Reply #20: Whereas... [View All]

[regnaD kciN]

My alternate study would be simple. Bring a couple of dozen people into a Fine Art photography gallery and let them wander about viewing all the photographs. Chances are they would have close to a 100% recall of the images they viewed because they are actually looking at the photographs. Taking in the beauty, the details, and digesting any emotion that a particular photo tickles in them. Not viewing them like the chap in Clockwork Orange.

...if one were to take a series of the greatest paintings of all time and test them in such a rapid-fire manner, I bet you'd find that most people would remember the Mona Lisa, many might remember The Last Supper (because, frankly, they've seen it so many times before), but I'd bet that would be about it. Probably, most Van Gogh images would get confused together, and, as for Monet's water-lilies? Fuggedaboudit!

In a way, this might bolster the claim that faces do tend to stand out in people's minds. But it would bolster even more the notion that, if subject to that particular methodology, most of the world's "classic" artworks wouldn't make much of an impression at all. So, is that a problem with the art, or with the methodology? Boys and girls, can you say "garbage in, garbage out?" Sure, you can!