Abstract
For this study, we examined how recognizing the writing process of calligraphy influences the cognitive and affective processes related to appreciating it, with the aim of contributing to both graphonomics and the psychology of aesthetics. To this end, we conducted two Web-based experiments in which some participants were instructed to view calligraphy by tracing it with their eyes (the tracing method), while others were told to feel free to think and imagine whatever they wanted. Study 1 (N = 103) revealed that the tracing method elicits stronger admiration, inspiration, and empathy in viewers. Study 2 (N = 87) showed that the tracing method decreases the average heart rate of those who do not frequently engage in calligraphy appreciation as they gaze at calligraphy for a minute-and-a-half (during the second half of the stimulus duration); this suggests that the tracing method could keep viewers from becoming bored while looking at calligraphy. In sum, the tracing method has positive effects on viewing calligraphy. From a broader perspective, the results imply that how in detail viewers recognize the process of creating an artwork will be a key determinant of art appreciation. In addition, our findings demonstrate how we can measure cardiac activities using the emerging technology of the photoplethysmogram (PPG).
Highlights
The way people communicate with each other is one of the most important research topics in human science, and is tied to many disciplines including psychology, neuroscience, anthropology, sociology, linguistics, information science, and evolutionary biology
In the remaining part of this introduction, we review the literature on graphonomics and the psychology of aesthetics, argue how our study theoretically contributes to both fields, and illustrate the purpose of the experiments
For each variable measured more than once, we calculated each participant’s score by averaging the stimuli in each session, which, in turn, we used for statistical analysis as a data point
Summary
The way people communicate with each other is one of the most important research topics in human science, and is tied to many disciplines including psychology, neuroscience, anthropology, sociology, linguistics, information science, and evolutionary biology (cf. Shannon, 1948; Wiley, 1983; Craig, 1999; Littlejohn and Foss, 2010). Calligraphy is not the most frequently used form of human communication, as we will see below, studying calligraphy is valuable. It contributes to clarifying written, non-verbal, or artistic communication, areas of communication that remain largely unexplored. In this introduction, we must first see how calligraphy can be positioned within these communication subfields and how it shares certain characteristics with other types of communication. Verbal communication is crucial in social activities, and people have valued it since ancient times; Imagining How Lines Were Drawn this is reflected in the fact that many kinds of verbal activities have been refined and made more sophisticated from generation to generation, eventually becoming so-called “art” forms like literature or rhetoric
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