Cartoony vs. Realistic Images in the Brain

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

In McCloud's Understanding Comics he proposed his theory of "cartoon identification" that cartoony* images are "identified" with better than realistic images. This study (pdf) tested McCloud's theory by using behavioral measures of a 7-point rating and EEG measures of the brain's electrical activity.

They take these results to be support for McCloud's theory of identification that indeed, cartoony images do invoke greater empathy from a reader than realistic images.

Tags: academic manga comics visual_language emotion

Posted by: Nele Noppe