All that Glistens: Water Connotations in Surface Finishes

For perhaps the last 5 million years, natural selection has acted on any failure by our hominid ancestors to find terrestrial sources of drinking water. The result of such selection might be manifested today in the strong preferences of children and adults for landscape scenes with water and observations of selective mouthing and licking of mirrored surfaces by infants and toddlers. Because the optical information about water can be ambiguous, this study examined whether glossy and glittery surface textures connote wetness. Four whitish surface finishes (mat, glossy, sandy, and sparkling) were selected for study. These surface finishes were mounted on panels that were held and tilted in different directions by 139 participants who then rated the panels using a semantic differential questionnaire that assessed wet and dry connotations as well as other physical and cultural attributes. Analyses of data showed that the glossy surface finish appeared wetter than the sparkling surface finish and that these sur...