional field of attention.’” Or at least that attention is necessary for synaesthetic projections and associations to enter consciousness (Hubbard & Ramachandran, 2005, p.510).

While there have been huge strides made in the field of research relating to synaesthesia, it is often a particularly difficult field to find substantial findings and thus arguments about. One of the problems is that there remain so many varying forms and degrees of synaesthesia even within the same types. This leads to the inability to draw generalizations regarding levels of processing, innate or learned conclusions, as well as other perceptual versus cognitive arguments (Hubbard & Ramachandran, 2005, p.514). Often times studies are done with only one or a few primary subjects in which they researcher tries to make generalizations for the phenomenon of synaesthesia on a whole, and while interesting; it is hardly substantial enough to make a substantial argument. In contrast, when larger studies are done, because of the inherent variability of synaesthesia, important results are often missed as a result of trying to make generalizations based on highly variable data.

One of the most basic problems current research regarding synaesthesia is experiencing is determining an accurate estimate of the prevalence of synaesthesia within the general population. Estimates have ranged from one in twenty-five thousand, to one in twenty. One reason for large discrepancy is a result relying on most synaesthetes in samples as being self-elected participants. Also, the phenomenon on the whole is not widely known about outside the field, and many people are not even aware that they are synaesthetic. In 2006, the first random population study was done and found synaesthesia prevalence to be one in twenty-three people (J. Simner, C. Mulvenna, N. Sagiv et al., 2006, p.1024-1033). However, this has been met with much resistance claiming that its definition of synaesthesia was too broad and that it is the first study of its kind without other similar results being reported to support this argument.

Another problem that is to be considered is that while grapheme-colour synaesthesia is the most prevalent type of synaesthesia, “only 10% of synaethetes are projector synaesthetes. Past research seems to be heavily dominated by studies concentrating on the results of these projector synaesthetes, but much evidence shows that the ways in which lower synaesthetes process their experiences differs greatly from higher synaesthetes (Hubbard & Ramachandran, 2005, p.512). This fact is commonly disregarded or omitted from results.

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Resources

Baren-Cohen, S., Burt, L., Smith-Laittan, F., Harrison, J., and Bolton, P. (1996). Synaesthestia: Prevealence and familiality. Perception, 25, 1073-1079.

Beeli, G., Esslen, M., and Jancke, L. (2007). Frequency Correlates in Grapheme-Color Synesthesia. Psychological Science. Volume 18, Number 9, 788-792.

Brang, D., Edwards, L., Ramachandran, V.S., Coulson, S. (2008). Is the Sky 2? Contextual Priming in Grapheme-Color Synaesthesia. Psychological Science. Volume 15, Number 5. 421-428.

Date, M. (2008). Colour My World. Sydney Morning Herald, 10.

Galton, F. (1880). Visualised Numerals. Nature 21, 252-256.

Gheri, C., Chopping, S., Morgan, M.J. (2008) Synaesthetic Colours Do Not Camouflage Form in Visual Search. Proceedings: Biological Sciences, Volume 272, Issue 1636, 841-846.

Hubbard, E.M., and Ramachandran, V.S. (2001). Synaesthesia- A Window Into Perception, Thought and Language. Journal of Consciousess Studies, 8, Number 12, 3-34.

Hubbard, E.M., and Ramachandran, V.S. (2005). Neurocognitive
Mechanisms of Synesthesia. Neuron. Volume 48, 509-520.

Lehrer, J. (2007). Blue Monday, Green Thursday. New Scientist. Volume 194, Issue 2604, 48-51.

Simner, J.C., Mulvenna and N. Sagiv et al. (2006), Synaesthesia: The Prevelance of Atypical Cross-modal Experiences. Perception 8, 1-24-1033.

Simner, J., Ward, J. (2007). Synaesthesia, Color Terms, and Color Space. Psychological Science. Volume 19, Number 4, 412-414.

Smilek, D., Dixon, M.J., and Merikle, P.M. (2005) Synaesthesia: Discordant Male Monozygotic Twins. Neurocase, 11, 363-370.

Witthoft, N. and Winawer, J. (2003). Syesthetic Colors Determined by Having Colored Refrigerator Magnets in Childhood. Cortex, 1-9.

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As before, I have pdf's of all the above academic journal/magazine articles, email me if you are interested in reading any.
Also, the 'synaesthete' quoted at the beginning of my essay, just so happens to be my roommate back in NY, so I can put you in touch if you want to study her. ha-ha.
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The big guns.

I dont think I could possibly forget these guys' names, but this is a reminder for a possible thesis direction I need to think more about later...

Rudolf Arnheim




V. S. Ramachandran




Semir Zeki



Don't even try to tell me these guys don't look like a blast.
Arnheim was blatantly a party animal till the ripe old age of 103!
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Academic journal articles and such

While I obviously like books, I prefer getting research from academic journals, newspapers, etc. They usually keep things more to the point, do less over-summarization, and make it easier to get more up-to-date info. There is also a nice range of short summaries for jumping-off points, or in-depth studies with lots of clinical results.

I have a big batch of articles I read before I left for London, but I still need to find where I put those pdfs on my computer to provide that info here.

But anyway, here is round two! I am not going to link to the actual pdfs cause I got them through my school's electronic library so I don't think that'd be quite kosher, but if anyone is interested in reading any, email me (kailesmith@gmail.com) and I will gladly send you whatever you want to read...
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Art in Its Experience: Can Empirical Psychology Help Assess Artistic Value?
Rolf Reber
LEONARDO, Vol. 41, 2008

The Mind's Eye
Steve Herman
Global Cosmetic Industry, Mar 2005

Seeing without Objects: Visual Indeterminacy and Art
Robert Pepperell
LEONARDO, Vol. 39, 2006

Drawn to a primitive urge: ART
Gabriella Coslovich
The Age, Jan 2008

In search of the big picture: Can neuroscientists help us understand how and why we appreciate art?
John Hyman
New Scientist, Aug 2006

Science, Trying to Pick Our Brains About Art
Blake Gopnik
The Washington Post, Jan 2004

Measuring the beautiful brain: To what extent do works of art
unconsciously imitate the workings of the mind
Roger Highfield
The Daily Telegraph, Nov 2007

Abstraction and idealism: From Plato to Einstein: how do we acquire knowledge?
Prof. Semir Zeki
Nature, Apr 2000

Artistic Creativity and the Brain
Prof. Semir Zeki
The International Journal of Humanities and Peace, 2005

The mind in pictures: perceptual strategies and the interpretation of visual art.
Mark Rollins
The Monist, Oct 2003

Blinded By Blindsight?
Prof. Semir Zeki
The Times Higher Education Supplement, Mar 2002

Seeing Invisible Motion: A Human fMRI Study
Konstantinos Moutoussis and Semir Zeki
Current Biology 16, Mar 2006

Effect of Background Colors on the Tuning of Color-Selective Cells in Monkey Area V4
Makoto Kusunoki, Konstantinos Moutoussis, and Semir Zeki
J Neurophysiology, Vol 95, May 2006

The Neurology of Ambiguity
Semir Zeki
Consciousness and Cognition 13, 2004

Creativity Versus Skepticism within Science:
V.S. Ramachandran
Skeptical Inquirer, Nov 2006

Evolutionary Neurobiology and Aesthetics
C. U. M. Smith
Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, vol 48, 2005
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More than a little excited.

My fav person, Semir Zeki, is coming out with a new book entitled Splendours and Miseries of the Brain: Love, Creativity and the Quest for Human Happiness



It comes out Nov 14th in the UK, and January 27 in the US.
Score for being in London right now!!!

Below is the book's publishers short description, and then the table of contents for it.
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Splendors and Miseries of the Brain examines the elegant and efficient machinery of the brain, showing that by studying music, art, literature, and love, we can reach important conclusions about how the brain functions. The book, whose title is derived from the novel of Balzac entitled Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes, tries to show that there is a huge price to pay, in terms of human happiness, for the enormously elegant and efficient machinery of the brain.
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Table of Contents:

Introduction.

Part I. Abstraction and the Brain.

    1. Abstraction.
    2. The Brain and Its Concepts.
    3. Inherited Brain Concepts.
    4. The Distributed Knowledge-Acquiring System of the Brain.
    5. The Acquired Synthetic Brain Concepts.
    6. The Synthetic Brain Concept and the Platonic Ideal.
    7. Creativity and the Source of Perfection in the Brain.

Part II. Brain Concepts and Ambiguity.

    8. Ambiguity in the Brain and in Art.
    9. Processing and Perceptual Sites in the Brain.
    10. From Unambiguous to Ambiguous Knowledge.
    11. Higher Levels of Ambiguity.

Part III. Unachievable Brain Concepts.

    Introduction.
    12. Michelangelo and the non-finito.
    13. Paul Cézanne and the Unfinished.
    14. Unfinished Art in Literature.

Part VI. Brain Concepts of Love.

    Conte By Arthur Rimbaud, in English and in French.
    15. The Brain's Concepts of Love.
    16. The Neural Correlates of Love.
    17. Brain Concepts of Unity and Annihilation in Love.
    18. Sacred and Profane.
    19. The Metamorphosis of the Brain Concept of Love in Dante.
    20. Wagner and Tristan und Isolde.
    21. Thomas Mann and Death in Venice.
    22. A neurobiological analysis of Freud's Civilization and Its Discontents
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Literally already have it pre-ordered.

After doing so much research into the psychology and sociology of happiness last year in my information design class,
this book seems like it will just bring everything full circle tying that stuff into all of my visual perception research.
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Side Note:

If this matters at all, my process in reading all of my research material is...

1. Read a section

2. Highlight important info while reading
    a. Rotate colors continuously for each new unrelated topic
    b. Continue with the same color to indicate the topics are related
    c. Thick line indicates most important info
    d. Thin line indicates less important supporting info

3. Go back to beginning of section, take notes on highlighted text
    a. Notes are usually either direct quotations, summaries, or charts
    b. Not all highlighted info proves relevant to make notes of
    c. Underline in notes the key words, phrases, concepts, etc that are the most important

4. Take a nap.

5. Start it all again with the next section till done!

6. If book or article did not have adequate intro or conclusion, might need to make additional summarization notes
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Pablo Picasso

(This is a screenshot from "The Madonna of the Future: Essays in a Pluralistic Art World," however I first read this quote in "Creating Minds" by Howard Gardner.)

Hermann Grid Illusions

link
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books!!!

(All of these can be found on Amazon.)

BOOKS I HAVE READ:

Creating Minds: An Anatomy Of Creativity As Seen Through The Lives Of Freud, Einstein, Picasso, Stravinsky, Eliot, Graham, And Gandhi
by Howard Gardner


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Entropy and Art: An Essay on Disorder and Order
by Rudolf Arnheim


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Powers of Ten (Revised)
by Philip Morrison


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The Visual Display of Quantitative Information
Envisioning Information
Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities
Beautiful Evidence
by Edward R. Tufte



(to be fair, I did not read these 4 cover to cover)
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*******

BOOKS I AM IN THE PROCESS OF READING:

Art and Visual Perception: A Psychology of the Creative Eye
by Rudolf Arnheim


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Kant's Aesthetic Theory: An Introduction, Second Edition
by Salim Kemal


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Eye and Brain: The psychology of seeing
by Richard L. Gregory


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*******

BOOKS I HAVE, BUT STILL NEED TO READ:

Visual Perception: Physiology, Psychology and Ecology
by Vicki Bruce , Mark A. Georgeson, Patrick R. Green


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Visual Intelligence: How We Create What We See
by Donald D. Hoffman


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Art & Physics: Parallel Visions in Space, Time, and Light
by Leonard Shlain


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Language and Symbolic Systems
by Yuen Ren Chao
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*******

BOOKS I WANT TO READ, BUT DON'T HAVE:

Complexity, Entropy and the Physics of Information
by Wojciech H. Zurek


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Visual Thinking
by Rudolf Arnheim


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Toward a Psychology of Art: Collected Essays
by Rudolf Arnheim


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New Essays on the Psychology of Art
by Rudolf Arnheim


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Inner Vision: An Exploration of Art and the Brain
by Semir Zeki


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*******

Side note: could the covers of these books be any more painful if they tried???
These are books about VISUAL perception!!!

Also, there are a few more books that I read this past summer and last year, but do not have the titles with me.
I can post those when I return to New York.

Let's begin, shall we?

This blog is an attempt to keep track of research I am doing for my thesis project.

So far I've been writing everything out long-hand, and while I will continue to do so out of personal preference, I think this platform will be helpful to keep track of web links, online articles, relevant images, etc. (It is also way easier to decipher than my handwriting, and convenient for sending to teachers back home at Parsons that want to make sure I am actually doing work during my semester abroad.)

We'll see what direction this goes, but I have a feeling most of the posts will fall into some basic categories (not in order)...

1. Important relevant quotations
(which I may or may not elaborate on.)

2. Links to articles or websites.

3. Lists of other resources, i.e. books, academic journals, etc.

4. Short summaries of those book or articles
(if I read them so I can later recall what they were about.)

5. Short summaries of a particular expert's point of view or arguments.
(many of them are conflicting so it gets difficult to keep them all straight)

5. Relevant photos and diagrams

6. Possibly links to pdf or jpg scans of my long-hand notes

7. Whatever else I feel so inclined to include...


Please note that I am not a professional in this field by any means. If I make incorrect assumptions, draw false parallels between things, misquote, misinterpret, or do anything else wrong, please realize that fact. Also feel free to correct me.

If you have any feedback, questions, or want to get in touch with me for any reason at all, please email me at kailesmith@gmail.com.

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p.s. The point of this blog is not to be pretty, it is to track my research, and possibly help other people who want to know more info on the topics I cover here.
Apologies if you find it boring, but I have a diff blog full of photos and design inspiration elsewhere.
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