Training In Visual Arts Research Articles

The Art of Medicine: Applying the Visual Thinking Strategy to Radiology.

The purpose of this project was to develop a formal visual arts training curriculum and evaluate if there was improvement in the observational and descriptive skills of first- and second-year medical students for radiologic images. Materials and methods: A demographic survey and an initial pre-test of 12 radiologic images were administered asking an open-ended question to describe the image and to identify the abnormality in their own words.Three virtual one-hour sessions of visual thinking strategy (VTS) training occurred, and an immediate post-test and a six-month post-test were administered, each with images different from the pre-test, as well as a final questionnaire. All tests were independently graded by two graders with a previously established grading rubric.Differences in scores were analyzed using paired T-tests. Thirty-nine medical students participated.The mean pre-test score was 62.2 +/- 18.6, and the mean post-test score improved by 41.7 +/- 17.9 points (p<0.01) to an average score of 103.9 +/- 20.4.Nine participants were lost to follow-up at six months, and the average six-month post-test score was 110.2 +/- 29.1 for a mean improvement of 9.3 +/- 13.1 points (p=0.320) from the initial post-test. Conclusion: There was a significant improvement in observational and descriptive skills in first- and second-year medical students when describing radiologic images, which was retained after six months.A formal VTS curriculum could play a beneficial role in medical student and radiology training programs not only to improve observational skills but also to address perceptual errors in diagnostic imaging.

Redefining liberal arts education in the twenty-first century

Redefining liberal arts education in the twenty-first century

Does Regular Visual Art Training Enhance Visual Memory Capacity and Enable Young Adults to Outperform in Face Recognition?

Specialists usually tend to noticeably outperform others who are novices in that field. Numerous studies suggest that portrait artists who are experts in outlining and recognizing human faces develop more advanced visual working memory. Whether systematic artistic training could strengthen a persons visual memory ability particularly in face memory is therefore worth investigating. Thus, in an attempt to find the correlation between regular artistic training and visual working memory in face memory ability, 22 random samples were collected twice to complete a self-evaluation survey and a set of face memory test. The outcome indicates no statistically significant difference of face memory ability between regularly trained arts students and novices. However, due to several practical concerns, its worthwhile to conduct further studies to eliminate these issues and hence give evidence to support the study result.

Music and Visual Art Training Increase Auditory-Evoked Theta Oscillations in Older Adults.

Music training was shown to induce changes in auditory processing in older adults. However, most findings stem from correlational studies and fewer examine long-term sustainable benefits. Moreover, research shows small and variable changes in auditory event-related potential (ERP) amplitudes and/or latencies in older adults. Conventional time domain analysis methods, however, are susceptible to latency jitter in evoked responses and may miss important information of brain processing. Here, we used time-frequency analyses to examine training-related changes in auditory-evoked oscillatory activity in healthy older adults (N = 50) assigned to a music training (n = 16), visual art training (n = 17), or a no-treatment control (n = 17) group. All three groups were presented with oddball auditory paradigms with synthesized piano tones or vowels during the acquisition of high-density EEG. Neurophysiological measures were collected at three-time points: pre-training, post-training, and at a three-month follow-up. Training programs were administered for 12-weeks. Increased theta power was found pre and post- training for the music (p = 0.010) and visual art group (p = 0.010) as compared to controls (p = 0.776) and maintained at the three-month follow-up. Results showed training-related plasticity on auditory processing in aging adults. Neuroplastic changes were maintained three months post-training, suggesting music and visual art programs yield lasting benefits that might facilitate encoding, retention, and memory retrieval.

Music training modulates theta brain oscillations associated with response suppression.

There is growing interest in developing training programs to mitigate cognitive decline associated with normal aging. Here, we assessed the effect of 3-month music and visual art training programs on the oscillatory brain activity of older adults using a partially randomized intervention design. High-density electroencephalography (EEG) was measured during the pre- and post-training sessions while participants completed a visual GoNoGo task. Time-frequency representations were calculated in regions of interest encompassing the visual, parietal, and prefrontal cortices. Before training, NoGo trials generated greater theta power than Go trials from 300 to 500 ms post-stimulus in mid-central and frontal brain areas. Theta power indexing response suppression was significantly reduced after music training. There was no significant difference between pre- and post-test for the visual art or the control group. The effect of music training on theta power indexing response suppression was associated with reduced functional connectivity between prefrontal, visual, and auditory regions. These results suggest that theta power indexes executive control mechanisms in older adults. Music training affects theta power and functional connectivity associated with response suppression. These findings contribute to a better understanding of inhibitory control ability in older adults and the neuroplastic effects of music interventions.

The construction of knowledge through visual perceptual training in visual arts

Background: Visual perception and observational skills are an essential part of Visual Arts education, through which young learners, in the primary school, acquire important and necessary skills to create artworks during their creative projects. These skills provide learners in the primary school the opportunity to overcome their self-imposed criticism to their own works of art. Similar research projects highlight the inability of learners in the middle childhood to creatively express what they visually perceive. Aim: The study sought to assist learners in the middle childhood to overcome the slump in their creative attempts through a series of visual sharpening exercises, in the form of an Art intervention. Setting: A qualitative case study with elements of action research was conducted at a single site at a primary school in the Northern Suburbs of Cape Town. Methods: The participants of the study comprised of four grade 5 classes divided into a test group and control group. The intervention was administered to the test group in the form of visual sharpening exercises. The practical projects of four grade 5 classes were assessed, analysed, compared, and the findings were discussed according to the themes identified during the study. Results: The results indicate factors that might influence the visual perceptual skills of learners in middle childhood, while completing Visual Art projects. Analysis of the research data revealed an increase in the test group’s score compared to the control group. There was a marked effect on the test group participants’ ability to record what they visually perceived. Conclusion: This study investigated and highlights shortcomings in the CAPS Visual Art curriculum for Grade 5. Bridging the gap between practice and curriculum shortfalls is important. The study suggests that the Department of Education (DoE) should supplement the Visual Arts curriculum with visual perceptual training for middle childhood learners.

Cultural adaptation, the 3-month efficacy of visual art training on observational and diagnostic skills among nursing students, and satisfaction among students and staff- a mixed method study

BackgroundVisual art training is a student-led approach using Western art pieces as the main teaching resources. It has been developed and applied in nursing and medical education in the United States. This study aimed to adapt visual art training to Chinese cultural context, then to compare the efficacy of the culturally-tailored visual art training versus traditional education on observational and diagnostic skills at 3-month follow-up among Chinese nursing students in master program.MethodsThis study included Phase 1 (cultural adaptation) and Phase 2 (3-month efficacy evaluation). It was conducted from June to September, 2019. In Phase 1, cultural barriers were identified and cultural adaptation strategy were made based on two focus group interviews. Phase 2 was a randomized controlled trial in a local museum. A total of 106 first-year nursing students in master program were randomized to the intervention group or the control group. Both groups received traditional education. In addition, intervention group received a visual art training (including a field-guided museum visit with observation and debriefing of Chinese oil paintings and clinical images, four teaching hours). Data were collected for both groups at baseline and 3-month follow-up on the observational and diagnostic skills measured by clinical image tests. Learning satisfaction with the visual art training was investigated among 53 intervention students and teaching satisfaction was done in 10 staff members by self-administered questionnaires.ResultsIn phase 1, we adapted a culturally-tailored visual art training for nursing students in China. Observational skills of the intervention group increased significantly compared with the control group 3 months after the training (p < .001). A trend towards the improvement of diagnostic skills was indicated with increment of 2.92 points of the intervention group vs. 0.39 of the control group (p > .05). In general, all participants and staff were satisfied with the visual art training, especially the selected Chinese oil paintings and the student-led teaching process, but 34% (n = 18) were not satisfied with the long distance from the museum.ConclusionsA culturally-tailored visual art training with great acceptability and feasibility was implemented in China. It had a sustained positive effect on improving the observational skills of Chinese nursing students. This study can be used for a reference to introduce visual art training to nursing students or nurses from other cultures.Trial registrationRetrospectively registered in Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR2000037956) on 4th September, 2020.

Art Training in Dementia: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

ObjectivesThe present study explores the effect of visual art training on people with dementia, utilizing a randomized control trial design, in order to investigate the effects of an 8-week visual art training program on cognition. In particular, the study examines overall cognition, delayed recall, and working memory, which show deficits in people with dementia.MethodFifty-three individuals with dementia were randomly assigned into either an art training (n = 27) or usual-activity waitlist control group (n = 26). Overall cognition and delayed recall were assessed with the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), and working memory was assessed with the Backward Digit Span task.ResultsThere were no group differences in overall cognition, or working memory, while a difference in delayed recall was undetermined, based on post-test—pre-test difference scores. Groups were comparable at baseline on all measures.ConclusionThe measures of cognition, delayed recall, and working memory used in this study were not affected by an 8-week visual art training program.Clinical Trial Registrationwww.ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier NCT03175822.

Estudio Crítico sobre la Investigación Empírica de Maria Helena Wagner Rossi

Resumen: En el artículo se expone un estudio crítico sobre la investigación empírica de Maria Helena Wagner Rossi, llevada a cabo entre los años 1996-2004. Se partió de una investigación bibliográfica de carácter cualitativo, cuyo objeto de estudio fundamental lo constituyó la producción teórica de la autora sobre la naturaleza de la comprensión estético-visual de alumnos brasileños, con base en sus estudios empíricos. En el cuerpo del artículo se analizan tópicos tales como: las problemáticas concernientes a la enseñanza de las artes visuales de las que partió la autora; los objetivos y características generales de su pesquisa empírica; la manera en que fueron interpretados los datos, la epistemología involucrada y los resultados teóricos a los que arribó.

Music and Visual Art Training Modulate Brain Activity in Older Adults.

Cognitive decline is an unavoidable aspect of aging that impacts important behavioral and cognitive skills. Training programs can improve cognition, yet precise characterization of the psychological and neural underpinnings supporting different training programs is lacking. Here, we assessed the effect and maintenance (3-month follow-up) of 3-month music and visual art training programs on neuroelectric brain activity in older adults using a partially randomized intervention design. During the pre-, post-, and follow-up test sessions, participants completed a brief neuropsychological assessment. High-density EEG was measured while participants were presented with auditory oddball paradigms (piano tones, vowels) and during a visual GoNoGo task. Neither training program significantly impacted psychometric measures, compared to a non-active control group. However, participants enrolled in the music and visual art training programs showed enhancement of auditory evoked responses to piano tones that persisted for up to 3 months after training ended, suggesting robust and long-lasting neuroplastic effects. Both music and visual art training also modulated visual processing during the GoNoGo task, although these training effects were relatively short-lived and disappeared by the 3-month follow-up. Notably, participants enrolled in the visual art training showed greater changes in visual evoked response (i.e., N1 wave) amplitude distribution than those from the music or control group. Conversely, those enrolled in music showed greater response associated with inhibitory control over the right frontal scalp areas than those in the visual art group. Our findings reveal a causal relationship between art training (music and visual art) and neuroplastic changes in sensory systems, with some of the neuroplastic changes being specific to the training regimen.

Evaluation of the Creative Skills of the Classroom Teacher Candidates' Taking Visual Arts Training Course

This study aims to measure the skills of classroom teacher candidates' in transforming their creativity into artistic design. Descriptive analysis technique, which is one of the qualitative research techniques, is used and document review method is applied in the study. The research consists of data obtained as a result of an observation conducted by the researcher during a total of 78 course hours throughout one term with the 4th year students of Classroom Teaching Faculty of Nigde Omer Halis Demir University. As a result, it is observed that at the beginning of the study, students were biased on their skills and felt unsuccessful in art. As students focus more on teacher appointment exams, they have always wanted to pass exams without an effort and take grade in a very short span of time. It has been observed that students, in general, don't have any attempt to be creative.

The Effect of Art Expertise on Eye Fixation-Related Potentials During Aesthetic Judgment Task in Focal and Ambient Modes.

This study aimed to determine the effect of expertise on the eye fixation-related potentials (EFRPs) during the aesthetic evaluation of images, independently in focal and ambient modes of visual processing. Focal and ambient modes were identified by averaging EFRP waveforms about the beginning of long eye fixations followed by short saccades and short fixations followed by long saccades, respectively. Thirty experts with formal training in visual arts and thirty-two non-experts freely viewed 150 figurative paintings presented for 20 s, each. After viewing the painting, the participant answered the question: “Is this painting beautiful?” Differences were found between the group of experts and non-experts due to the amplitude of EFRPs but only in focal mode, which is related to top-down, focused attention on the objects. Long fixations of experts had a higher amplitude of the parietal P2 recorded from right site than non-experts. In the group of experts, the frontal P2 was higher for long fixations on not beautiful paintings in comparison to long fixation on beautiful paintings. Moreover, in focal mode, there were higher occipital lambda response and N1-P2 complex for not beautiful than beautiful paintings. These results are discussed in the light of the results of studies on the effect of visual art expertise on event-related potentials (ERPs), ERP studies during aesthetic judgment task, and the knowledge of different modes of visual processing and EFRPs.

An Exploratory Study of Early Visual Arts Education in Two Hong Kong Kindergartens

ABSTRACTThis study investigates teachers’ beliefs about early visual arts education and implementation in kindergartens through an exploratory study involving 33 teachers in one whole- and one half-day kindergarten. Six classrooms were observed with their teachers participating in subsequent semistructured interviews. Although surveyed teachers reported positively to the beliefs about early visual arts knowledge, implementation, and value for young children, interviewed teachers’ responses were more diverse. The study found kindergarten teachers were unprepared for and varied in their implementation of early visual arts teaching at lower and higher class levels. Visual arts training should be enhanced in kindergarten teacher education programs.

Benefits of Music Training for Perception of Emotional Speech Prosody in Deaf Children With Cochlear Implants.

Objectives:Children who use cochlear implants (CIs) have characteristic pitch processing deficits leading to impairments in music perception and in understanding emotional intention in spoken language. Music training for normal-hearing children has previously been shown to benefit perception of emotional prosody. The purpose of the present study was to assess whether deaf children who use CIs obtain similar benefits from music training. We hypothesized that music training would lead to gains in auditory processing and that these gains would transfer to emotional speech prosody perception.Design:Study participants were 18 child CI users (ages 6 to 15). Participants received either 6 months of music training (i.e., individualized piano lessons) or 6 months of visual art training (i.e., individualized painting lessons). Measures of music perception and emotional speech prosody perception were obtained pre-, mid-, and post-training. The Montreal Battery for Evaluation of Musical Abilities was used to measure five different aspects of music perception (scale, contour, interval, rhythm, and incidental memory). The emotional speech prosody task required participants to identify the emotional intention of a semantically neutral sentence under audio-only and audiovisual conditions.Results:Music training led to improved performance on tasks requiring the discrimination of melodic contour and rhythm, as well as incidental memory for melodies. These improvements were predominantly found from mid- to post-training. Critically, music training also improved emotional speech prosody perception. Music training was most advantageous in audio-only conditions. Art training did not lead to the same improvements.Conclusions:Music training can lead to improvements in perception of music and emotional speech prosody, and thus may be an effective supplementary technique for supporting auditory rehabilitation following cochlear implantation.

The tools, approaches and applications of visual literacy in the Visual Arts Department of Cross River University of Technology, Calabar, Nigeria

The paper reflects upon the tools, approaches and applications of visual literacy in the Visual Arts Department of Cross River University of Technology, Calabar, Nigeria. The objective of the discourse is to examine how the visual arts training and practice equip students with skills in visual literacy through methods of production, materials and techniques. The research purpose is to show how the final year students trained in visual arts are able to create works of art with the primary goal of communicating meanings visually to the viewers. The photographed student’s works ranged from sculpture showing traditional drummers, spiders as a motif for creative exploration in painting, graphic poster design emphasizing economy of time, two decorative ceramic pieces and a woven utilitarian textile fibre. For the students to have successfully communicated visually they ought to be able to effectively manipulate the art elements and principles which makes it possible to encode meanings to their works and the viewers been able to decode same. The research results evident in the students photographed works, show that students are able to organize their ideas in a visual form and are able to use images to convey meanings in their works which viewers can relate to. In this regard, the students are able to encode and decode meanings in visual forms which are fundamental to visual literacy as practiced in visual arts. The correlation between visual arts training and visual literacy is established through the observation of a long teaching career which record student’s behaviour in the creative process and its results in productions. Findings show that students training in the visual arts equip them to develop their perceptual and conceptual faculties through learning, to use appropriate visual vocabularies in decoding and encoding visual messages. This also equips them with a holistic education in the cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains. It is therefore concluded that the visual arts training is critical to the acquisition of visual literacy skills and it is recommended that visual arts should be more broadly taught in schools as a foundation for visual literacy.

APPLICATION OF THE PRINCIPLE "FROM GENERAL TO PARTICULAR" IN TRAINING YOUNG ARTISTS FOR PLEIN-AIR PRACTICE

The article highlights the principle "from General to Particular" as a basic principle in a variety of artistic activities, in teaching visual art literacy, in particular, and training novice painters for plein-air practice. The article is aimed at providing assistance and practical recommendations in training students for plein-air practice. In the article the author describes the emergence of the principle "from Simple to Complex" ("from General to Particular") since ancient times, its development during the Renaissance and its relevance in the modern system of teaching fine arts. The article reflects the aesthetic component of this principle within the frame of the world order system in general. The author shows concrete examples of application of the principle "from General to Particular " or "from Simple to Complex" in teaching composition finding the composition center and subordination to it of all parts of the composition; academic drawing – analysis of objects and shapes, tonal drawing, as well as academic painting, we mean the general coloring of the painting.

Visual arts training is linked to flexible attention to local and global levels of visual stimuli

Observational drawing skill has been shown to be associated with the ability to focus on local visual details. It is unclear whether superior performance in local processing is indicative of the ability to attend to, and flexibly switch between, local and global levels of visual stimuli. It is also unknown whether these attentional enhancements remain specific to observational drawing skill or are a product of a wide range of artistic activities. The current study aimed to address these questions by testing if flexible visual processing predicts artistic group membership and observational drawing skill in a sample of first-year bachelor's degree art students (n=23) and non-art students (n=23). A pattern of local and global visual processing enhancements was found in relation to artistic group membership and drawing skill, with local processing ability found to be specifically related to individual differences in drawing skill. Enhanced global processing and more fluent switching between local and global levels of hierarchical stimuli predicted both drawing skill and artistic group membership, suggesting that these are beneficial attentional mechanisms for art-making in a range of domains. These findings support a top-down attentional model of artistic expertise and shed light on the domain specific and domain-general attentional enhancements induced by proficiency in the visual arts.

Difficulties Encauntered in Visual Arts Given in High-school Education in Turkey and Solution Proposals

In today's societies prudential Education Visual Arts has a gradually improving priority and importance. In Turkey from declaring of Republic until now, Visual Arts Coming with perpetual changing, confront us as the lesson of which aim hasn’t become clear. Even nowadays, uncertainty of aims of art training in high schools helps us to understand the hardship of the Issue, ıs Visual Arts a free time activity that put in the high School Corricula. Or an activity that has many acquisitions in which it harbours its aims. What's the actual aim of Visual Arts? These questions have unfortunately been unanswered. This question's answer is; most or people from the ones who prepare the Visual Arts Training Curricula to the teachers who teach the lesson don’t actually know the functions and aim of Visual Arts Because of this and because of not being understood by students’ parents and directors the Visual Arts lesson hasn’t reached its aim. Besides, the students squeezed among the scholarship exams, level setting exams, school and courses, slide over or make up excuses that it is a talent. In any case in schools that have many problems, visual arts have become a big matter's skein that come from the past and can’t be solved.

Licenciaturas Internacionais: uma experiência de aprendizagem transcultural na redefinição da formação do professor de artes visuais na Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul

No artigo aborda-se o Projeto Licenciaturas Internacionais em Artes Visuais, que compõe o Programa de Licenciaturas Internacionais da Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, PLI da UFRGS/CAPES/2011, atualmente com 07 alunos cursando a dupla diplomação em Portugal. Focaliza-se a qualificação da formação de professores de artes visuais para a educação básica no contexto brasileiro em interlocução com contextos internacionais. Apresenta-se o curso com uma arquitetura curricular estendida em um campo expandido com atividades extracurriculares, em um estreito diálogo entre a educação e a cultura, ao habilitar o aluno para a formação continuada, evidenciando um ensino articulado à extensão e à pesquisa. Nesse campo curricular expandido, aponta-se a dupla diplomação, focalizada como uma experiência de aprendizagem transcultural, ao constituir-se como uma proposta pedagógica das licenciaturas, visando à redefinição do escopo correspondente ao Projeto Pedagógico dos cursos de formação de professores das diferentes áreas do conhecimento.

Formação de Professores: Narrativas de Experiência

O presente texto insere-se no campo da formação de professores, mais especificamente no âmbito da formação inicial de professores em artes visuais, na perspectiva de uma narração da docência. Toma por base os conceitos de imagens dialéticas, limiar, experiência e narrativa, de Walter Benjamin, a fim de refletir sobre algumas narrativas orais e visuais de estudantes em sua primeira inserção na escola como estagiários.