Cite as:
Graham D J, Friedenberg J N, Rockmore D N, Field D J, 2008, "Mapping the similarity space of paintings: is there a role for image statistics?" Perception 37 ECVP Abstract Supplement, page 121

Mapping the similarity space of paintings: is there a role for image statistics?

D J Graham, J N Friedenberg, D N Rockmore, D J Field

It has been shown that basic image statistics are significantly different for paintings of various content and provenance. Though such statistics are crude for the purpose of classification, they may be useful for predicting perceptual judgments such as similarity or preference, since these statistics are relevant to efficient coding strategies in the visual system. To test this notion, we mapped the similarity space for digitized landscape paintings from a major university museum by collecting pairwise similarity ratings from observers (N=24). The 20 paintings tested had previously been defined as landscapes in a forced-choice test. Multidimensional scaling of the ratings revealed that the first scale was significantly correlated with whether the painting included humans in the foreground. The second scale was significantly correlated with the slope of the amplitude spectrum of the painting, a basic image statistic. These two scales accounted for 34% of the variance of the ratings. We discuss these results in terms of the coding of natural scenes and the prediction of perceptual judgments for artworks.
[Supported by NSF DNS 0746667 (USA) to DJG and DNR.]

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