A pair of psychologists from Chicago discovered that most people tend to remember the same artworks from those they are shown. Trent Davis and Wilma Bainbridge conducted three types of experiments to learn more about the memorability of art pieces, and the results surprised them.
Logic suggests that viewing art is a personal experience. Most people looking at a painting or statue have their own thoughts or feelings about the piece. This is tied to the human tendency to bring personal experiences into the interpretation of art.
However, the reality is that this experience may not be as individual as some might expect. Davis and Bainbridge’s research revealed that, more often than not, different people leave an art gallery remembering nearly the same paintings.
How Was the Art Study Conducted?
To uncover what makes an artwork unforgettable, the researchers conducted three types of experiments. In the first, over 3,000 online volunteers viewed a series of paintings, followed by the same works mixed with others.
After viewing, participants were asked to name the paintings they remembered from the first series. The researchers found that most volunteers recalled the same artworks.
In the second experiment, the psychologists asked a group of 19 participants to stroll through an art museum, ensuring they looked at all the paintings on display. After their visit, each participant took a test on the artworks they had just seen. Similar to the first experiment, volunteers tended to remember the same paintings.
In the third experiment, the team of psychologists took a different approach. They asked online volunteers to rate the beauty, emotional tone, familiarity, and interest level of the paintings. It turned out that the only factor influencing memorability was how interesting the participants found the artworks.
AI Identifies the Same Popular Paintings as People
As an additional tool in their research, the psychologists utilized a deep learning program powered by artificial intelligence called ResMem. According to Medicalxpress, it was specifically designed to predict how memorable paintings would be when viewed by people.
The researchers found that the application predominantly selected the same paintings as the participants in all three experiments. Thus, artificial intelligence is capable of predicting which artworks are likely to be remembered better by people.