2017 Progress In Electromagnetics Research Symposium — Spring (PIERS), St Petersburg, Russia, 22–25 May

Optical-physical Aspects of Fractal Art Therapy

A. V. Averchenko1 , P. V. Korolenko1, 2 , and A. Yu. Mishin1
1
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia
2
The Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia

Abstract— The calculation of spatial spectra of deterministic and stochastic fractal images
were carried out. It is shown that self-similarity of the spectra and their high degree stability
to the structural distortion is an important factor in creating a positive emotional background
in the contemplation of objects with fractal features. This provides a physical explanation for
the widely practiced fractal art therapy which is based on the perception of static and dynamic
fractal images.

1. INTRODUCTION
Among various applications of fractal optics the widely discussed in special literature and mass
media fractal art therapy [1] should be distinguished. Fractal art therapy is a part of a more broadly
defined art therapy [2]. Fractal art therapy, using the influence of the fractal images on human
health, improves performance, reduces fatigue, increases mental tonus of man, actualizes creative
processes. Despite ample evidence of high efficiency of fractal art therapy its therapeutic properties
have not yet received a strict scientific explanation. The aim of this work is to reveal what optical-
physical and physiological processes cause the formation of a positive emotional background and
the sense of beauty in the contemplation of fractal objects and their impact on cognitive function
of man and his general condition.
2. SPECIAL FEATURES OF VISUAL INFORMATION PROCESSING IN THE
CEREBRAL CORTEX
The health effects of the fractal images are closely related to the presence in the images of an
aesthetic component [3]. The aesthetic component is largely determined by the properties of fractal
structures such as harmony, integrity and self-similarity. In the context of the main provisions of
modern aesthetics the beauty of fractals, which has become the subject of separate studies [3], is
explained in accordance with their affinity to the natural objects that have formed historically the
human environment. A valuable feature of art therapy is the ability to adjust properties in fractal
images such as non-linearity, the degree of self-similarity, randomness can be adjusted arbitrarily.
This is of particular interest since the contemplation of fractals affects the most complex mental
phenomena that lie on the border of the conscious and unconscious, genetic and acquired. The
transition to dynamic fractal images enables to enhance the aesthetic impact during the sessions
of art therapy. Often their demonstration is accompanied by music outlining the fractal nature of
time [4]. Often their demonstration is accompanied by music, the development of which in time
also has a fractal character [4].
The clue to the high efficiency of fractal art therapy lies in the particular features of the fractal
structure and their congeniality to the visual information processing in neural networks of the
cerebral cortex [6, 7]. Currently there are well-defined though not fully established ideas about the
specific neural mechanisms for carrying out the sensory analysis of the incoming visual information.
The main notion in the detection coding conception is the idea of the neuron-detector. Neuron-
detector — is a highly specialized nerve cell that can respond selectively to a specific feature of the
sensor signal. Such cells recognize specific features in a complex stimulus. The division of a complex
sensor signal into different features for their separate analysis is a necessary step in the recognition
of the patterns in sensor systems. Information about the individual parameters of the stimulus is
coded by the neuron-detector as a frequency of action potentials, and the neuron-detectors have
selective sensitivity to specific sensory parameters.
With regard to the visual system the other probable mechanism of perception: frequency fil-
tering, is described. Its importance has been pointed out in his time by Ernst Mach [5]. It is
assumed that the visual system, particularly the brain cortex, adjusts itself to the perception of
spatial information of different frequency band. In other words, it is considered that the human
visual system contains neural complexes in the form of multilayer cortical columns which have the
properties of two-dimensional spatial frequency filters. These filters carry out the analysis of the

3418
2017 Progress In Electromagnetics Research Symposium — Spring (PIERS), St Petersburg, Russia, 22–25 May

parameters of a stimulus on the principle which is described by Fourier decomposition. As it ap-

pears, there exists a plurality of relatively narrow band filters tuned to the perception of different
spatial frequencies. The system based on the frequency analysis facilitates recognition of familiar
objects regardless of their size. It is assumed that the memory system fixes only the harmonic
structure, a list of wave components obtained by decomposition, it does not depend on the actual
size of the object, and this makes the identification more economic. That is why it requires a very
small memory capacity. At the same time it should be considered that in the context of frequency
selection model specific mechanisms of memory functioning is still far from clear. However, it is
shown that different spatial frequencies interact differently with the memory: the high-frequency
information is stored in short term memory longer than the low frequency. Furthermore, neural
mechanisms forming the main functional properties of the filters, their spatial frequency selectivity,
apparently, are separately presented in the long-term memory.
3. SCALING CHARACTERISTICS OF SPATIAL SPECTRA OF THE FRACTAL
STRUCTURES
Based on the concept of frequency selection and given the characteristics of the spatial spectra of
fractal structures, it is possible to find the cause of their aesthetic and therapeutic effects on the
human condition. Let us illustrate this possibility by the example of the scaling characteristics of
fractal structures plotted through the Weierstrass functions.
Let’s define the two-dimensional band-limited Weierstrass function as [8]
N
 −1 M
       
(D−3)·n n 2·π·m 2·π·m
W (x, y) = Cw · b sin K · b · x · cos + y · sin + φn,m ,
M M
n=0 m=1

where Cw — a constant, characterizing the amplitude values of the Weierstrass function; b > 1 —
spatial frequency scaling parameter; D — the fractal dimension (2 < D < 3); K — the basic spatial
wave number; N and M — the number of harmonics; φn,m — the phase, defined within the range
[−π; π], x, y — the transverse coordinates of the structure. Depending on the distribution of this
value by a given law or randomly formula (1) will describe a deterministic structure of the object,
or — stochastic. Fig. 1(a) presents a 3D-graph of the Weierstrass function, plotted using the given
formula for the random phase distribution, and Fig. 1(b) — its Fourier spectrum. The following
parameters have been used: Cw = 0.3, b = 2.7, D = 2.11, K = 1.5, N = 15, M = 15.
The structure of the two-dimensional spectrum of the Weierstrass function, as seen from its
graphical representation, includes the system of spectral peaks forming annular distribution at
different distances from the zero frequency. These annular distribution peaks are marked with
ri
numbers 1–5. Each ring contains an equal number of peaks. The ratio of the rings radii ri−1 is
equal to the value of ξ = 2.7. This indicates the self-similar nature of the Fourier spectrum of the
two-dimensional Weierstrass function. According to the calculations of the distribution forms the
shape of the spectral distribution of a two-dimensional function is weakly dependent on the change
of the function parameters (Cw , q, D, K, N, M, φn,m ). Thence, the increase of fractal dimension D
increases the degree of irregularity of the Weierstrass function graph and to the emergence of a
number of additional satellites in the rings located at the spectral peaks. The degree of changes
in the structure of the spatial spectrum with the increasing fractal dimension D characterizes the
graph in Fig. 2. It determines the correlation coefficient C between the spectral distributions with
different values of D and distribution for D = 2.01. The graph shows that when the D value vary
in a wide range a rather high level correlation of spectra remains.
It is important to note that not only two-dimensional spectra of the Weierstrass function, but
its one-dimensional scans in the transverse coordinates x and y are self-similar as well. In Fig. 3 a
graph of W (x, y0 ) when y0 = 0 is shown as an example. Its fractal dimension is D = 1.29. The scan
spectrum has the property of self-similarity. If it is stretched to the value of ξ = 2.7, the diffraction
peaks coincide with each other. Consequently, the value of ξ = 2.7 can be considered as the
scaling factor (in magnitude it coincides with the scaling coefficient spectrum of a two-dimensional
Weierstrass function). Calculations show that the scaling characteristics are highly
stable. For example, if the scan will correspond to a different set of random phase values φn,m
of the two-dimensional Weierstrass function, the corresponding range of its scaling factor will not
undergo significant changes.
A two-dimensional Weierstrass function with the values |W (x, y)|2 is often used to simulate the
mountain landscape or hilly terrain. Figs. 4(a), 4(b) show areas with mountainous terrain, stylized

3419
 2017 Progress In Electromagnetics Research Symposium — Spring (PIERS), St Petersburg, Russia, 22–25 May

(a) (b)

Figure 1: 3D-representation of (a) the Weierstrass function when D = 2.11 and (b) its Fourier spectrum.
Fqx ,qy — the amplitude coefficients of the Fourier decomposition of the function, qx , qy — the spatial
frequencies.

Figure 2: The correlation of spatial spectra for dif- Figure 3: The amplitude distribution in the two-
ferent values of the fractal dimension D. dimensional scan functions Weierstrass on the x
axis.

(a) (b)
Figure 4: Fragments of mountain scenery; (a) — a massif with a small fractal dimension D = 2.11 (day),
(b) — a massif with a fractal dimension D = 2.7 (night).

to the different times of the day. Fig. 4(a) corresponds to the values of D = 2.11, K = 3.5, b = 0.7,
N = 6, and Fig. 4(b) — to the values of D = 2.7, K = 3.5, b = 0.8, N = 6. Both of these drawings
meet the same phase distribution φn,m . It is clearly seen that the relief in the Fig. 4(b) with the
larger D value has a steeper and less ordered peaks than the relief in the Fig. 4(a). Therefore the
Figs. 4(a), 4(b) have a different emotional impact on the viewer.

3420
2017 Progress In Electromagnetics Research Symposium — Spring (PIERS), St Petersburg, Russia, 22–25 May

4. CONCLUSION
The establishing of the fractal nature of their spatial spectra should be referred as the most im-
portant results obtained in the course of the modeling of the fractal objects. Self-similarity of
the spectra lead to the coincidence of the shape of the diffraction peaks distributions in the low-
frequency and high-frequency spectral ranges. This allows the neural elements, which are located in
the columns of the cerebral cortex and is responsible for the spectral filtering of low-frequency and
high-frequency signals, to make the Fourier transform of the coded visual signals using the same
algorithms. Thus, there is a possibility to visualize the image with maximum savings in time and
energy. These are the crucial factors to arise the sense of beauty in a person contemplating fractal
objects. This feeling along with the emerging positive emotional background creates conditions
favorable for successful practice of fractal art therapy.
REFERENCES
1. Joye, Y., “Some reflections on the relevance of fractals for art therapy,” The Arts in Psy-
chotherapy, Vol. 33, 143–147, 2006.
2. Agell, G., “Transference and countertransference in art therapy,” American Journal of Art
Therapy, Vol. 21, No. 10, 3–24, 1981.
3. Peitgen, H. O. and P. H. Richter, The Beauty of Fractals. Images of Complex Dynamical
Systems, Springer, Berlin 1986.
4. http://www.liveinternet.ru/users/rozdena vesnoy/post118197730/.
5. Mach, E., “Über den physiologischen effect räumlich verheitler lichtreize,” II Sitzungsberichte
der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vol. 52, 303–322, 1866.
6. Maryutina, T. M. and O. Y. Ermolaev, Introduction to psychophysiology, Moscow Psychological
and Social Institute: Flint, Moscow, 2001 (in Russian).
7. Website of popular psychology: http://www.detectmind.ru/mdoms-589-1.html.
8. Potapov, A. A., “Fractals, scaling and fractional operators in physics and electrical engi-
neering,” Electronics Nanosystems Information Technology, Vol. 1, No. 1–2, 64–108, 2009 (in
Russian).

3421