Abstract
This paper identifies a specific pattern of luminance in pictures that creates a low level neuro-aesthetic effect and provides a theoretical explanation for how it occurs. Given that pictorial balance is associated with a unified, harmonious picture and that there is a pictorial effect known to painters and historically documented that does just that, it was thought that such pictures are perfectly balanced. Computer models of these pictures were found to have bilateral quadrant luminance symmetry with a lower half lighter by a factor of ∼1.07 +/-∼0.03. Two different methods are proposed to calculate balance. A study was done comparing the identical picture in two different frames with respect to whether they appeared different given that the sole difference is balance. Results show that with the observers, mostly painters, there was a significant correlation between average pair imbalance and the appearance of difference indicating at a minimum that these methods can be used for calculating pictorial balance. For those who can disregard saliency the effect is the result of the absence of forces on eye movements created by imbalance. The unaccustomed force invoked by imbalance causes fatigue when viewing pictures carefully. The second method enables calculations in non-rectangular pictures and could be a primitive visual operating system allowing complex vector and topological analysis of objects.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
Footnotes
The manuscript has been revised so that the two different methods of determining balance are placed in logical sequence. Calculations of average pair imbalance have been done for both and presented in table 2 . Other minor conclusions and speculations are presented. The supplemental files have been updated to include the results and method of calculation.
