Ruth Hampe

The effect of picture-formations on emotional moods

Abstract:
In a culture in which mass media in its visual presence has a particular meaning for the consciousness of people
there will be discussed the usage of pictures in therapeutic fields. The effectiveness of picture-formations on
emotional feelings will be introduced in relation to neuroscientific approaches as well as aspects of perception
and projection. Art as a kind of stimulant for healing processes and the use of pictorial perception under a
therapeutic viewpoint will be expounded. The emotive effect on perception and a possible therapeutic use of
pictures are focussed related to the presentation of samples of pictures as an impulsive stimulant for therapeutic
settings. In addition to an active production in the art therapeutic field the meaning of reception of art pieces is
referred to in a pilot study.

Introduction
From a historical approach art therapy stands in a long tradition related to rituals and cure-
processes. At the beginning of the 20th century in relationship to the developing
psychoanalysis and in the framework of therapeutic practice the aesthetic forms were granted
esteem. This initial art therapeutic movement was interrupted with the takeover of national-
socialism in Germany and was developed in the following time in the USA. After World War
II. the education as art-therapist was settled in Germany in the 70s and led to a foundation of
further private institutes in the 80s. The "International Association of Art, Creativity and
Therapy" (IAACT) was established in 1984 as the first union on a scientific level for the arts
in therapeutic fields. This was accompanied by the foundation of professional associations of
arts therapies for the reinforcement of rights and duties. In this time, also the first academic
educational courses started for art therapy at state colleges. Since the 90s, the first German
master educations were arranged. It was introduced in consequence to the Bologna agreement
as bachelor and master education at legalized colleges by the state. Moreover, there exist
educational courses integrated in the field of the inclusive education as well as special
education, also as an offer in the framework of education.
In relationship to neurobiological research results, the meaning of aesthetic practice is
recognized increasingly in overcoming psychic problems for example by integrating
alternative experiences for the change of inner attitudes. Art is a means that is able to
stimulate the sensual perception. This refers to possibilities to influence the sensual perception
and to support forms of activation. In the following part, references should be given by
introducing some formation aspects of art pieces and the utilization in the therapeutic field. In
that context the emotional orientated experience and pictorial reception are focussed as well
as the receptive use of pictures.

I. Aesthetic reception and activation

The aesthetic activity as expression of sensual abilities includes a multiple of the human
ability in order to grasp reality and to influence it. It represents a historic ability that is related
to factors of acquisition and representation. In that sense it refers to the human perception and
carries an inventive potential in the strength to transcend reality at the same time. For
example, Ernst Bloch emphasizes the utopian hope as a subversive strength, as a daydream in

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the regulation of the even-not- consciousness in his work on aesthetics of the pre-appearance:
"Das Noch-Nicht-Bewußte ist so einzig das Vorbewußte des Kommenden, der psychische
Geburtsort des Neuen" (‘The even-not-consciousness is in a single way the pre-consciousness
of what is coming, the psychic birthplace of the newcomer.’ Bloch 1973, p. 132). The
daydream turns into a particular manifestation of the progressive dream attitude for Bloch
because there exists an advancing dawn of hope in breaking through existing actual barriers in
comparison to the night dream that is more a regression to less consciousness. This kind of
aesthetic in its formation of the pictorial shapes is marked by formal aspects besides a psycho-
dynamic function that have an influence on the behaviour of perception.

In the reflection of qualities of ‘Gestalt’ Max J. Kobbert (comp. 1986, p. 87ff.) distinguishes
for example qualities of grace, expression, form-dynamic, tectonic, colour and material. These
qualities of ‘Gestalt’ determine the perception as well as the reception of pictorial phenomena.
Pictorial formations are always defined by aspects like form, composition, scene and symbol.
For instance, Kobbert could experience in an attempt order with students, that there exists a
formal representation in reference to emotions like joy, sorrow, fury, fear, arousal, balance as
well as to the graphic representation of the primary and secondary colours (fig.1) as a form of
transposition of reality. For him the picture-shape and reality have transformations to
transposition, explication, transformation, syncretism, connexion and symbolisation (comp.
Kobbert 1986, S.144ff.) in relation to the theory of ‘Gestalt’. The complexity of the reception
is formed by aspects of subjectivity like gender, age, preferences, emotional mood, scenic
situation, perception-behaviour etc. in reference to psycho-dynamic, social and cultural
factors. Therefore, perceiving and understanding are related to many-layered factors that are
also influenced in reference to shape-qualities as ‘Gestalt’ by deceptions of the perception,
formal aspects of the formation like point – line – surface, colour – light, body - space,
proportion - composition, static - dynamic. The deceptions of perception correspond to laws
of ‘Gestalt’ like the law of 'Prägnanz' (pithiness), similarity, closure, common fate, continuity,
symmetry (figure-ground-relationships). It is obvious that in a test of two different blot forms
98% of the interviewed persons answer that the left form is related to the word 'Buba' and the
right figure to 'Kiki' (fig.2). Still, the perception-behaviour is marked by contexts in reference
to the symbolic representations as well as the historic style-forms. Consequently, picture and
figurativeness have to be reflected as contextually bound and have many-layered accesses in
the meaning of the iconology (comp. Belting 2001, p. 14ff.).
In a society that is determined by mass media, the art representations get a special meaning.
They become means of manipulation and formation of opinions that are related to emotional
activations. For example, a tachistoscope is used to analyse the activation of pictures in order
to use advertisements. This is related to realization that elevated emotional activation attains
to long-term memory which has a possible effectiveness on the purchase behaviour. The skin-
resistance is measured by the tachistoscope, in addition the eye-movement is examined in
order to recognize this phenomenon of an emotional activation for the arrangement of picture-
information (comp. fig. 3+4). The performance of the visual attraction under laboratory-
conditions amounts to one millisecond up to increases seconds. Over the gaze-course for
example, it can be pursued how a picture is recognized, that means usually related to the
central motive, more from the right over the middle upward and leaving the picture to the

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right – similar to the western reading attitude. The respective attraction determines the
attention as well as the gaze-course and is dependent on the subjectivity of the recipient as
well.
In projective test-procedures there are different ways in working with emotional activation by
using pictures for transference. The presentation of picture-motives is used to contribute to an
activation of psychic experience qualities related to the memory of life-experiences in the
processing. For example, the test Adult Attachment Projective (AAP) (comp. George et al.
1999) consists of 8 picture-cards that pretend a scenic picture-content in outline-drawings to
get information about emotional attachment. The picture-cards contain on the one hand a
neutral stimulus and on the other hand seven picture-motives that can activate experiences of
emotional attachment like showing a scene with a child at the window, parting (fig. 5), bank
(fig. 6), bed, emergency doctor, graveyard and child in the corner. From story-telling about
the picture a hypothetical interpretation is performed about emotional attachment. In
neuroscientific examinations by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) projective
picture presentations are given in order to read off reactions in the brain-activity. The
application of Rohrschach plates is used to activate speech-production (comp. Kircher et.al.
2001) or loved and unknown faces are shown on the basis of photo-presentations for neural
reactions (comp. Beard-El & Zeki et.al. 2000; 2004). Other neurobiological examinations
involve the activation of attachment-systems interconnected by showing the specific AAP-
pictures with speech-remarks (comp. Buchheim et al. 2006; 2007), and the activation of
specific gender emotions of empathy related to force in showing scenic representations as film
material. The reaction of affect to pictorial stimulus is increasingly used in the
neurobiological examination to analyse brain-activities as well as means in connection with
imaginative ideas of actions or scenic events. There is evidence that brain regions such as
amygdala and the orbit-/prefrontal cortex are involved in processing attachment-related
stimuli.

II. Art and therapy

From an art historical point of view, it is known that artists also compare their art with the
idea to cure. Already in antiquity the arts were brought in connection with the muse – like the
originally three named after the strings of the early lyre as Melete (practice), Mneme
(memory) and Aoele (song) related to below, middle and above - and were in connection with
cure-rituals. The calming effect of music was recognized since centuries, and also Claudio
Monteverdi (1567-1643) took on reference in that as he pretended to have invented a new
exhilarating style (stile concitato). Like the assumption of a connection between body-liquids
and emotional conditions in medicine as corresponding to the understanding of that time, he
refers to the human being in his 'body-liquids' in the introduction of the eighth madrigal-book
(1638) and composed the Madrigale guerrieri uad Madrigali amorasi as two aspects.
The Russian artist Ilya Kabakov (born 1933) has put picture-reception with his installation
"Healing with paintings" (1996) in the Hamburg art gallery into the foreground That
installation shows two treatment-rooms with one sickbed in each of it and a picture of a
landscape at the front (fig. 7 + 8). Quiet classical music sounds come from the background. In
the lobby (fig. 9) the visitor finds two explanations about these treatment-areas related to the
special arrangement of the rooms as cure-areas and about the utilization of treatment in its

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purposes with reference to Professor Lunkov who apparently should have got a price for this
concept of a calming treatment for nervous and neurasthenic patients in 1984.1 The instruction
for the special effect lies in the formation of the room as a cure-method. A selected picture in
accordance with the diagnosis of the patient as a landscape or a picture with a special theme
should slowly appear in the light. It is important that only the surface of the picture is
illuminated while all other remains stay in the shadow and particularly selected music sounds
can be heard in the background. For the therapy it is of importance that the patient is able to
enter completely into his imagination and that he can explore the picture in accordance to his
inner mental state. It comprises an entering into a type of daydream and should be repeated as
therapy two to three times a week in a period of time from two to three months. Kabakov
pretends a cure intention with this installation by using art and music. The visitor may have
the feeling at the first moment to be in the reproduction of two patient-rooms with a certain
sparseness of the furnishings. In that context the idea of an intensive experience of pictorial
sensations works impressively. By internet-investigation one doesn't find any proof of this
method of Dr. Lunkov. Consequently, it remains an artistic vision. The murals in the
respective areas are in light colours as yellow-brown and show a scenery of a landscape on
the one hand with antique ruins, that are repaired by workers, and the other one a medieval
castle-scenery in a sunny atmosphere. The artist Karbakov supplies the subjective aspect in
selecting the picture and the background music to harmonize the patient psychically by that
kind of synesthesia as daydream-like contemplative experiencing of landscape and music in
the specific selection of the picture and the background-music.
“Healing Methodology: Healing with paintings is performed in special clinics where there are no fewer than two
to three separate wards designed for this purpose. The patient undergoing prophylactic healing should lie down,
completely undressed, in the bed. A landscape painting, for example, or a painting with a subject, is
recommended by the doctor on the basis of the patient's diagnosis, and should be located in direct proximity to

1
“About the Main Principle of Healing: Healing with paintings, discovered and developed by Professor I.D.
Lunkov in the city clinic of the State Medical Academy of the City of Orel, is a new, effective method for
treating nervous and neurasthenic conditions. The treatment makes use of the special quality of certain paintings
to affect in a positive and calming way the ill, agitated or exhausted psyche of the patient.
The methodology developed, however, is based not only on the aesthetic nature of these paintings, on their
subject and the quality of their execution, but primarily on a special way of displaying them to the patient, which
includes an entire complex of supplementary conditions: the illumination of the painting, a specially prepared
space, and music accompanying the display.
The first condition deserves particular attention. It is the intensive illumination of a painting in a darkened space
that is the key to the desired therapeutic effect (and herein lies the discovery of I.D. Lunkov that won him an
award at the Oslo medical conference in 1984). Spending a certain time in complete solitude in a small, darkened
space, with the accompaniment of specially selected music, the patient derives strong and long-lasting benefits
from the effects of the 'glowing' painting. This method, widely practiced in Russia, is now being employed in
many other countries in the treatment of neurasthenia, manic-depressive psychosis, nervous breakdowns and
many other nervous-psychiatric illnesses” (Healing with Paintings, 1996, text of the installation in the
Hamburger Kunsthalle, revised 1998).

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the bed at a slight inclination so that its effect spreads evenly. The light is slowly turned on, illuminating the
painting, and simultaneously the overhead light is turned off. The specially selected music begins to play (an
appropriate musical accompaniment is selected by the doctor for each painting).
The light falls on the painting in such a way that only its surface is illuminated; the frame and the entire wall is
entirely in shadow. The person undergoing treatment can escape completely into the Imagination, exploring it
according to inner desire. This brief escape into the depths of the painting, loosening the Sense of one's actual
location, this unique 'waking dream', is the very concept and goal of the treatment.
To achieve maximum benefit, the healing should be repeated two to three times a week. The entire treatment is
designed to last two to three months depending on the patient's initial condition” (Healing with Paintings, 1996,
text of the installation at the Hamburger Kunsthalle, revised in 1998).

Pictures have an effect on the psyche and stand in relation to the historic time and the cultural
context of that time. Looking at colourful carpets in desert-areas like in Persia, Iran, for
example, we can find that they have an effect like a colourful flower-field in contrast to the
monotony of the desert-landscape. In their ornaments they refer to a structure that gives chaos
an order in relation to macrocosm and microcosm. On the physical level, they give a coloured
stimulus to the eyes and carry a symbolic meaning for an ornamental integration in the
wholeness of the cosmos as typical for tribal-cultures. In reference to the stylistic
development of art there can be recognized the formation of expressions following signs and
representations to a more lifelike and realistic style. With the modern age, an increased
abstraction of the forms and symbols occurred. Impressionism and expressionism are styles
that introduced a development of the abstract art, being reduced on light and colours, forms
and structures. They are expression of modern time in the turn to concrete art. With the
postmodern age, an inclusion of historic styles and motives in combination with current topics
take place again.
In the perception of art also the elementary reference to colours, forms, structures etc. is
meaningful. This is accompanied by reminded figures, which follow a projection of inner
feelings and experiences. For example, a still life, that transports a symbolic meaning, can
activate feelings in the recipient which refer not only to the expression of the painting but to a
kind of U-turn picture, a picture puzzle in its arrangement. From psychology of perception
this phenomenon of the U-turn picture is well known - like the young and aged face of a
woman, a vase or two people (fig. 10). Even a shadow in the picture can turn into another
symbolic figure in its design like shapes of clouds can tell a story in the sky. Always, it is
dependent on the recipient what is actually perceived in addition to the personal constitution
as well as the reminded scenic experience that is activated. In that sense preferences of art are
dependent on the recipient and the context that is covered by a historical time with its cultural
influences and stylistic expressions, in which the recipient lives. In that way a contextual
integration can contribute to the reception of art, but on the other hand it is the observer's
personality that determines the reception.
Using art as stimulus in order to have relaxing effects and for therapy, the art-object has to be
examined in which way different aspects transport a stimulus that can have a response on the
psyche and the body. Colours themselves have an effect on the human being and can be used
as stimulus in order to activate feelings. In addition the composition of a picture in its static or
dynamic formation can cause an emotional effect as a stimulus, like it is known from

5
projective tests. Pictures are an expression of inner-psychic experiences as understood in the
tree-test (comp. Koch 1972) or in spontaneous drawings (comp. Bach 1995). Moreover, the
symbolic meaning of objects in pictures carries experiences and is related to the cultural
understanding like the mirror, the clock, the hourglass, the skull, that refer to the transience as
vanitas motives.
Regarding the use of pictures there has to be reflected possible hidden meanings in advance.
Using pictures for test or therapeutic purposes – as well as with the supplement of music - the
psychic effects have to be recognised that are related to the formal and symbolic composition
of the pictures. As pictures have to be understood as complex arrangements of stimuli, they
can be perceived in their compositional formation and its meaning for different emotional
feelings. With the selection of pictures that have a scenic reduction related to the effect of
colours, structures and nature-representations a reaction of the observers can be minimized.
Under that point of view, relatively symbolically neutral abstract pictures can be put together
with still lives, landscapes to reduce the activation of incriminating experiences for the
observer. Referring to different kinds of attachments the representations showing persons in a
state of love or conflict, places of the aggressive confrontation, religious topics, destructive
representations or themes of loss and death are too complex. A peaceful atmosphere has to be
considered even in the selection of still lives and landscapes, therefore the presentation of
killed animals or their meat has to be avoided. The recipient should be able to project himself
into a picture or find a secure place for his inner imaginations. In this way, the picture can be
useful to stimulate inner projections of safe surroundings that open for a scale of emotions
without arranging a direct stimulus. Pictures can be chosen from the aspect of a symbolically
relatively neutral meaning in reference to elementary aspects like colour, structure and
composition as stimulus for emotions.
In the work with pictures there can be used in comparision to a single picture a sample of
three pictures. For example, three pictures can be shown with different representations like a
setting of a still life, a landscape and an abstract picture (fig. 12). Altogether they can
represent a complex approach to emotional moods and can be arranged in a way that even
tensions can be generated. Like Ilya Karbakov has shown in his installation as an art space
there can be examined how a sample of pictures can be helpful for therapeutic purposes. A
combination with music-reception (comp. Iamendescu et al. 2010) can be performed in order
to reinforce an emotional activation of the pictures.

III. The meaning of art in relationship to the self-coherence

In general it can be assumed using art has special emotional effects in the activation of the
aesthetic expression. This also has an effect on stress-behaviour and on the sense of coherence
like Aaron Antonovsky (1979) has outlined it by three components as sense of
comprehensibilty, sense of manageabilty and sense of meaningfulness. In activating artistic
forms of expressions, these aspects get stimulated. As perception and imagination can cause
an activation in the brain, as it is known in the concept of mirror-neurons (comp. Bauer 2007),
positive inner images can have an effect on the psychic well-being and the life-perspective
(comp. Hüther 2004). In addition the activation of ones own forms of expression on the
aesthetic level can still stimulate the personality with a particular intensity and can change

6
inner feelings as well as attitudes. That type of catharsis can happen and is of importance for
the aesthetic process with reference to a 'flow' that can be accompanied by feelings of heat
and a stabilization of the blood pressure. Both sides - the passive reception as well as the
active reaction - have an effect on the psyche and the physical well-being as response on
experiencing pictures. This depends on the possibilities to integrate both aspects – the
productive as well as the receptive one. The difference between reception and activation is of
interest in the presentation of pictures – also with the supplement of music. The utilization of
pictures can be meaningful in relation to particular life-events and to the development of
personality. In that sense, it is an activation of inner images as a kind of scenic memory. In
activating inner images the quality of life-experiences in its meaning can be changed. A
reinforcement of imagination as well as a creative arrangement of contents in the field of
experiences can lead to playful finding of own pictorial formations.
In using receptive resonance there can be activated memory-tracks, emotions and sensual
experiences, unconscious processes of change in the sense of a resource-activation. This can
support an activation of healthful actions and meaningful stimulant like it exists also in the
aesthetic-creative experiencing. The neural basis of the self is based, according to Antonio R.
Damasio (comp.2004), on a continuous reactivation of representatives covered at least two
categories: representations of key-events of the individual's autobiography and primary
presentations of the body that means as the body just as it was before the perception of object
x. Consequently the collective representation of the body is the basis for a concept of the self.
The body forms a basic reference, and primary presentations of the moving body form the
core of the neural representation of the self and play a role for the consciousness. Related to
inner images the brain reacts to these ideas in the context of earlier educated sensory
representatives. This can lead to a temporary modification of the body-image and can change
the current realization of the self-concept. With reference to that, the upswing of inner images
is able to activate scenic memories and to cause a change in the quality of these experiences
as well as in the reinforcement of imagination-activity and a creative treatment of experienced
contents. In the sense of the embodiment theory (comp. Storch et al. 2006) with the body as
basic reference the perception of images can be influenced as well as in the context of earlier
formed sensual representatives of images in the memory and in the activation of positive inner
images as resource. Factors of resilience can be supported by this. Resonance and empathy
represent two essential aspects in that context, especially under salutogenetic premise.

IV. An analysis of the effectiveness related to picture formations

In the therapeutic field the work with picture-motives is known in using a picture as stimulus
in the therapeutic process. Like taking a tarot-card, picture-motives are used in order to
express a mood with a picture-card and to offer a reason for speech as an associative
projection. Picture-motives taken from journals and offered in individual foils can be chosen
like initial images for the therapy – for instance as three motives or a single motive that
repeatedly accompanies the therapeutic process. On that occasion it can be used differently,
for instance in the selection without a topic or thematically orientated like past, presence and
future-wish etc. It is an inexpensive procedure in the preparation as therapeutic material and
in the accumulation of a larger selection-quantity. In the selection of the motives it is of
importance that there are no directly dangerous, current journalistic motives or written

7
information. The respective rear can be neutralized with a white paper by covering it in a
DinA4 foil. Postcards of art motives are another possibility and can be offered as an
associative selection to be helpful for the therapeutic process. They can contain possibilities
of transference as many-layered projections. Those picture-cards can be understood as
therapeutic support-material and less as diagnostic means.
Working with a sample of three pictures in the following pilot study there are used three
different picture-motives with different styles in an exemplary combination from modern to
postmodern age. In the combination of an abstract painting, a still life and a landscape a
collection of ten samples of three are formed. There is still a differentiation in the colour,
form-shape, composition and motive. It is assumed that a different emotional kind of
experiencing can be activated by the presentation of a sample of three pictures. Looking at the
sample of three pictures an eye movement from right to left and above to below is needed
until the pictures can be contemplated as a sample. From the eye movement desensitization
and reprocessing (EMDR) it is known that an instinctive relief can take place through the
movement of the eyes. Francine Shapiro (comp.1999) had perceived it by chance and had
examined this as method as well as tested in order to support a relief of fears and depressive
thoughts. In that sense, an eye-movement can take place by showing three different picture-
cards on a surface or as digital projection with a possible concentration on one. In the
performance of three pictures with a similar emotional effect in which one may have a
relatively neutral symbolic picture-attraction an emotional activation can be perceived, that is
determined in each case and corresponds with the sample of three pictures. A mobilization of
emotions and a perception of feelings are enabled by this. That can lead to a continuing work
with the activated feelings by choosing a picture selected out of one sample of three pictures
by the person as an emotionally matching. Narrative supplements as speech activation and
possible projections can be mentioned. In the framework of a pilot study a composition of ten
samples has been submitted to a selection of different feeling aspects (fig.11) that could
correspond.
In a pilot-study with 35 relatively healthy probationers, 90 percent female between 25-30
years old, related to the samples of three pictures in a digital projection by using a
questionnaire with commentaries to the topic, associations, arising thoughts etc. no
unambiguous assignment appeared in the emotional experiencing of the pictures.
Nevertheless, a piled up assignment of samples with an analogical experience of feeling took
place. Conspicuous was that incriminating feeling like "restless-fearful-terrifying" or
"nostalgic-sad-desperate" were experienced more uniformly, while feelings like "quiet-
peaceful-relaxing" or "joyful-enthusiastic-happy" (fig. 13) as well as. "tender-romantic-
lovingly" in the card-assignment was exchangeable. In contradiction the feeling of "amusing-
strangely-jocular" was more unequivocally experienced. Subjective differences seemed
dependent on the context and the activation of memory-pictures. Statements about the formal
content were given in the free text-production as well as emotional, mood-dependent
projections. Projections like "crying flower, child alone" or "wastes away, however in
confusion, the sick human being in the bed alone" occurred with a sample of three (fig. 14) in
contrast to remarks like "simple, calming". A relative accumulation of similar assignments to
samples was striking with most while supplements of own text-statements projected personal
emotional attachments.

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In general, showing a sample of three can contribute to a stimulation of feeling-perceptions in
the therapeutic process in order to activate emotions and to contribute to pacification and
relaxation. Moreover, a neutralization of feeling-diffusions is possible in the perception and
confrontation with the picture-cards. A comparable study is available to music-reception
(comp. Iamandescu 2009). To develop a correlation between imaginative and introspective
aspects and the effect on body sensations in the supplement of art and music-reception can be
another approach. In relation to different symptoms the application of preference-pictures in a
sample of three, the usage of samples as stimulus for the activation of feelings and a possible
combination with similar music can be analysed even in the sense of a placebo-effect.

Outlook
The effect of music has already been verified in different studies in its positive stimulant.
Scientists as Manfred Spitzer (comp. 2002) have noticed in an examination of badly
depressive patients that the condition of consciousness changed when listening to agreeable
music. There was a conspicuous effect between the previous state and afterwards in reference
to the intervention as an improvement of the subjective condition and the reduction of the
blood pressure. The improvement of the blood pressure can be seen in relationship to the
reduction of stress. Also, the activity of the amygdala that is mostly marking feelings of fear
is decreased when hearing personally agreeable music. In summarizing the effect of
perceiving music it can help to feel less fearful, and that is assumed as a salutogenetic effect
of music. Likewise, there exists a subjective factor in the perception of music and it depends
on the perception of different music plays – referring to tradition, socialization, scenic
integration and psycho-dynamic priming.
In the reception of art pieces there has to be assumed an effect in the visual conciseness that
seems to be similar. Pictorial stimuli become an overlaying dimension in the reality of the 21st
century by visual mass media. They are connected with scenic memories in psychodynamic
interactions. In that sense, pictorial formations can work in the mobilization of inner images
as signs or clichés, but also as proto-symbolic and symbolic of interactions. As iconic
transitional symbols (comp. Hampe 1999, S. 121f.) in the acquisition-process they carry an
anticipating function. The combination of picture-cards as samples of three with different
emotional impact can become a means - like in music-reception - to mobilize emotions and to
change them. In that respect art-reception can be used like music in the therapeutic process as
an effective means. This needs continuing scientific studies relating to the receptive effect of
pictures and the application as stimulus in supporting the development of personality and the
process of recovering health. The influence on stress and emotion regulation by using picture
samples in the therapeutic field should be specified in its effects in following studies.

9
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