The Impact of Perceived Visual Complexity, Gender, and Cognitive Style on Children's Aesthetic Preferences for Learning Web Pages

Abstract

This chapter examines children's aesthetic preferences for learning Web pages designed for them. It applies Berlyne's theory of aesthetic preference to these Web pages: a theory that suggests that people prefer a medium level of stimuli to a low or high level of stimuli. The experiment employs a 3 x 2 x 2 between-subject design; it explores perceived visual complexity, gender, cognitive style, and aesthetic preference. A total of 120 children (60 boys and 60 girls) aged between 11 to 12 years-old take part in the experiment. The children are asked to rate learning Web pages of different levels of perceived visual complexity for aesthetic preference. These Web pages have been created by the authors. The results of the experiment show that overall the children prefer Web pages that display a medium level of perceived visual complexity to those that display a high or low level of perceived visual complexity. Thus, the results support Berlyne's theory. However, when aesthetic preference is analysed with respect to gender, it is found that different levels of perceived visual complexity have an impact on boys' aesthetic preferences but not girls'. In other words, Berylne's theory is only partly supported. Likewise, Berylne's theory is only partly supported when aesthetic preference is analysed with respect to cognitive style. Here, imagers prefer a high level of perceived visual complexity and verbalisers prefer a medium level of perceived visual complexity. This chapter should be of interest to anyone who designs learning Web pages for children.