Deck 1: Concepts and Theories of the Visual

Question 1

A thing that is seen, and especially a thing whose appearance is what matters can best be defined as ___________

A) a concept
B) an image
C) a fovea
D) a meta-subject

Answer 1

B

Question 2

The microsaccade is a rapid, unconscious motion of the eyes as they move in a ___________ pattern.

A) circular
B) linear
C) pinwheel
D) zig-zag

Answer 2

D

Question 3

The principle conceptualization of seeing and being seen, and visual identity in the fine arts is ______________.

A) visuality
B) the gaze
C) chiaroscuro
D) visibility

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Philosopher _________________'s concept of human existence and the distinction between subject and object, was a crucial ingredient in the concept of the gaze.

A) Jacques Lacan
B) Fred Wilson
C) Martin Heidegger
D) Laura Mulvey

Question 5

Jean-Francois Lyotard believed that all language was both discursive and _____________.

A) literal
B) allegorical
C) metaphorical
D) figural

Question 6

How many named layers of light-sensitive cells are found in the human retina?

A) 10
B) 70
C) 100
D) 7000

Question 7

An example of a cognitive-science method being utilized by both art historians and psychologists is:

A) reflexology
B) pictograms
C) radiovisiography
D) eye-tracking

Question 8

Scopophilia can be defined as:

A) a love of seeing and being seen
B) an obsession with pictures
C) a fear of horrific imagery
D) a fetish for social media

Question 9

______________ is usually defined as a mental image, or something apart from the direct representation of experience

A) Darstellung
B) Xiang
C) Vorstellung
D) Saccade

Question 10

Information that our eyes take in from the outside world makes up ________ of what is eventually processed into images in our brains.

A) 20%
B) 33%
C) 50%
D) 80%

Question 11

Which author described the idea of the "closure of the vanishing point," and outlined a historical sequence for subjects in art?

A) Taddeo Gaddi
B) Brian Rotman
C) Georg Wilheim Friedrich Hegel
D) Lucy Lippard

Question 12

Knowledge has been understood as a "kind of seeing and viewing" since at least the time of:

A) Mesopotamia
B) ancient Greece
C) the Mayans
D) the Victorian era

Question 13

The term ____________ was coined in the 19^th century, but only gained wide usage after World War II

A) visuality
B) visibility
C) visage
D) visioptics

Question 14

"Standard" retinal cells respond to:

A) motion, but not light
B) color, but not monochromatic shifts
C) light, but not motion
D) monochromatic shifts, but not color

Question 15

Pick the word that is most similar to the term visual object.

A) gaze
B) image
C) photoreceptor
D) tableau

Question 16

Jean-Paul Sartre first formulated the theory of le regard in his 1943 titled _______.

Question 17

The skull that is painted in Hans Holbein's French Ambassadors, is an example of a _______.

Question 18

The region at the center of the eye that seems to see things the sharpest, and where we focus our attention is known as _______

Question 19

_______ is a way of understanding the world as it contends that our identities are largely constituted by systems of images that we experience.

Question 20

Studies in eye movement seem to imply a need to revise the notion that eye movements are largely _______ and therefore our attention is_______ .

Question 21

How does language distract our eyes from seeing?

Question 22

List five visual metaphors that are commonly used in our language.

Question 23

How does Margaret Olin qualify and explain the gaze in relation to art theory?

Question 24

Explain the steps between the initial image that is seen by the eye, and when it is processed in the visual cortex.

Question 25

Briefly describe Wittgenstein's idea of seeing-as.

Question 26

In what ways were Ludwig Wittgenstein and Martin Heidegger in agreement regarding vision and viewing? How did their points differ?

Question 27

Discuss how language can both aid and impede our ability to see. How does this relate to memory?

Question 28

Briefly summarize Elkins' views on the relationship between the science of vision, and art history.

Question 29

How does Elkins attempt to reformulate the dichotomy between the verbal and the visual? What problems does he see in that dichotomy? What historical references does he use to support his position?

Question 30

Describe the central ideas of the male gaze as it is understood in current theory. Then elaborate on two of the points that Elkins puts forward in an attempt to broaden our understanding and usage of the term "gaze."