Journal of Siberian Federal University. Humanities & Social Sciences / Psychological Aspects of the Theory of Visual Thinking

Full text (.pdf)
Issue
Journal of Siberian Federal University. Humanities & Social Sciences. 2026 19 (9)
Authors
Koptseva, Natalia P.; Perepelitsa, Yulia N.; Mikhaylova, Sofia A.
Contact information
Koptseva, Natalia P. : Siberian Federal University (Krasnoyarsk, Russian Federation); ; ORCID: 0000-0003-3910-7991; Perepelitsa, Yulia N. : Siberian Federal University (Krasnoyarsk, Russian Federation); ; ORCID: 0000-0002-0279-9958; Mikhaylova, Sofia A. : Siberian Federal University (Krasnoyarsk, Russian Federation); ORCID: 0009-0005-5117-8436
Keywords
artistic image; visual thinking; cognitive psychology; Rudolf Arnheim; Abigail Housen
Abstract

This paper substantiates the necessity of a synthesis between art history and cognitive psychology for developing a contemporary theory of the artistic image. Based on an analysis of the concept of the artistic image as an event of encounter (V. I. Zhukovsky, N. P. Koptseva), R. Arnheim’s Gestalt theory of visual thinking, and empirical research on aesthetic development by A. Housen (stage model, VTS method), it is demonstrated that the psychological dimension is not auxiliary but constitutive for understanding the nature of the artistic image. Only the integration of data on the cognitive mechanisms of perception, the stage-like development of viewer competence, and the active structuring work of perceptual systems can explain how a work of art becomes an event of meaning- making. It is concluded that the future of art theory lies in the formation of a «psychologically informed art history» capable of treating the artistic image as a real cognitive- aesthetic phenomenon rather than a metaphysical abstraction

Pages
1849–1859
EDN
SYVROU
Paper at repository of SibFU
https://elib.sfu-kras.ru/handle/2311/160103

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