Abstract
One of the major challenges in experimental aesthetics is the uncertainty of the terminology used in experiments. In this study, we recorded terms that are spontaneously used by participants to describe abstract artworks and studied their relation to the second-order statistical image properties of the same artworks (Experiment 1). We found that the usage frequency of some structure-describing terms correlates with statistical image properties, such as PHOG Self-Similarity, Anisotropy and Complexity. Additionally, emotion-associated terms correlate with measured color values. Next, based on the most frequently used terms, we created five different rating scales (Experiment 2) and obtained ratings of participants for the abstract paintings on these scales. We found significant correlations between descriptive score ratings (e.g., between structure and subjective complexity), between evaluative and descriptive score ratings (e.g., between preference and subjective complexity/interest) and between descriptive score ratings and statistical image properties (e.g., between interest and PHOG Self-Similarity, Complexity and Anisotropy). Additionally, we determined the participants’ personality traits as described in the ‘Big Five Inventory’ (Goldberg, 1990; Rammstedt and John, 2005) and correlated them with the ratings and preferences of individual participants. Participants with higher scores for Neuroticism showed preferences for objectively more complex images, as well as a different notion of the term complex when compared with participants with lower scores for Neuroticism. In conclusion, this study demonstrates an association between objectively measured image properties and the subjective terms that participants use to describe or evaluate abstract artworks. Moreover, our results suggest that the description of abstract artworks, their evaluation and the preference of participants for their low-level statistical properties are linked to personality traits.
Highlights
In the expanding field of experimental aesthetics, the lack of a specific and well-defined terminology to describe artworks is still a major obstacle, especially in psychological studies, in which participants are asked to describe the aesthetic quality of artworks
We found that the usage frequency of some structure-describing terms correlates with statistical image properties, such as Pyramid Histogram of Orientation Gradients (PHOG) Self-Similarity, Anisotropy and Complexity
Focusing on the effect of aesthetic experience, their model describes two aspects: (1) the aesthetic judgment, which reflects the cognitive processing of the stimulus and (2) the aesthetic emotion, which represents the affective part of the experience
Summary
In the expanding field of experimental aesthetics, the lack of a specific and well-defined terminology to describe artworks is still a major obstacle, especially in psychological studies, in which participants are asked to describe the aesthetic quality of artworks. Aesthetic experience is highly variable between individuals and depends on a multitude of contextual and cultural factors (Leder et al, 2004). Redies (2015) proposed that cognitive processing of aesthetic experience and perceptual processing, which depends on image attributes [second-order image properties; see Graham and Redies (2010), take place in parallel and interact]. In his model, the cognitive processing of artworks is subject to individual preferences while the perceptual processing is more universal amongst humans
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