Right-handed subjects preferred paintings containing cues that suggested left-to-right (LTR) motion over their mirror-reversed versions when the versions were presented successively back-to-back. The preference disappeared when other pairs requiring judgment were interpolated between the versions and also when intervals filled with patterned or nonpatterned stimuli were interpolated. The preference was restored when subjects considered definitions of abstract terms during a visually blank interval. These data suggest that the important information in the memory trace upon which the preference effect depends is geometric.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
FreimuthM., & WapnerS. (1979). The influence of lateral organization on the evaluation of paintings. British Journal of Psychology, 73, 211–218.
2.
LevyJ. (1976). Lateral dominance and aesthetic preference. Neuropsychologia, 14, 431–445.
3.
McLaughlinJ. P., & CramerJ. E., (1998). Memory for aesthetic qualities. Empirical Studies of the Arts, 16, 25–32.
4.
McLaughlinJ. P., & KermischJ. (1997). Salience of compositional cues and the order of presentation in the picture-reversal effect. Empirical Studies of the Arts, 15, 21–27.
5.
MeadA. M., & McLaughlinJ. P. (1992). The rolesofhandedness and stimulus asymmetry in aesthetic preference. Brain and Cognition, 20, 300–307.
