Caught on canvas: Facial expressions in art

Thurtle, Zoe; Zavagno, Daniele; DiBetta, Anna; Morgan, Jane; Daneyko, Olga

Caught on canvas: Facial expressions in art

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THURTLE, Zoe, ZAVAGNO, Daniele, DIBETTA, Anna, MORGAN, Jane and DANEYKO, Olga (2026). Caught on canvas: Facial expressions in art. i-Perception, 17 (4). [Article]

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37834:1365044

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37834:1365044

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Abstract

We tested whether facial expressions in artworks can be reliably classified using six basic emotion categories. Participants viewed 116 cropped portraits, selecting the best-fitting emotion for each. Results show that about half of the images elicited consistent responses, aligning with basic emotional prototypes. The rest produced distributed judgments, indicating Multifaceted Emotions – layered or uncertain affective signals. The findings support the hypothesis that artists are capable of portraying both basic and complex emotional states, opening up the possibility for a new artwork-based emotion database to study nuanced emotional perception.

More Information

Official URL:

https://doi.org/10.1177/20416695261468552

Open Access URL:

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epdf/10.1177/2041...

Open Access Version:

Published version

Uncontrolled Keywords:

1701 Psychology; 1702 Cognitive Sciences; 5202 Biological psychology; 5204 Cognitive and computational psychology

Identifiers

Identification Number:

10.1177/20416695261468552