Prof. Marek Kuś (Center for Theoretical Physics PAS): Art and Topology
Channel: Centrum Fizyki Teoretycznej PAN
Date: 21/02/2024

Prof. Marek Kuś (Center for Theoretical Physics PAS): Art and Topology.

I will present applications of topological data analysis (TDA) to study differences in the perception of painting images. A psychological and neurophysiological experiment we conducted showed that physiological responses, in this case eye movements, show variation depending on how the image being perceived was produced. In our experiment, we compared responses for abstract images painted by a professional artist ("real art") and computer-generated images using neural networks. Standard methods that examine statistical properties of the compared images (such as color distribution and intensity) did not indicate differences. The analysis of eye movements reveals, as expected, that observers focus on specific features within the image. It is reasonable to assume that our visual attention is primarily drawn to geometric/topological features. When we look at a picture, our initial perception encompasses structures composed of individual points (pixels), particularly geometric structures. We prioritize perceiving these structures rather than the most basic components of an image, such as individual points of a specific color.

‍Wednesday colloquium at CTP PAS – 2024-02-14