Architects + artists conceive of the world differently than other people, study reveals

In a study conducted by UCL and Bangor University researchers in which people were shown a Google Street View, a painting of St. Peter's Basilica and a surreal computer generated image, architects, sculptors and painters consistently conceptualized of the space differently than those with no background in these professions. As this article in Science Daily explains:

The painters tended to shift between describing the scene as a 3D space or as a 2D image. Architects were more likely to describe barriers and boundaries of the space, and used more dynamic terms, while sculptors' responses were between the two. Painters and architects also differed in how they described the furthest point of the space, as painters called it the 'back' and architects called it the 'end.' The control participants gave less elaborate responses, which the authors say went beyond just a lack of expert terminology.