Lesson 7: Cognition
Cognition: What you know determines what you see
Our perception of the world and all things in it - including art - is driven by an interplay between the stimulus in the world and our expectations. For example, we perceive the world within what psychologists call a perceptual set, or an expectation of what will be perceived, which can affect what actually is perceived.
How do expectations and prior knowledge influence our perceptions of the outside world? Cognitive psychologists distinguish between top-down and bottom-up processing.
- Top-Down, or Conceptually-Driven processing concerns how prior knowledge, expectations, concepts and ideas influence recognition.
- Bottom-Up, or Data-Driven processing concerns the actual physical stimulus.
Schemas and Scripts
One clear theory of top-down influences on perceptual processing is schema theory. According to schema and script theory (Schank, 1999), memory is organized into generic knowledge structures that organize frequently encountered situations like a kitchen or professors office (schemas) or activities like going to a restaurant or doctors appointment (scripts). The key difference between scripts and schemas is that scripts are specific to activities whereas schemas can be anything that is frequently experienced.
For example, most people have been in enough kitchens to have a 'kitchen schema.' Few people reading this have been in my kitchen but it is easy to guess that I have a refrigerator, sink, utensils, etc. If I say "I was in my kitchen thinking about this lesson" many will picture these things though you have never seen my specific kitchen. Further, some studies have shown that if you are tested later, you may believe I actually mentioned those things because they have become part of your memory for this text.
As another example, most people have gone to restaurants so often that they have developed a “restaurant script.” The actions in a restaurant script include being seated, looking over a menu, telling the waiter your drink order, eating, and so on. If your friend says she went to a restaurant, you don't ask if these things happened because you assume they did and you represent them in your mind to such a degree that if you were asked if she actually said "they were given menus" you may not be able to remember. We have several scripts in long-term memory, such as going to the doctor’s office, getting ready for work, renting a car, and so on. Also, according to Schank, there are memory structures that organize scripted activities at a more abstract level. These memory structures are called Thematic Organization Packets (TOPs). TOPs allow us to “recognize an old story in new trappings” (Schank, 1999, p. 138). Thus, we can recognize a story about a hero’s journey, love lost, or innocence to experience. All of these types of stories follow a specific structure that can be recognized by most readers. Romeo and Juliet /West Side Story is a good example
Scripts and Titles
- Try This:
What do you think is going on in the poem below? Think about it then click on the link to give a response and learn the title of the poem.
Master of human destinies am I;
Fame, love and fortune on my footsteps wait.
Cities and fields I walk. I penetrate
Deserts and seas remote, and, passing by
Hovel and mart and palace, soon or late,
I knock unbidden once at every gate.
If sleeping, wake; if feasting, rise, before
I turn away. It is the hour of fate,
And they who follow me reach every state
Mortals desire, and conquer every foe
Save death; but those who hesitate
Condemned to failure, penury and woe,
Seek me in vain, and uselessly implore.
I answer not, and I return no more.
It makes a lot more sense when you know the title! Titles can serve to activate schemas.
As another illustration, Name this event:
- The procedure is really quite simple. First you arrange things into different groups depending on their makeup. Of course, one pile may be sufficient depending on how much there is to do. If you have to go somewhere else due to lack of facilities that is the next step, otherwise you are pretty well set. It is important not to overdo any particular endeavor. That is, it is better to do too few things at once than too many. In the short run this may not seem important, but complications from doing too many can easily arise. A mistake can be expensive as well. The manipulation of the appropriate mechanisms should be self-explanatory, and we need not dwell on it here. At first the whole procedure will seem complicated. Soon, however, it will become just another facet of life. It is difficult to foresee any end to the necessity for this task in the immediate future, but then one can never tell.
Take a minute to take some notes: What schemas are activated when you look at Magritte's The Human Condition (above)? How are these schemas challenged by the image?
This works for visual art as well:
Name this picture:
- Possible titles:
- Descriptive Title:
- “Woman Gardening”
- Elaborative Titles:
- “Peace”
- “Garden of Eden”
- "Sadness"
- "Tending the Poisonous Plant"
- Descriptive Title:
How you think the title a piece of art influences interpretation and response?
Titles affect understanding and aesthetic response (Millis, 2001)
-
Understanding:
- Presence of a title increases perceived understanding of an artwork for both descriptive and elaborative titles
-
Aesthetic Response:
- Elaborative titles were related to higher ratings of aesthetic response vs. descriptive (which were rated about the same as those with no title)
Take a minute to takes some notes: How does the title of Magritte's The Human Condition (above) influence the effect the image has on you?
Visual Dissonance
- Visual Dissonance occurs when there is a difference between what we expect and what we see. In other words, our schemas are challenged! For example, consider this piece by Man Ray (1921) called The Gift.
It is certainly unlike anything most people have seen before, i.e. it doesn't easily fit into a schema. Moreover, it contains several contradictory schemas: an ironing schema - a rather dull domestic chore, with a sort of creepy spike schema - rendering the first schema impossible. Also there is the schema activated by the title "The Gift" - the Gift schema is normally a warm and fuzzy one but not so much in the context of a domestic chore and creepy spikes.
So what happens to your brain when faced with all of these contradictions. There are three possible responses when faced with visual dissonance (adapted from Solso, 1996 pp. 122-125). I call these the 3 "Rs"
1. Reject - dismiss the object, for example: "This is dumb," or "This isn't art.'
2. Reflect - think about the art object and why it is creating dissonance; think about what spikes on an iron could mean, for example: "This could mean something deeper than what is represented, perhaps it is making a statement about the oppressiveness of domestic life"
3. Revise: Change the dissonant elements to make them more schema consistent, for example: "This would be better the spikes were removed."
Take a minute to take some notes: How did you respond to the dissonance Magritte created in The Human Condition (above)? Did your response fit with one of Solso's 3 reactions? Did your response change with more reflection?
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE: Reject, Reflect, or Revise
In addition, the emotional tone of an art object is relevant to how we make sense of dissonance. We are more willing to reflect when our schemas aren't so entrenched or when the emotional tone is lighter.
We have just learned how our visual system breaks down light reflected from an object form an image on our retinas and how our mind uses memory, context, and world knowledge to make sense of the image. Now test your knowledge before we move on to the last lesson.
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE: Is Art on the Canvas or in the Brain? ThreeMinute Quiz
Next we will learn how images and other media influence can the decisions we make.
Another by Rene Magritte from the Treachery of Images Collection. Text reads "This is not a pipe." Image from http://arthistoryunstuffed.com/michel-foucault-representation-pipe/ Links to an external site.