ABSTRACT
A painting is a highly coded 'world', which we interpret through engaging with its syntax, composition and style. For cognitive science, as well as art theory, affect is important in developing an understanding of embodied cognition in which senses co-mingle. In this chapter, the authors utilize methods from both of these disciplines to explore the experience of the art spectator in relation not simply to vision but also touch and the notion of a 'haptic visuality'. They analyse data from experts and novices in pictorial spectatorship while viewing the original painting in situ, under free-viewing conditions as against the same group viewing the painting following a specific task instruction. Eye movement and voice recordings were taken as participants free-viewed the painting and then in response to the question: 'To what extent do one feel included in or excluded from the scene?'
