Is object imagery central to artistic performance?

• The first aim of this study was to examine the type of cognitive style of female and men Fine Art students.
• The second aim of this study was to assess the weight of cognitive style in ad hoc artistic production.
• A three-dimensional model of cognitive style that distinguishes between object imagery, spatial imagery, and verbal processing was used.
• Fine Art students had an object cognitive style.
• The influence of object imagery was found to be significant on different aspects of artistic production.

The aim of this study was to examine the type of cognitive style of Fine Art students, and assess the weight of cognitive style in artistic production. A three-dimensional model of cognitive style that distinguishes between object imagery, spatial imagery, and verbal processing was used. The sample consisted of 125 Fine Art students (65 women and 60 men). Participants were administered the Object-Spatial Imagery and Verbal Questionnaire (OSIVQ), and two imagery tests. Moreover, undergraduates completed a plastic art assignment that was assessed by an artist and lecturer in drawing, and by a professor in the Psychology of Art. Fine Art undergraduates exhibited object rather than verbal or spatial types of processing. The weight of object imagery type was found to be significant on technical skill and visual impact, which were precisely the variables most related with visual processing in the plastic art assignment. Thus innovative lines of research are proposed.