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| Volume 14 Issue 1
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Quantifying aesthetic preference for chaotic patterns.
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Deborah J. Aks & Julien C. Sprott, 1996, 14:1, 1-16.
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Abstract:
Art and nature provide much of their aesthetic appeal from a balance of simplicity and complexity, and order and unpredictability. Recently, complex natural patterns have been produced by simple mathematical equations whose solutions appear unpredictable (chaotic). Yet the simplicity and determinism of the equations ensure a degree of order in the resulting patterns. The first experiment shows how aesthetic preferences correlate with the fractal dimension (F) and the Lyapunov exponent (L) of the patterns. F reflects the extent that space is filled and L represents the unpredictability of the dynamical process that produced the pattern. Results showed that preferred patterns had an average F 3D 1.26 and an average L 3D 0.37 bits per iteration, corresponding to many natural objects. The second experiment is a preliminary test of individual differences in preferences. Results suggest that self-reported creative individuals have a marginally greater preference for high F patterns and self-reported scientific individuals preferred high L patterns. Objective tests suggest that creative individuals had a slightly greater preference for patterns with a low F.
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Vision spontaneously establishes the percept of pictorial balance.
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Paul Locher & Yvonne Nagy, 1996, 14:1, 17-31.
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Abstract:
The present experiment sought empirical evidence that pictorial balance can be detected spontaneously with the first glance at a painting. Stimuli consisted of color and black-and-white reproductions or adaptations of structurally balanced paintings and one or more reconstructed less balanced versions of each work of art. Art-trained and untrained subjects rated the compositions for balance on a 6-point Likert scale after presentation durations which permitted either a single fixation (100 ms) or multiple fixations (5 s). The results show that both naive and sophisticated participants discriminated the less balanced from the more balanced versions of the black-and-white paintings with a single glance at each. They were also able to discern differences in balance among the color stimuli in the single fixation condition, but not the subtle differences in balance between the two versions of each painting. Subjects' assessment of a composition's balance based on stimulus information encoded with one fixation did not significantly change when exposure duration permitted multiple fixations of that composition. Data are consistent with the view that the induced structural organization resulting from the balanced configuration of a painting's element is detected spontaneously by the eye "at first glance."
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1983 at discounted rates.
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Effects of narrative structure and emotional content on cognitive and evaluative responses to film and text.
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Daniel S. L. Roberts, Paul S. Cohen, & Brenda E. MacDonald, 1996, 14:1, 33-47.
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Abstract:
One hundred and twenty subjects were randomly assigned to six groups and asked to recall emotional, important, and secondary information presented in either the film or text adaptation of the same story of which three versions varied in their adherence to or deviation from a conventional narrative grammar. Recall differed significantly according to story structure and medium. In general, negative emotions and secondary information were better recalled. Recall of important information was only superior when versions were linear. There were interactions between story structure and the emotional valence of information as well as between structure and the importance of information recalled. Comprehension and impressions of the main protagonists also depended upon narrative structure. Subjects had significantly more favorable impressions of the victimized female protagonist than of her male opponent only when the story structure was linear. Deviations from linearity had significantly different effects depending upon the category of aesthetic judgment. Evaluations of the protagonists and of the film or text we re explained in terms of a two factor model of emotions and the entertainment value of suspense.
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Jakobson’s model of linguistic functions and modern painting.
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Martin Krampen, 1996, 14:1, 49-63.
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Abstract:
Four of the six functions of linguistic communication postulated by Roman Jakobson were applied to twenty color reproductions of modern paintings. The functions were: Emotive self-expression of the addresser, the poetic (more general aesthetic) function (concerning the material aspects of the message), the conative function (concerning the persuasion of the addressee) and the referential function (applied to the context). Thirty artistically trained and thirty "lay persons" rated the paintings on 5-point scales, expressing degrees of agreement with two statements descriptive of each function. Factor analysis resulted in four factors representing the functions under study. Analyses of variance with the factor scores of the twenty paintings allowed their ranking on the functions for visual comparison. Further analyses of variance showed significant differences for the aesthetic (artistically trained high) and referential function (lay persons high). There were also significant differences between male and female subjects on the referential dimension.
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1983 at discounted rates.
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Semantic fields and metaphor: Going beyond theory.
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Chanita Goodblatt, 1996, 14:1, 65-78.
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Abstract:
This study focused on metaphor comprehension in a poetic text in terms of the concepts of "semantic field," "semantic restructuring," and "perceptual restructuring." Three poetic texts, differentiated in terms of the number of semantic fields and in the degree of their interaction, were given to readers of English language and literature. They were asked to analyze a number of metaphors appearing within the context of each text and also to rate them along a number of scales (such as Concrete-Abstract). Specific semantic fields could be derived from the written responses. Furthermore, consistent relationships were found between these ratings and the degree of interaction of these semantic fields. The results lend further support for a Gestalt-Interaction theory of metaphor.
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The price of a free concert.
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Arthur C. Brooks, 1996, 14:1, 79-87.
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Abstract:
While many musicians have begun to complement their work with elements and ideas taken from a number of other disciplines, these disciplines have typically not included economics. However, economics provides an effective analytical framework that people in many seemingly unrelated fields --including music-- can use to illuminate issues they commonly face over the course of their professional activities. This article is intended as an example of this: Using elementary economic tools, it examines from both a philosophical aesthetic and practical standpoint the question of whether or not a music conservatory should charge the public for entrance to its students' performances.
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1983 at discounted rates.
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Turning the other cheek: Profile direction in self-portraiture.
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Richard Latto, 1996, 14:1, 89-98.
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Abstract:
The spatial organization of the forty-seven self-portraits in the exhibition "Face to Face: Three Centuries of Artists' Self-Portraiture" held at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, was analyzed and compared with previously published studies, all of which have obtained their data predominantly from non-self-portraits. In the seventeenth century there was a significant asymmetry in self-portraits for both the direction of profile, with most paintings showing the right profile, and the direction of lighting, with most paintings showing the light coming from the left of the painting. Both these asymmetries declined over time and were not present in eighteenth and nineteenth-century paintings. The lighting asymmetry and the temporal change confirmed findings with non-self-portraits, but the profile asymmetry was in the opposite direction probably because of the use of mirrors to generate the image being painted. Taken together, the findings support an explanation for asymmetries in portraits of all kinds in terms of the conventions of studio organization.
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1983 at discounted rates.
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Prototypicality revisited: A rejoinder to Hekkert and Snelders.
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Frans Boselie, 1996, 14:1, 99-104.
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Abstract:
Contrary to Hekkert and Snelders' view, the published evidence clearly suggests that a straightforward preference-for-prototypes model of aesthetic preference Will not do. It is argued that the model is incomplete in an essential respect, and an alternative approach to the study of aesthetic preferences is outlined.
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Buy the whole article at baywood.com - online shop now.
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As member of the IAEA you receive the Empirical Studies of the Arts
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1983 at discounted rates.
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