Invitation: The doors of Santa Maria de Fiore
Investigator Luis García-Barrios invites you to assist him in a research project. He writes:
Here is an experiment (involving thousands of subjects) which has been going on for decades at the doors of the Santa Maria de Fiore Cathedral in Florence, Italy; an experiment which would make any high-tech neuroscientist drool with excitement.
Every day, hundreds of tourists line up at one of the cathedralīs lateral doors and are held for a couple of minutes at the entrance by guards who control the flow. People look at the art-work on the guilded bronze door-sheets while waiting. The olive-green patina of copper oxid on the right door-sheet has been slightly removed from the panel and from the head of a saintīs 40cm-statue by curious tourist with sweaty hands (figure 1 RIGHT). Surprisingly, the same part of the left door-sheet is greener but the helmet of a soldierīs statue is absolutely clean and glows in the sun (figure 1 LEFT). Tourist are grabbing it full-hand, and at least a hundred times more frequently than the saintīs head!
So whatīs going on? Do people like soldiers better than saints? Are tourists-looking-at-art more right-brain-directed at the time, and therefore drift to the left? Our gut feeling points to something between left and right - but we just canīt grasp it. Can you help me with the job?
