Dawson and Salmon show how VTS can strengthen critical thinking by helping students use evidence, question assumptions and explore different perspectives.

Van Leeuwen, Crutch and Warren show how VTS-style looking guides attention. In an eye-tracking study, a personal or social perspective drew the gaze more to people and living figures than background information did. Hearing someone else’s reflection had an even stronger effect.

Cerqueira and colleagues review 11 studies on VTS in medical education. Three of the undergraduate studies and two in residency found better observational skills; some also reported more tolerance for ambiguity and empathy. VTS appears to encourage more in-depth visual analysis.

Moeller, Cutler, Fiedler and Weier show how VTS brings creative and critical thinking together. Through looking, questioning and considering different perspectives, students learn to explore ideas, use evidence and rethink their conclusions.

Housen and DeSantis studied how 44 blind and visually impaired museum visitors look at art. Most were beginner viewers, like most sighted visitors; sight alone did not predict advanced viewing, art experience did. Programs should start from a viewer’s aesthetic stage, they argue.