Abstract
This paper examines gradients of attention in relation to aesthetic appreciation. My main claim is that we should leave open the possibility that aesthetic response might be triggered by stimulations taking place far from the centre of one’s focused attention. In support of this claim I first discuss the notion of ‘periphery of attention’ and the challenges that it poses to contemporary psychological theories of aesthetics. I provide four criteria for differentiating between several types of attentional processes and then proceed to single out the characteristics of non-focal types of attention(-related) processes with varying intensity such as pre-attentive processing, the mere exposure effect and psychic overtones. Finally, I reassess the periphery of attention in the light of its relation to aesthetic appreciation. I hold that given certain constraints such as repeated exposure, perceptual learning, encoding in long-term memory, and possibility of retrieval, subdued, inconspicuous forms of stimulation can elicit aesthetic responses.
Highlights
Attention and aesthetic appreciation of the arts share a common fate deeply rooted in the tradition of aesthetics and the philosophy of art
This paper examines gradients of attention in relation to aesthetic appreciation
Despite the possible limitations of such measurements, what interests me here is that the results revealed by the studies of the mere exposure effect provide empirical evidence for Munro’s intuition that inconspicuous forms experienced regularly could have an aesthetic impact in the long run
Summary
Attention and aesthetic appreciation of the arts share a common fate deeply rooted in the tradition of aesthetics and the philosophy of art. I am going to rely mostly on a paper by Thomas Munro, presented at the Third International Congress of Aesthetics in 1957, entitled‘Types of Form as Related to the Psychology of Attention’,2 where he gives valuable insight into various conditions under which we perceive and attend to works of art. Considering that contemporary psychological aesthetics[3] takes for granted the idea that focal attention is a necessary condition for aesthetic appreciation without even considering alternative views, raising the question of degrees of attention in experiencing art brings to light psychological aspects of this type of experience which have been so far neglected. Endorsing the view that attention engaged in appreciative practices can be deployed in varying intensity rather than be reduced to an all-or-nothing affair enables us to consider instances where aesthetic response comes about gradually. I reassess the periphery of attention in the light of its relation to aesthetic appreciation
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