Image and Image. An Investigation into Intericonic Processes

Abstract

The process of pictorial perception is the content of many studies. However the contextual influence onimages has not been deeply explored yet. This work examines the context-specificity and its impact onthe perceived meaning of a picture and intends to answer two main questions: Does the interpretationof an image change when perceiving a single image compared to a paired picture? How can the typesof connection between two images be differentiated? In systematic practical experiments square-cutchromatic photographs of identical size were put together in pairs. Through the variation of the pairs, inwhich one image remained constant and the other was replaced, it became evident that several formsof linkage can be distinguished: connections based on formal similarities of the portrayed objects,connections that bore witness to a more metaphorical quality, linkage by way of an emotion-transferfrom one image on the other, and pairs developing a ‘third image’ revealing characteristics of bothoriginal pictures. The different ways of image connections and their impact on the pictorial meaningwere tested on ten participants. The results confirmed distinguishable connection types and showed aclear influence on image meaning depending on the single vs. the paired view.