This study analyses the categorical ambiguity between visual appearances that belong in different... more This study analyses the categorical ambiguity between visual appearances that belong in different categories, such as Oriental Calligraphy and certain Paintings selected from the works of Klee. In particular, the aim of our research was to identify whether there exist abstract features at the basis of purely visual configurations that determine the way in which they are categorized. Specifically, the intention was to determine whether, and to what extent, two artistic forms that display documented shared graphic and conceptual characteristics differ, or do not differ, visually, and whether certain features exist that identify them as a specific type of graphic work. The assumption that both categories had shared characteristics that made them graphically and conceptually similar and that resulted in categorical ambiguity, was confirmed. Moreover, the presence of some constituent features specific to one or the other was also confirmed. The results show that a Calligraphic Image and ...
The meaningful appearances of natural forms, intrinsically provided with meaning, are primary eco... more The meaningful appearances of natural forms, intrinsically provided with meaning, are primary ecological facts for humans and non–human living beings. Only in recent years, however, perception studies have developed research pointing to the qualitative, and multimodal aspects of the experience. Specifically, the debate is now moving to the field of cross–modality, studying the connections between any given sensory feature in one modality (for example, color) and a sensory feature in another modality (for example, sound). Initially prompted by interest in the field of synesthesia, studies have begun considering similar phenomena occurring in the general population. Several hypotheses have been presented to explain the nature of such associations. A recent review of the field has drawn a distinction among structural correspondences (due to neural correlates, hence potentially universal), statistical correspondences (due to learning, hence potentially influenced by different environmen...
Quite a few cognitive scientists are working toward a naturalization of phenomenology. Looking mo... more Quite a few cognitive scientists are working toward a naturalization of phenomenology. Looking more closely at the relevant literature, however, the 'naturalizing phenomenology' proposals show the presence of different conceptions, assumptions, and formalisms, further differentiated by different philosophical and/or scientific concerns. This paper shows that the original Husserlian stance is deeper, clearer and more advanced than most supposed contemporary improvements. The recent achievements of experimental phenomenology show how to 'naturalize' phenomenology without destroying the guiding assumptions of phenomenology. The requirements grounding the scientific explanation of subjective experience are discussed, such as the nature of the stimuli, their variables, and their manipulation by properly phenomenological methods.
The paper presents color as a case study for the analysis of phenomena that pertain to several le... more The paper presents color as a case study for the analysis of phenomena that pertain to several levels of reality and are typically framed by different sciences and disciplines. Color, in fact, is studied by physics, biology, phenomenology, and esthetics, among others. Our thesis is that color is a different entity for each level of reality, and that for this reason color generates different observables in the epistemologies of the different sciences. By analyzing color as a paradigmatic case of an entity naturally spreading over different levels of reality, the paper raises the question as to whether making explicit the usually implicit ontological assumptions embedded within the different observables exploited by the different sciences may eventually clarify some of the difficulties of developing a comprehensive theory of color.
The aim of this study is to verify the conditions under which a series of visual stimuli (line se... more The aim of this study is to verify the conditions under which a series of visual stimuli (line segments) will be subjectively perceived as visual lines or surfaces employing four experiments. Two experiments were conducted with the method of subjective evaluation of the line segments, and the other two with the Osgood semantic differential. We analysed five variables (thickness, type, orientation, and colour) potentially responsible for the lines’ categorisation. The four experiments gave similar results: higher importance of the variables thickness and type; general lower significance of the variable colour; and general insignificance of the variable orientation. Interestingly, for the variable type, straight lines are evaluated as surfaces more frequently than curved lines and perceived as geometrical, flat, hard, static, rough, sharp, bound, sour, frigid, masculine, cold and passive. Curved lines are prevalently evaluated as lines, and categorised as organic, rounded, soft, dynam...
This study analyses the categorical ambiguity between visual appearances that belong in different... more This study analyses the categorical ambiguity between visual appearances that belong in different categories, such as Oriental Calligraphy and certain Paintings selected from the works of Klee. In particular, the aim of our research was to identify whether there exist abstract features at the basis of purely visual configurations that determine the way in which they are categorized. Specifically, the intention was to determine whether, and to what extent, two artistic forms that display documented shared graphic and conceptual characteristics differ, or do not differ, visually, and whether certain features exist that identify them as a specific type of graphic work. The assumption that both categories had shared characteristics that made them graphically and conceptually similar and that resulted in categorical ambiguity, was confirmed. Moreover, the presence of some constituent features specific to one or the other was also confirmed. The results show that a Calligraphic Image and ...
The meaningful appearances of natural forms, intrinsically provided with meaning, are primary eco... more The meaningful appearances of natural forms, intrinsically provided with meaning, are primary ecological facts for humans and non–human living beings. Only in recent years, however, perception studies have developed research pointing to the qualitative, and multimodal aspects of the experience. Specifically, the debate is now moving to the field of cross–modality, studying the connections between any given sensory feature in one modality (for example, color) and a sensory feature in another modality (for example, sound). Initially prompted by interest in the field of synesthesia, studies have begun considering similar phenomena occurring in the general population. Several hypotheses have been presented to explain the nature of such associations. A recent review of the field has drawn a distinction among structural correspondences (due to neural correlates, hence potentially universal), statistical correspondences (due to learning, hence potentially influenced by different environmen...
Quite a few cognitive scientists are working toward a naturalization of phenomenology. Looking mo... more Quite a few cognitive scientists are working toward a naturalization of phenomenology. Looking more closely at the relevant literature, however, the 'naturalizing phenomenology' proposals show the presence of different conceptions, assumptions, and formalisms, further differentiated by different philosophical and/or scientific concerns. This paper shows that the original Husserlian stance is deeper, clearer and more advanced than most supposed contemporary improvements. The recent achievements of experimental phenomenology show how to 'naturalize' phenomenology without destroying the guiding assumptions of phenomenology. The requirements grounding the scientific explanation of subjective experience are discussed, such as the nature of the stimuli, their variables, and their manipulation by properly phenomenological methods.
The paper presents color as a case study for the analysis of phenomena that pertain to several le... more The paper presents color as a case study for the analysis of phenomena that pertain to several levels of reality and are typically framed by different sciences and disciplines. Color, in fact, is studied by physics, biology, phenomenology, and esthetics, among others. Our thesis is that color is a different entity for each level of reality, and that for this reason color generates different observables in the epistemologies of the different sciences. By analyzing color as a paradigmatic case of an entity naturally spreading over different levels of reality, the paper raises the question as to whether making explicit the usually implicit ontological assumptions embedded within the different observables exploited by the different sciences may eventually clarify some of the difficulties of developing a comprehensive theory of color.
The aim of this study is to verify the conditions under which a series of visual stimuli (line se... more The aim of this study is to verify the conditions under which a series of visual stimuli (line segments) will be subjectively perceived as visual lines or surfaces employing four experiments. Two experiments were conducted with the method of subjective evaluation of the line segments, and the other two with the Osgood semantic differential. We analysed five variables (thickness, type, orientation, and colour) potentially responsible for the lines’ categorisation. The four experiments gave similar results: higher importance of the variables thickness and type; general lower significance of the variable colour; and general insignificance of the variable orientation. Interestingly, for the variable type, straight lines are evaluated as surfaces more frequently than curved lines and perceived as geometrical, flat, hard, static, rough, sharp, bound, sour, frigid, masculine, cold and passive. Curved lines are prevalently evaluated as lines, and categorised as organic, rounded, soft, dynam...
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