ºÚÁÏÉç

My major research interest is understanding the psychological processes associated with the production of visual art (particularly, drawing).

Drawing is a universal behavior engaged in by individuals of all ages from all around world. The production of high-quality drawings is an extremely difficult behavior for most children and adults, and typically requires extensive formal training and practice before expert-level skill is acquired. My research investigates the psychological processes that are associated with the development of drawing skill. I focus on understanding the processes relating to two general types of drawings: (1) observation-based drawings where an individual attempts to create a recognizable depiction of a model that is directly perceived, and (2) memory-based drawings where an individual attempts to create a recognizable depiction of an object based on their imagination without the guide of an external model.

Examples of more specific empirical questions my research is focused on includes:

How does perceptual encoding of the model impact the appearance and accuracy of an observation-based drawing? Are drawing errors caused by misperception of the model being reproduced? Do expert artists highly skilled in observation-based drawing have the ability to more accurately perceive visual stimuli compared to less skilled non-artists?

How does visual attention and decision-making processes impact the appearance and accuracy of observation-based drawings? Is drawing skill impacted by what information in the model individuals decide to selectively attend to? Do expert artists highly skilled in observation-based drawing visually attend to the models being reproduced in different ways than less skilled non-artists? If so, what visual information do skilled artists attend to that contributes to high-quality drawings that less skilled non-artists ignore?

How does prior knowledge impact the appearance and accuracy of observation-based drawings? In what ways does prior knowledge impair the ability to accurately draw an object from observation? In what ways does prior knowledge facilitate the ability to produce an accurate observation-based drawing? Do highly skilled artists draw better than non-artists because they are less influenced by prior knowledge pertaining to the object being drawn, or because they have more sophisticated and accurate prior knowledge pertaining to the object being drawn?

How do long-term memories that represent the graphic properties of common objects impact observation-based drawing performance? Are observation-based drawings partially guided by the activation and processing of information stored in long-term memory? Are errors in observation-based drawings caused by biases inherent in long-term memories?

How does the appearance of drawings develop from early-childhood into late-childhood and adulthood? What drawing biases exist in early-childhood, and to what degree do they persist as individuals age into late-childhood and adulthood? To what degree are early-child drawing biases universally observed in children living all across the world? To what degree are early-child drawing biases specific to the child's cultural and geographic environments?

I study the questions above by employing quantitative methods derived from modern psychological research. Specific methodological strategies include:

Experimental Methods

Assessing how observation-bas