Zur Hauptnavigation springen Zum Inhalt springen Zur Fußzeile springen
header

Saggi per la call-sezione sottoposta a peer review

Nr. 9 (2025): Miscellanea II

The Impact of Digital Visual content on the Human Brain & on the Perception of the Viewer

DOI
https://doi.org/10.54103/connessioni/28701
Eingereicht
April 9, 2025
Veröffentlicht
2025-09-08

Abstract

The study of how images affect the human brain and visual perception draws from neuroscience, psychology, and art. It investigates how visual content influences emotions, body responses, and thought processes. In the Electronic Era, theater has sought to create a mental space using technology, often making its language inseparable from the message and disconnected from its usual context.

This article analyzes the effects of digital visuals and technology in theater on viewer perception. It looks at how images can trigger specific emotions and the influence of immersive, virtual, and interactive content on consciousness and physical responses. Images serve as stimuli that engage the mind, linking psychological reality with sensory and intellectual experiences.

Viewing these images helps people access various emotions, as the brain combines them with past experiences and emotional patterns. Research shows that emotionally charged images activate the limbic system and prefrontal cortex in the brain. The potential for performing arts to evoke strong emotional responses through digital elements leads to profound experiences that go beyond time and space. Ultimately, images are potent tools that shape sensory and mental experiences in theater and art

Literaturhinweise

  1. Alpuim M., Ehrenberg K., Why images are so powerful — and what matters when choosing them, https://www.bonn-institute.org (accessed March 27 , 2025).
  2. Arnheim R., Art and visual perception, University of California Press, Berkeley 1974.
  3. Azizian A., Watson T. D., Parvaz M. A., Squires N. K., Time course of processes underlying picture and word evaluation: An event-related potential approach, Brain Topography, 18(3), 213–222, 2006.
  4. Barrett L. F., How emotions are made: The secret life of the brain, Houghton Mifflin Har-court, Boston 2017.
  5. Becker-Carus C., Wendt M., Allgemeine Psychologie: Eine Einführung, Springer, Berlin 2017. quoted in: Alpuim, M., & Ehrenberg, K., Why images are so powerful — and what mat-ters when choosing them, https://www.bonn-institute.org/
  6. Bentoglio A., Tra ragione ed emozione: il compromesso del teatro, Filosofia Unimi, 2006.
  7. Bernat E., Patrick C. J., Benning S. D., Tellegen A., Effects of picture content and intensity on affective physiological response, «Psychophysiology», 43(1), 93–103, 2006. Citato in: Alpuim, M., & Ehrenberg, K., Why images are so powerful — and what matters when choosing them, https://www.bonn-institute.org/
  8. Dixon S., Digital performance: A history of new media in theater, dance, performance art, and installation, The MIT Press, Cambridge 2007.
  9. Eril A., Regional integration and (trans)cultural memory, «Asia Europa Journal», 8, 305-315, 2010.
  10. Faita C., et al., The effect of emotional narrative virtual environments on user experience, in Talamo et al. (eds.), The Impact of Immersive Visualization on Engagement and Emo-tions Elicitation, AIJR Proceedings, 136-150, 2016.
  11. Feng C., Gu R., Li T., Wang L., Zhang Z., Luo W., Eickhoff S. B., Separate neural networks of implicit emotional processing between pictures and words: A coordinate-based meta-analysis of brain imaging studies, «Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews»», 131, 331–344, 2021.
  12. Giardini Digitali, La realtà virtuale: Un'interfaccia attiva con il nostro cervello, Giardini Digi-tali, 2024, https://www.giardinidigitali.it/la-realta-virtuale-uninterfaccia-attiva-con-il-nostro-cervello/?utm_source=chatgpt.com (accessed March 20 , 2025).
  13. Hopkins T., Doherty E., Ofer N., Weng S. C. C., Gyory P., Tobin C., Hirshfield L., Do E. Y.-L., Stringesthesia, Dynamically shifting musical agency between audience and performer based on trust in an interactive and improvised performance, in Proceedings of Audio Mostly (AM ’23), 2023.
  14. Infante C., La scena immateriale, 1999, in https://www.idra.it/cyberia/ScenaImm.htm (ac-cessed March 12, 2025).
  15. Korte M., The impact of the digital revolution on human brain and behavior: Where do we stand?, «Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience», 22(2), 101-111, 2020.
  16. Kersten L., A model solution: On the compatibility of predictive processing and embodied cognition, «Mind and Machines», 33, 113–134, 2023.
  17. Lee J. Y., Care R. A., Della Santina L., Dunn F. A., Impact of photoreceptor loss on retinal cir-cuitry, «Annual Review of Vision Science», 7, 105–128, 2021.
  18. Lester P. M., Visual communication: Images with messages, Cengage Learning, Boston 2014.
  19. Lievrouw L. A., Livingstone S., Handbook of new media, Sage Publications, London 2006.
  20. Machon J., Immersive theatres: Intimacy and immediacy in contemporary performance, Pal-grave Macmillan, London 2013.
  21. Manovich L., The language of new media, MIT Press, Cambridge 2001.
  22. Merleau-Ponty M., Fenomenologia della percezione, Bompiani, Milano 2003.
  23. Mintzer M. Z., Snodgrass J. G., The picture superiority effect: Support for the distinctiveness model, «The American Journal of Psychology», 112(1), 113–146, 1999.
  24. Nanda U., Zhu X., Jansen B. H., Image and emotion: from outcomes to brain behavior, «HERD», 5(4), 40–59, 2012.
  25. Ousdal O. T., Andreassen O. A., Server A., Jensen J., Increased amygdala and visual cortex activity and functional connectivity towards stimulus novelty is associated with state anxiety, «PLOS One», 9(4), e96146, 2014.
  26. Paivio A., Mental representations: A dual coding approach, Oxford University Press, Oxford 1990.
  27. Pessoa L., On the relationship between emotion and cognition, «Nature Reviews Neurosci-ence», 9(2), 148–158, 2008.
  28. Picard R. W., Affective computing, MIT Press, Cambridge 1997.
  29. Potter M. C., Wyble B., Hagmann C. E., McCourt E. S., Detecting meaning in RSVP at 13 ms per picture, «Attention, Perception & Psychophysics», 76(2), 270–279, 2014.
  30. Rajcic N., McCormack J., Mirror ritual: Human-machine co-construction of emotion, in Pro-ceedings of the Fourteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Em-bodied Interaction (TEI '20), 2020.
  31. Riva G., Virtual reality in psychotherapy: Review, «CyberPsychology & Behavior», 8(3), 220-230, 2005.
  32. Riva G., et al., NeuroVR: An open-source virtual reality platform for clinical psychology and behavioral neurosciences, «Studies in Health Technology and Informatics», 125, 394–399, 2007.
  33. Roe R., Come sfruttare il modello di accettazione della tecnologia per migliorare l'adozione della simulazione sanitaria, 15 August 2024, in https://www.healthysimulation.com/it/modello-di-accettazione-della-tecnologia-tam-simulazione-sanitaria/ (accessed March 28, 2025).
  34. Saltz D. Z., Live media: Interactive technology and theatre, «Theatre Topics», 11(2), 107-130, 2001.
  35. Sharot T., Delgado M. R., Phelps E. A., How emotion enhances the feeling of remembering, «Nature neuroscience», 7(12), 1376–1380, 2004.
  36. Slater M., Sanchez-Vives M. V., Enhancing our lives with immersive virtual reality, «Fron-tiers in Robotics and AI», 3, 74, 2016.
  37. Spivey N., How art made the world, Basic Books, New York 2006.
  38. Talamo et al., The Impact of Immersive Visualization on Engagement and Emotions Elicita-tion, in AIJR Proceedings, 136-150, 2024.
  39. Tomlin E., Gareth White: Audience participation in theatre, «Journal of Contemporary Dra-ma in English», 3(1), 212-215, 2015.
  40. Van Hees J., Grootswagers T., Quek G. L., Varlet M., Human perception of art in the age of artificial intelligence, «Frontiers in Psychology», 15, 2025.
  41. Walker M., Ciraolo M., Dewald A., Sinnett S., Differential processing for actively ignored pic-tures and words, «PLOS One», 12(1), e0170520, 2017.
  42. Wedel M., Pieters R., Eye tracking for visual marketing, «Foundations and Trends in Market-ing», 1(4), 231–320, 2008.
  43. Wilcox D. R., Performance, technology, & science by Johannes Birringer, «Theatre Research International», 35(2), 223–224, 2010.
  44. Yadav A., Phillips M. M., Lundeberg M. A., Koehler M. J., Hilden K., Dirkin K. H., If a picture is worth a thousand words is video worth a million? Differences in affective and cognitive processing of video and text cases, «Journal of Computing in Higher Education», 23, 15–37, 2011.
  45. Zeki S., Inner vision: An exploration of art and the brain, Oxford University Press, Oxford 1999.

Downloads

Keine Nutzungsdaten vorhanden.