An empirical evaluation of the visual rightness theory of pictorial composition

This research tested the visual rightness theory of pictorial composition's assertion that the induced organizational structure of a visually right (i .e., "good") design is perceptually salient and judged superior by anyone v iewing it regardless of his or her training in the visual arts. Stimuli for Experiments 1 and 2 consisted of 16 reproductions of paintings by renowned artists and an experimentally reconstructed less-well-organized version of each art stimulus. It was found that design professionals (Experiment 2) w ere significantly more successful at detecting the original versions than w ere participants untrained in the visual arts (Experiment 1) (hit rates s = 64% and 55%, respectively). In Experiment 3 participants replaced a major structural element removed from each of six pictures of the stimulus set at the location where they thought it appears in the original. A significant number of untrained participants and those with training in design theory w ere in agreement as to the location of each element within its pictorial fi eld; the location chosen conformed to its compositional structure but not i ts actual location in the original. Findings demonstrate that the ability t o detect the induced structural skeleton of a painting resulting from a vis ually right design does not require expert knowledge of design principles w hereas the ability to discriminate between several articulation possibiliti es of the same composition does require formal training. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PsycINFO classification. 2100; 2300.