“In the eye of the beholder”, new book chapter by Jana Holsanova

Jana Holsanova at LUCS has published a book chapter “In the eye of the beholder: Visual communication from a recipient perspective” in Visual communication (de Gruyter Mouton), edited by David Machin. Following questions are discussed: Why do not all viewers see the same image content? Why do viewers perceive and interpret visuals differently despite common perceptual and cognitive mechanisms? http://www.degruyter.com/view/product/129326?rskey=T6Uuyi&result=4The article addresses a number of challenges in visual communication and underlines the need for empirical analyses of visuality and multimodality from a recipient perspective. Perception and interpretation of visuals is seen as an interactive meeting between the recipient, the multimodal message and the situational context. All of these three aspects modulate the process of meaning–making. First, the form and contents of the visual message serves as a starting for the process of meaning–making, Second, personal characteristics of the viewers modulate perception and interpretation of visuals. Viewers play an active role in the interaction with visuals, their interaction with visual messages is dynamic and they co-create its meaning. Inter-individual differences in perception of visuals arise thanks to variety of goals of the visual examination, the viewers’ background, interests, previous knowledge, expectations, domain knowledge or expertise, emotions and attitudes. In other words, both the bottom-up and top-down factors influence visual perception. Third, the context in which images are displayed, perceived and interpreted plays an important role for perception and interpretation of visuals. All these factors can be studied by using a multidisciplinary framework and integrated theories and methods. Link to the book homepage: http://www.degruyter.com/view/product/129326?rskey=T6Uuyi&result=4