The perceptual bases of visual literacy are explored, drawing on research into the interpretation of pictures by viewers not familiar with pictorial representation. Research has indicated that inexperienced viewers do not find it difficult to recognize pictures that may be discrepant in color or shape from a familiar object, but may be troubled by…

This 535-page document includes more than 60 papers presented at the 20th Annual Conference of the Visual Literacy Association. Topics cover a wide range of visual literacy interests: computer generated graphics, message design, desktop publishing, photography, critical viewing skills, memory enhancement, and the development of visual…

This study reviews historical thinking about visual literacy, addresses the issue of setting visual literacy's parameters, and provides a philosophy to link individual theories in this multidisciplinary movement. The report examines the roots of the visual literacy movement and the seminal literature in the field. It includes a categorizing of…

This investigation, based on the phenomenological philosophy of Alfred Schutz, was an attempt to determine how people view films by determining the meaning that the action has for them. Twenty college freshmen and sophomores and two seniors viewed the film "Tilt," a production of the National Film Board of Canada. All subjects were asked…

The clustering strategy increased the metaphoric nature of college students' written interpretations for realistic, abstract, and nonobjective paintings. Relaxed attention exercises significantly increased metaphoric interpretations of realistic paintings only. (Author/RM)

Presents a rationale for studying the visual language of film. Reports on three studies that suggest some tentative answers concerning the manipulation of film and some promising approaches to the study of the medium. (RL)

The study with 34 gifted fifth-grade students found that a concrete sequential approach to developing visual literacy was more effective than an abstract visualization approach. Subjects either received guided visualization or direct instruction on such art concepts as shape, form, line, color, perspective, variety, and unity. (DB)

In some contexts, a photograph may be worth a thousand words. Previous research revealed a dialectical character of photographs: they simultaneously lack determinacy and exhibit an excess of meaning. The purpose of this study was to understand how, under this condition, high school students interpret photographs that were accompanied by different…

This investigation into the effects of configural properties (properties determined by the interrelationships existing between component parts) used a selective attention task to determine whether intersection is a primary encoding feature or is constructed after slopes and heights are perceived. The method for encoding feature identification,…

A research project investigated the extent to which children's visual awareness and visual literacy were developed through photography. Thirty-four elementary school students were provided with Polaroid "Big Swinger" cameras; they were given one roll of film per day for eight weeks and allowed to photograph whatever they liked. After…

Discusses ten elements of visual or photographic language using examples from a photographer's handling of an assignment to photograph an Alice Cooper concert. (TO)

Studied infant ability to extract depth information from a three-dimensional structure. Found evidence that 8-month-old infants distinguished between lines indicating edges, and lines indicating markings, and that they are able to use line junctions to perceive line drawings as depicting three-dimensional objects in the picture plane. (Author)

A comprehensive development process for display design, focusing on computer-generated cathode ray tube (CRT) displays is presented. A framework is created for breaking the display into its component parts, used to guide the design process. The objective is to design or select the most cost effective graphics solution (hardware and software) to…

Cortical blindness is defined and its diagnosis is explained. Guidelines and sample activities are presented for use in a cognitive/visual/multi-sensory stimulation program to produce progress in cortically blind infants. The importance of using the eyes from birth through early development in order to form the nerve pathways responsible for…

These proceedings contain 37 papers from 51 authors noted for their expertise in the field of visual literacy. The collection is divided into three sections: (1) "Examining Visual Literacy" (including, in addition to a 7-year International Visual Literacy Association bibliography covering the period from 1983-1989, papers on the perception of…