{"id":{"repo_id":"houston","oai_identifier":"oai:uh-ir.tdl.org:10657/1701"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/houston/oai:uh-ir.tdl.org:10657/1701","repository":{"repo_id":"houston","name":"University of Houston","base_url":"https://uh-ir.tdl.org/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Semantic Priming with Art","abstract":"The purpose of this study is to understand the effect of viewing art on cognitive processes. This thesis uses a well-established priming paradigm to examine how people respond to styles of art with varying degrees of unexpectedness (realism, surrealism, and abstraction). Sixty-one participants completed the priming task. The results replicated the classic priming effect for the realistic images in which participants responded faster to related pairs of images than unrelated pairs of images. When presented with surreal paintings the reaction time slowed, suggesting that viewing paintings that are unexpected yet meaningful (and perhaps by extension creative) slows down cognitive processes. Completely non-representational art remains a mystery as the responses to abstract art were not significantly different from the realistic related paintings. Future studies should recruit participants with more artistic training to determine if there may be individual differences related to experience with art that influence the response to non-representational art.","abstract_html":"The purpose of this study is to understand the effect of viewing art on cognitive processes. This thesis uses a well-established priming paradigm to examine how people respond to styles of art with varying degrees of unexpectedness (realism, surrealism, and abstraction). Sixty-one participants completed the priming task. The results replicated the classic priming effect for the realistic images in which participants responded faster to related pairs of images than unrelated pairs of images. When presented with surreal paintings the reaction time slowed, suggesting that viewing paintings that are unexpected yet meaningful (and perhaps by extension creative) slows down cognitive processes. Completely non-representational art remains a mystery as the responses to abstract art were not significantly different from the realistic related paintings. Future studies should recruit participants with more artistic training to determine if there may be individual differences related to experience with art that influence the response to non-representational art.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Gorges, Madeleine V. Z."],"institution":"University of Houston","degree_name":"Master of Arts","degree_level":"Masters","degree_discipline":"Psychology, Developmental","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Hernandez, Arturo E."],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":["Yoshida, Hanako","Leasure, J. Leigh"],"year":2015,"date_issued":"2015-12","date_published":"2015-12","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:32:34Z","subjects":["Visual arts","Creativity","Efficiency","Prediction coding","Priming"],"languages":["eng"],"rights":["The author of this work is the copyright owner. UH Libraries and the Texas Digital Library have their permission to store and provide access to this work. Further transmission, reproduction, or presentation of this work is prohibited except with permission of the author(s)."],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/10657/1701","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Hernandez, Arturo E."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.committeemember","label":"Committee Member","values":["Yoshida, Hanako","Leasure, J. Leigh"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Gorges, Madeleine V. Z."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2017-04-10T02:39:14Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2017-04-10T02:39:14Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2015-12"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Psychology, Developmental"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Masters"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Houston"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Visual arts","Creativity","Efficiency","Prediction coding","Priming"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["The author of this work is the copyright owner. UH Libraries and the Texas Digital Library have their permission to store and provide access to this work. Further transmission, reproduction, or presentation of this work is prohibited except with permission of the author(s)."]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/10657/1701"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The purpose of this study is to understand the effect of viewing art on cognitive processes. This thesis uses a well-established priming paradigm to examine how people respond to styles of art with varying degrees of unexpectedness (realism, surrealism, and abstraction). Sixty-one participants completed the priming task. The results replicated the classic priming effect for the realistic images in which participants responded faster to related pairs of images than unrelated pairs of images. When presented with surreal paintings the reaction time slowed, suggesting that viewing paintings that are unexpected yet meaningful (and perhaps by extension creative) slows down cognitive processes. Completely non-representational art remains a mystery as the responses to abstract art were not significantly different from the realistic related paintings. Future studies should recruit participants with more artistic training to determine if there may be individual differences related to experience with art that influence the response to non-representational art."]},{"key":"dc:format.mimetype","label":"Dc Format Mimetype","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Semantic Priming with Art"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Hernandez, Arturo E."],"dc:contributor.committeemember":["Yoshida, Hanako","Leasure, J. Leigh"],"dc:creator":["Gorges, Madeleine V. Z."],"dc:date.accessioned":["2017-04-10T02:39:14Z"],"dc:date.available":["2017-04-10T02:39:14Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2015-12"],"dc:description.abstract":["The purpose of this study is to understand the effect of viewing art on cognitive processes. This thesis uses a well-established priming paradigm to examine how people respond to styles of art with varying degrees of unexpectedness (realism, surrealism, and abstraction). Sixty-one participants completed the priming task. The results replicated the classic priming effect for the realistic images in which participants responded faster to related pairs of images than unrelated pairs of images. When presented with surreal paintings the reaction time slowed, suggesting that viewing paintings that are unexpected yet meaningful (and perhaps by extension creative) slows down cognitive processes. Completely non-representational art remains a mystery as the responses to abstract art were not significantly different from the realistic related paintings. Future studies should recruit participants with more artistic training to determine if there may be individual differences related to experience with art that influence the response to non-representational art."],"dc:format.mimetype":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/10657/1701"],"dc:language.iso":["eng"],"dc:rights":["The author of this work is the copyright owner. UH Libraries and the Texas Digital Library have their permission to store and provide access to this work. Further transmission, reproduction, or presentation of this work is prohibited except with permission of the author(s)."],"dc:subject":["Visual arts","Creativity","Efficiency","Prediction coding","Priming"],"dc:title":["Semantic Priming with Art"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Psychology, Developmental"],"thesis:degree_level":["Masters"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts"],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Houston"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:32:34Z"}