By Cliff McBride, University Communications and Marketing
Visitors to the Salvador Dalí Museum can now influence the future of art exhibitions while contributing to research in cognitive psychology.
A project led by University of South Florida St. Petersburg psychology faculty uses eye tracking technology to explore how different curated experiences affect how people experience and appreciate art.
Participants sit in front of an eye-tracking device that looks like a small camera attached to a computer screen. Developed by the museum and Dartmouth University’s Digital Applied Learning and Innovation Laboratory, the technology tracks where and how long participants look as they view paintings from the Spanish Surrealist artist.
Some participants will then receive information about the painting, others biographical content about Dalí and others no information at all. They then look at the painting a second time. Afterward, participants fill out a survey on their demographics and how the artwork made them feel.
The goal is to discern how various content impacts art appreciation, which can inform the curation of future exhibitions. Researchers also hope to better understand relationships between demographics, gaze patterns and emotional responses to discern what factors shape someone’s overall museum experience.
Students are involved in the research process every step of the way, from recruiting participants to helping conduct the study and analyzing data. The project also gives students the opportunity to work in one of the nation's preeminent art museums, just steps from campus.