HOW DOES COVISIBILITY WORK IN GALLERIES? THE INFLUENCE OF SPATIAL ARRANGEMENT ON SIMILARITY JUDGMENTS OF IMAGES

摘要

Comparing and relating displays is arguably one of the most important cognitive activities in galleries and museums for many reasons, as they help viewers recognize artistic styles, follow the progression between displays, and identify aesthetic differences. This research looked at covisibility, particularly the proximity of displays, and whether it affects the way displays are mentally compared. The experiment demonstrated that similarity judgments for pairs of visual stimuli depended on two physical design factors: (1) the proximity of the stimuli to each other and (2) the viewing distance from participant to stimuli. In the experiment, 36 participants rated the similarity of pairs of human faces based on their visual appearance in photos. The outcome yielded an interaction between the distance from participant to stimuli and the proximity of the stimuli pair. More specifically, when participants viewed pairs of stimuli at a short distance, the pairs presented close together were rated as being less similar than those presented far apart, but when participants viewed pairs of stimuli at a long distance, the pairs presented close together were rated as being more similar than those presented far apart. Overall, the results revealed the complex relationship between the spatial proximity of stimuli and the spatial distance from participant to stimuli. The results also highlighted the importance of testing findings that come from a two-dimensional laboratory in a three-dimensional setting. The results reported here should be of interest to museum curators and exhibition designers.