Toshihiro Bando* and Daisuke Hirabayashi
Department of Knowledge Engineering and Computer Sciences, Doshisha University, Tatara Miyakodani 1-3, Kyotanabe, Kyoto 610-0321, Japan
*E-mail address: tbando@mail.doshisha.ac.jp
(Received January 25, 2004; Accepted January 26, 2005)
Keywords: Spiral Pattern, Attractiveness, Fixation, Texture, Forms in Nature
Abstract. There are many spiral patterns in our traditional and modern design. It seems that the reason why there are so many spiral patterns in our design is that spiral pattern is one of the most attractive pattern for us from ethological point of view. In order to confirm the attractiveness of spiral pattern experimentally and to find out essential factor to attract our attention, eye movement of subjects was recorded under apposition of a spiral pattern and a non-spiral control pattern. We used texture spiral patterns made from some texture patterns by image processing, illusory spiral patterns and Glass spiral patterns as well as typical geometric spiral patterns. The results demonstrate that spiral patterns attract our attention more than control patterns. Texture spirals as well as typical geometric drawings of spiral attract our attention, although their shapes are relatively ambiguous compare to geometric drawings of spiral. The results also suggest that essential factor to attract our attention is not the existence of real geometric shapes of spiral but our visual recognition of spirals from global structure of pattern since illusory spiral patterns as well as real spiral patterns attract our attention.