Consider different art movements. Faces are represented in strikingly different ways. The Renaissance movement brought realism back to art and seeks to depict people as accurately as possible. In post-impressionism, faces are less realistic, incorporating more symbolic and personal meanings. Expressionism emphasizes the expression of emotion and distorts facial features for emotional effect. Cubism employs considerable distortion; figures are broken down into distinct planes and reassembled into abstracted forms. Are faces depicted in different art movements processed similarly? To find out, check out the new paper by Ventura, Pascual, Cruz and Araújo on the electrophysiological correlates of face perception in art.
Ventura, P., Pascual, M., Cruz F., & Araujo, S. (2024). From Perugino to Picasso revisited: Electrophysiological responses to faces in paintings from different art styles. Neuropsychologia, 193, 108742. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2023.108742
