The Impact of Angularity and Curvature – Visual Cues Associated with Threat and Safety – on Cognitive Tuning

Abstract

Perspectives of situated cognition suggest that information processing style is flexible, and can be attuned to the demands and opportunities afforded by the environment in which it takes place. This process of attunement is referred to as cognitive tuning. In positive and benign environments, a broad and more global scope of attention could be beneficial as it would assist in the detection of new opportunities and encourage exploratory and creative behavior, both of which may facilitate the acquisition and development of new personal resources. Threatening and problematic environments, however, pose different processing requirements for the individual. In order to evaluate a threat and take action to cope with it effectively, the person may need to examine the situation in a careful and systematic manner. Such a task calls for the adoption of a more local, detail-oriented processing strategy. In various studies, threat has indeed been found to lead to a narrower scope of attention, while safety and positive affect have been found to broaden the scope of attention.

Recently, it has been suggested that it is not necessary to elicit a conscious appraisal of threat or safety, or a conscious state of negative or positive affect, in order to lead to cognitive tuning. Rather, Friedman and Förster (2010) have suggested that any cue which has come to be associated with safe or threatening situations could act as an implicit affective cue and influence cognitive breadth in a similar manner. This suggestion received support from studies examining the influence of cues associated with safety and danger, such as the enactment of approach and avoidance behaviors and exposure to certain colors, on cognitive breadth.

The present study set out to examine whether another form of threat and safety related cues – angularity and curvature, respectively – could also act as implicit affective cues and lead to cognitive tuning. Various studies indicate that angular shapes tend to be evaluated negatively, and are associated with threat. Curved shapes, on the other hand, tend to be evaluated more positively and are associated with safety. Therefore, it was hypothesized that exposure to curved shapes would broaden the scope of attention, while exposure to angular shapes would lead to attentional narrowing. These hypotheses were examined in a series of four experiments. The first examined the influence of curved versus angular stimuli on the scope of perceptual attention by assessing reaction times to global and local targets in composite stimuli. The next two experiments examined the influence of curved versus angular stimuli on performance in tasks calling for a broad (Experiment 2) or narrowed (Experiment 3) scope of perceptual attention. Experiment 4 addressed the influence of shape stimuli on conceptual breadth, by examining the broadness of categorization used by participants when judging the category-fit of unusual exemplars.

The findings of these experiments lend support to the hypothesis that curvature would lead to attentional broadening. Thus, in comparison with participants exposed to angular stimuli in Experiment 1, those who were exposed to curvature were quicker to respond to global configurations rather than local details in composite stimuli. In Experiment 2, participants who were exposed to curved stimuli exhibited better performance than those exposed to angular stimuli in a task requiring a broad scope of attention (the Gestalt Completion Task). In a proofreading task calling for more detail-oriented processing, however, participants who were exposed to curved stimuli exhibited slower performance than participants who were exposed to angular stimuli (Experiment 3). The findings of Experiment 4 indicate that the influence of curvature was not limited to perceptual attention, but extended to conceptual attention as well. In comparison to participants exposed to angular shapes in Experiment 4, those who were exposed to curved shapes tended to use broader and more inclusive categories when judging the category-fit of less typical and unusual exemplars.

Experiments 3 and 4 indicate that the effects at hand are the result of the broadening of attention caused by the curved shapes rather than the narrowing of attention caused by angular shapes or the combination of the two. Specifically, the broadening influence of curvature was observed not only in comparison to the effects of exposure to angularity, but in comparison to neutral conditions as well. In contrast, comparisons between angular and control conditions did not yield any evidence of attentional narrowing in participants who were exposed to angular stimuli.

The current research suggests that abstract visual cues of curvature can influence the scope of attention, and lead to the adoption of a more global processing style. These findings contribute to the growing literature examining the influence of implicit affective cues on cognitive tuning. The research also contributes to the emerging literature studying the connotative meanings of angularity and curvature and their influence on psychological functioning.

The research could also have practical implications for the design of work environments, specifically, those involving creativity related tasks. The research findings suggest that curved elements may have a beneficial influence on performance in tasks calling for a broad scope of perceptual and conceptual attention. However, designs featuring curved elements may be less recommended for tasks involving attention to small details, such as proofreading.