The relationship between the psychophysical and semantic features of shapes

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between the psychophysical and semantic features of shapes. We created 32 shapes by varying the magnitude of shape parameters that correspond to the four psychological dimensions of curvedness, regularity, complexity, and open/closed—referred to here as psychophysical features. These shapes were evaluated using the semantic differential method. Factor analysis extracted the three factors of mildness, stability, and activity—which we refer to as semantic features of shapes. Strong relations were identified between the following psychophysical and semantic features: curvedness and mildness, regularity and stability, as well as complexity and activity. However, the fourth psychophysical feature of open/closed was not related with any of semantic features. Moreover, psychophysical features influenced perceived shape impressions to varying degrees. While curvedness has the strongest influence, regularity and open/closed has the weakest influences. These results also support the reliability of the three psychological dimensions extracted by Oyama & Miyano (1999) with a different set of shapes.View full abstract