Can art change how we feel about the distance between us and the events it portrays?

The psychological distance refers to how far something feels from us, not in physical terms, but in terms of time, space, social connection, or how real or hypothetical it seems. The meaning of an event can shift depending on whether we think it happened nearby or far away.  Artworks often show the same events but use different styles to portray them. Do these styles influence how we perceive the distance between ourselves and the events in the artwork?

Our team explored how people feel about the distance between themselves and Gospel events (like the Nativity). We discovered that when people view icons painted in the Eastern Christian tradition, they feel a greater distance from the events, as if they happened somewhere far away in space and time. On the other hand, when people look at the same events depicted in the Western Christian tradition, they feel a shorter distance.  These findings will be published in the article titled ‘Icons and paintings: differences in psychological distance, empathy, and the feeling of personal communication’ in the Journal of Psychology of Religion and Spirituality.

The dataset of images used in this study is accessible here: https://art-revelation.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/image-database/