Embodiment of gestures and emotions

Abstract

While delivering visual information in images and videos with the use of dots, lines, faces, and colors, this research starts with a question whether lines solely influence emotional response. In visual information, lines may be the most fundamental part which determine forms, but there is a lack of basic research on the relationship between effects of lines and viewers’ emotional state. Thus, this study aims to compare emotional response generated from observing different types of lines and explore whether Georges Seurat’s rhythmical lines are valid in our age. We first obtained biometric data from 20 participants (10 males and 10 females) using the measurement instrument SA-3000P to verify the relationship between degrees of stimulation and emotional response derived from lines. Second, we conducted a survey on paintings of Georges Seurat who derived neo-impressionism from impressionism. Based on theories of lines, the survey consists of three parts, 1) David Pierre Giottino Humbert Superville's three schemes of expansive, horizontal, and convergent lines applied on face, 2) Antoinette Bouhuy's three schemes of curved lines applied on face, and 3) Seurat's rhythmical lines in his paintings. Moreover, we calculated and compared cosine similarity values of each survey question for investigating the relationship between six types of lines (Superville and Bouhuy’s line schemes) and 21 paintings including Seurat’s artworks. 50 participants (27 males and 23 females) were assigned to participate in the survey and an evaluation scale was constructed on the basis of James Russell's circumplex model with eight emotion categories. The result shows that people feel certain emotions strongly as they perceive different types of lines used in paintings and facial expressions. In addition, we determined the relationship between line usage and 21 paintings by calculating cosine similarities between paintings regardless of genres, color palettes, and topics. Thus, this research proposes to apply the result to analysis of art and digital contents to explore the relationship between visual perception and corresponding emotions since line usage in compositions of movie posters in film industry is one of effective ways to convey emotions and atmosphere.