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Arts & Communication Cognition and cultural mediation

3. Materials and methods (2) Text material regarding the artwork. The participants
were divided into three groups, with 20 participants
In this study, the enrolled participants performed a word each, which received different information about
naming task corresponding to an observed painting with the artwork: (a) The first group received a text with
or without prior semantic priming, and a between – group the correct information about Kandinsky’s work
comparison was performed.
(original text group); (b) the second group received
3.1. Participants a text, authored by the researchers, with fictitious
information about the work (fictitious text group); and
Sixty Brazilian pedagogy students (including 53 women) aged (c) the control group did not receive any information
18 – 60 years (mean age of 28.6 years) participated in this study. about the work (Appendix 2)
The low ratio of men to women represented in this sample (3) An image reproduction of the 1911 artwork
corresponds to the gender ratio of this college. According to Composition IV: Battle by Wassily Kandinsky, in high
data from the Brazilian Higher Education Census, the group resolution (300 dpi)
of pedagogy students consists of 93.6% women, while men (4) Answer sheet on which thirty words for the participants
make up 6.4% of the total pedagogy students (INEP 2015). from each group to choose were randomly arranged.
The sample of this study consisted of 70% of students with an The participants had to select the words that, in their
incomplete degree, 20% of students with a complete degree, perception, best describe the work of art. The words
and 6% of students with a postgraduate degree. Only 30% were chosen according to the following criteria: (a) Ten
reported having taken an art-related course, of which 77.7% words with the figurative elements cited in the text with
said that the course was relevant to their education. the correct information about the work; (b) ten words
For this study, we recruited students from the pedagogy with the figurative elements cited in the fictitious text;
courses of the Universidade do Estado de Minas Gerais and (c) ten words with different figurative elements,
(UEMG) and the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais unrelated to any of the texts, as shown in Table 1.
(UFMG). We contacted the professors of the pedagogy The selected words are directly linked to the texts
courses by email to introduce the research project and recruit and the most famous interpretations of the painting.
their students for this study. We then invited the students The relationship of the presented words is a mixture of
who were interested in participating. We selected this group common sense (incorrect text), figures that are commonly
because they may become future educators and will be able associated with the painting in question, and figurative
to take students to visual arts exhibitions. Knowing the elements present in the painting (correct text).
concepts of mediation and the effects that priming can have
on the interpretation of an artwork raises the question of how 3.3. Procedures
we can use mediation to provoke perception (as Barbosa ) This research was approved by the Ethics Committee
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argued, pedagogy students need to learn to develop creative, (No. 4.254.981, CAAE 33428220.4.0000.5525). The
communicative, critical, and expressive skills. questionnaire, which was prepared on the Google Forms
Participants were randomly divided into three groups: platform, consisted of the informed consent form, the
two of which were differentiated by the presentation of a
semantic priming, and a control group was not presented Table 1. Categorization of the words presented on the answer
sheet
with a text.
Participants were recruited online. The respondents were Original Fictitious Random
undergraduate students from pedagogy courses at two public Fortaleza (Fortress) Fábrica (Factory) Nuvem (Cloud)
universities in Minas Gerais: Universidade Federal de Minas Lanças (Spears) Fumaça (Smoke) Caramujo (Snail)
Gerais (UFMG) and Universidade do Estado de Minas Gerais Combate (Combat) Vilarejo (Village) Borboleta (Butterfly)
(UEMG). They had no prior knowledge of the painting Cavaleiros (Knights) Árvores (Trees) Galinha (Chicken)
presented. All 60 participants were randomly selected. Amantes (Lovers) Explosões (Explosions) Pirâmide (Pyramid)

3.2. Materials Arco-íris (Rainbow) Mar (Sea) Pipa (Kite)
Soldados (Soldiers) Ponte (Bridge) Avião (Airplane)
The research materials were developed on the Google
Forms online platform and contained: Chapéu (Hat) Gigante (Giant) Flor (Flower)
(1) A brief questionnaire to gather information about the Montanha (Mountain) Ilha (Island) Livro (Book)
participants, such as age, sex, educational level, and Pessoas paradas Pessoas correndo Navio (Ship)
knowledge about art (Appendix 1) (People stopped) (People running)

Volume 2 Issue 3 (2024) 5 doi: 10.36922/ac.2105