Cognitive Models of Visual Art Processing

  • Federico Martin Gonzalez Universidad de Buenos Aires - CONICET
  • Debora I. Burin Universidad de Buenos Aires - CONICET
Keywords: empirical aesthetics, cognitive models, aesthetic experience

Abstract

This article aims to describe current cognitive models of visual art processing, representative of different perspectives or lines of research; including the model of Locher et al. (2007), the aesthetic triad model (Chaterjee & Vartanian, 2014), the VIMAP model (Pelowski et al., 2017), the PIA model (Graf & Landwher, 2015) and the psychohistorical framework (Bullot & Reber, 2013). Discrepancies between them are pointed out, as well as their consensus regarding the coexistence of perceptual (largely automatic and based on superficial characteristics of the stimulus) and meaning-based processing (top-down, commonly associated with declarative knowledge and expertise), along with emotional processing.

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Author Biographies

Federico Martin Gonzalez, Universidad de Buenos Aires - CONICET

Licenciado y Doctor en Psicología, especialista en Estadistica para ciencias de la salud. Becario postdoctoral CONICET. Docente en la Universidad de Buenos Aires y  la Universidad de Palermo.

 

Debora I. Burin, Universidad de Buenos Aires - CONICET

Licenciada y Doctora en Psicología. Investigadora CONICET. Profesora Adjunta Regular Facultad de Psicología, UBA. Profesora Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de Palermo.

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Published
2026-06-01
How to Cite
Gonzalez, F. M., & Burin, D. I. (2026). Cognitive Models of Visual Art Processing. Psicodebate, 26(1), 21 - 32. https://doi.org/10.18682/pd.v26i1.11534