P. Hekkert et Pcw. Vanwieringen, THE IMPACT OF LEVEL OF EXPERTISE ON THE EVALUATION OF ORIGINAL AND ALTERED VERSIONS OF POST-IMPRESSIONISTIC PAINTINGS, Acta psychologica, 94(2), 1996, pp. 117-131
Twelve post-impressionistic paintings were manipulated along two dimen
sions: degree of realism (figurative vs. abstract) and colour (colour
vs. black-and-white). The resulting 48 pictures were rated by three gr
oups of twenty subjects each, on a number of rating scales. The three
groups differed as to their expertise in art. Analyses of variance on
the mean liking scores indicated that the negative effects of changing
the original pictures to abstract or black-and-white versions decreas
ed with increasing expertise. This differential impact of the experime
ntal manipulations confirmed hypotheses about changes in taste due to
artistic training.