Dear Ken and Terence, - The work of Manfredo Massironi to which I refer is a corpus of experimental investigations on the subject of *expressiveness*, in particular expressiveness of *causal**ity*. His paper (in Italian) can be downloaded at http://ephp.dpac.univr.it/ephp_db/javapages/util/get.jsp?bibliography=3825 - Massironi specified that the term *expressiveness *is broader than * expression*: in fact it refers to a content we relate to an object, with no correspondance to a process of expression *stricto sensu*, for example: a weeping willow conveys the expressiveness of sadness, even though there is no actual feeling of sandness in the tree same thing happens in the succession of the colors of a sunset: the objectitself (succession of colors) has no emotions. However there is a *structural isomorphism* with the "feeling of sadness" pattern, and from this comes out our impression. - So not always there is a coincidence between the actual expression (and its communication purpose) and the expressiveness the observer receives (on a merely phenomenological level): indeed at times there is a real discrepancy. - The same is true for the *expressiveness of causality*. One thing is the causality in the physical world, another is the impression that the viewer receives (both of you have made this comment about my examples, it means that they are clear!). *Massironi states: for designers is not interesting to learn how to control the physical causality, but to learn how to control the expressiveness of causality: to predict and control the causality experienced by the observer.* - Massironi is not satisfied neither with the simple, spontaneous or intuitive production of forms which express the causality, nor with their production on the basis of a wide range of empirical knowledge (the taxonomy of Terence?). - Massironi wonders: *how** can **we obtain and control, through a systematic research, the main variables that predict the expressiveness of causality in the observer?* - Earlier (in 1947), Michotte had studied the expressiveness of causality. However, was limited to the physical variables that produce it , rather than focussing on the phenomenological ones. Twenty years after, Massironi develops the work of Michotte, shifting the focus on the phenomenological variables: thanks to those, merely on the perceptual level, you can find an immediate experience of causalityin the observer. - Massironi has demonstrated that, together with variables relevant to specific situations (*hic et nunc*), there are more general variables of the form, present in different cultural contexts, which allow us to control the perception of causal relations in visual situations. Therefore, these variables must be identified and explained. - The paper above, and more modestly the visual examples of my pinboard, explain *the** variables which cause the perception of causal relationships in the observer.* If you are interested in this approach, and you think it is useful to develop the discussion, I will be pleased to provide more explanation about this branch of studies. Best regards Paola Trapani