Abstract
Aesthetic experiences have been distinguished from other experiences based on an aesthetic mode of processing that often entails concentrating working memory resources on the aesthetic stimulus. Since working memory is a limited-capacity system, there should be a trade-off between available resources and the aesthetic experience. To test whether the intensity of the aesthetic experience is reduced if working memory resources are otherwise occupied, we employed an experience sampling method. One hundred and fifteen undergraduate students (45% female; Mage = 23.50 years, SD = 2.72 years) participated in a 2-week experience sampling study and furnished a total of 15,047 reports of their aesthetic experiences. As measures of current working memory resources, participants answered questions regarding their current working memory load and whether they were engaged in a second task. In addition, they reported whether they had had an aesthetic experience and how much they had savored the aesthetic experience. Multilevel modeling was used for data analysis. A higher working memory load was associated with fewer aesthetic experiences and reduced the savoring of aesthetic experiences. Second tasks, however, that were perceived as demanding and requiring a lot of concentration enhanced the savoring of aesthetic experiences. In sum, other goal-oriented behavior that requires working memory resources appears to conflict with aesthetic experiences in everyday life.
Highlights
The experience of beauty can make us stop and savor the present moment
During 35% of the aesthetic experiences, participants were occupied with a second task
Do higher levels of working memory load since the previous sampling time reduce the probability of reporting an aesthetic experience? In order to test this assumption, we constructed a two-level model for binary outcome variables
Summary
The experience of beauty can make us stop and savor the present moment. It can provide small breaks from everyday hustle and bustle and can even cause peak experiences. Aesthetic experiences refer to the evaluative reception of an object or sensorial entity with respect to one or more relevant concepts (e.g., beauty or elegance [1]) and are positively associated with wellbeing and prosociality [2]. Aesthetic experiences have different qualities: For instance, we can reflect upon the aesthetic value of an entity (i.e., engage in aesthetic contemplation), come to a decision about it (i.e., make an aesthetic judgment), or involuntarily switch our attention to the aesthetic processing of a stimulus (i.e., experience aesthetic distraction [3]).
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