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2017 · rif. 183612 — New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers 2017. Hardcover. VG very crisp and clean appears unread. Color illustrated boards with white and yellow lettering; xiv 262 pp; illustrated in bw and color. Interpreting Visual Art explores the psychological and cognitive mechanisms that underlie one's interpretation of art. After the brain encodes visual information this encoding is then processed by perceptual mechanisms to identify objects and depth in pictures. The brain incorporates many factors in order for people tosee the art. Cognitive processes have a major role in how people interpret artworks because attention memory and language are also linked to the aesthetic experience. Catherine Weir and Evans Mandes first examine major attributes of aesthetic judgement--balance symmetry color line and shape--from an empirical point of view as opposed to more philosophical and speculative approaches. Then they explore the perceptual process paying special attention to art history in the Western world and emphasizing techniques from cave paintings to modern art. The role beauty and emotions play in our interpretations of pictures have been investigated from many approaches: evolutionary psychology neuroscience and appraisal theory. Through the application of empirical research in cognitive science to master works from Botticelli to Pollock readers are introduced to a research-oriented understanding of how art has been perceived interpreted and appreciated in the twenty-first century. This book will appeal to those interested in art as well as those teaching art history psychology and neuroscience.--Publisher's description. Contents: Linking psychology to art and beauty -- Bridges connecting art to science to art -- Aesthetics : pleasure in art -- Emotions and aestheitics -- Survey of perception psychology relevant to art -- Perceiving art is accomplished in steps customized for efficient perception -- Reflecting on light mirrors and meaning -- Color through the ages and the eyes -- Human enhancements to vision and art -- Illusion motion perception and depth -- Seeing scenes and identifying things in art -- Cognitive processes in art -- Interpreting visual art : systematic but individualized -- Faces : revealing the person -- Creativity imagination perception and art -- Do artists have special insights Transaction Publishers hardcover