Berlyne's Theory Research Articles

Visual complexity = hedonic? Effects of visually complex packages on consumer perceptions and evaluations of products

This study investigates the effect of visual complexity in package design on consumer perceptions and evaluations of a product, with a particular emphasis on how product type (vice or virtue) interacts with this effect. Drawing on the cue utilization theory and Berlyne's optimal stimulation theory, the findings of five empirical studies across various product categories consistently indicate that visually complex packaging enhances evaluations of virtue (vs. vice) products by increasing hedonic utility. This research contributes to the existing literature on marketing and visual communication and provides practical insights for practitioners.

WHAT S IN A NAME EXPERIMENT ON THE AESTHETIC JUDGMENTS OF ART PRODUCED BY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

We conducted an experiment to explore the effect on aesthetic judgments influenced by the presence and awareness of the title of the abstract paintings produced by Artificial Intelligence. Fifty-two participants (52 students from the Faculty of Fine Arts) were randomly signed into control and experimental groups. Participants of the control group were asked to rate five abstract paintings created by various artists, while the experimental group also rated the same paintings only differing in the names of the author that they were made by Artificial Intelligence. Consequently, in our research, we adopted Berlyne's psychobiological theory, which focuses on the role of arousal as one of the primary determinants of aesthetic preference. The results suggest that the name of AI on title can function as a novelty and surprising reference to denote performance for our visual arts perception despite the fact that it is not created by AI. However, “complexity,” “interestingness,” and “ambiguity” variables didn’t show any statistic significant. These findings extend past research by demonstrating that title presentation affects the perception of abstract art by the participants.

Visual Complexity Online and Its Impact on Children's Aesthetic Preferences and Learning Motivation

In the past, when most computers were workplace tools, researchers in the field of HCI predominately focused on practical aspects of computing, such as usability and efficiency. Now, with more and more computer technologies entering the home and other areas of life, such as schooling and informal education, an increasing number of researchers are exploring subjective issues related to computing. This research explored the relationship between visual complexity, aesthetics and learning motivation with respect to children's learning websites. It took the form of an experiment involving children aged 10 to 11 years-old viewing homepages designed for them. In the experiment, the children were divided into three groups. One group was shown homepages of a low level of visual complexity, another group was shown homepages of a medium level of visual complexity and another group was shown homepages of a high level of visual complexity. At the end of the experiment, the children were asked questions about the homepages; the questions were on the topics of aesthetics and motivation. In addition to exploring the relationship between visual complexity, aesthetics and learning motivation, the research tested Berylne's theory of preference: a theory that purports that people prefer medium level stimuli to high or low-level stimuli. The results of the experiment showed that children preferred aesthetics of a medium level of visual complexity, Berlyne's theory was thus supported. The results also revealed that aesthetic preference and learning motivation were correlated. These findings have implications for designers of children's learning websites as they suggest that by manipulating visual complexity, a user's viewing pleasure can be enhanced or depreciated.

An investigation into visual complexity and aesthetic preference to facilitate the creation of more appropriate learning analytics systems for children

The purpose of learning analytics is to optimise learning and the environment in which it occurs. However, while much research has been conducted into how to measure, collect and analyse learner data, little has been conducted into how to aesthetically display information to learners in dashboards and educational materials online to maximise its appeal.This experiment examined the relationship between children's age and their aesthetic preferences towards visual complexity in e-learning web pages designed for them. It applied Berlyne's theory of aesthetic preference: a theory that suggests that people prefer a medium level of stimuli to a low or high level of stimuli. It asked 180 Taiwanese primary school children to indicate their aesthetic preferences towards web pages of high, medium and low visual complexity. The children were divided into three groups: 7-8 year-olds, 9-10 year-olds and 11-12 year-olds.When the ratings of the three age groups were looked at together, they revealed that the children preferred e-learning web pages that had a medium level of visual complexity to those that had a high or low level of visual complexity. As such, the results supported Berlyne's theory. However, when the ratings of the age groups were looked at separately with respect to aesthetic factors, differences were found. In particular, it was found that the 7-8 year-olds preferred e-learning web pages that had a high level of colourfulness while the 9-12 year-olds did not.

Berlyne Revisited: Evidence for the Multifaceted Nature of Hedonic Tone in the Appreciation of Paintings and Music.

In his seminal book on esthetics, Berlyne (1971) posited an inverted-U relationship between complexity and hedonic tone in arts appreciation, however, converging evidence for his theory is still missing. The disregard of the multidimensionality of complexity may explain some of the divergent results. Here, we argue that definitions of hedonic tone are manifold and systematically examined whether the nature of the relationship between complexity and hedonic tone is determined by the specific measure of hedonic tone. In Experiment 1, we studied three picture categories with similar affective and semantic contents: 96 affective environmental scenes, which were also converted into 96 cartoons, and 96 representational paintings. Complexity varied along the dimension of elements. In a between-subjects design, each stimulus was presented for 5 s to 206 female participants. Subjective ratings of hedonic tone (either beauty, pleasantness or liking), arousal, complexity and familiarity were collected in three conditions per stimulus set. Complexity and arousal were positively associated in all conditions, with the strongest association observed for paintings. For environmental scenes and cartoons, there was no significant association between complexity and hedonic tone, and the three measures of hedonic tone were highly correlated (all rs > 0.85). As predicted, in paintings the measures of hedonic tone were less strongly correlated (all rs > 0.73), and when controlling for familiarity, the association with complexity was significantly positive for beauty (rs = 0.26), weakly negative for pleasantness (rs = -0.16) and not present for liking. Experiment 2 followed a similar approach and 77 female participants, all non-musicians, rated 92 musical excerpts (15 s) in three conditions of hedonic tone (either beauty, pleasantness or liking). Results indicated a strong relationship between complexity and arousal (all rs > 0.85). When controlling for familiarity effects, the relationship between complexity and beauty followed an inverted-U curve, whereas the relationship between complexity and pleasantness was negative (rs = -0.26) and the one between complexity and liking positive (rs = 0.29). We relate our results to Berlyne’s theory and the latest findings in neuroaesthetics, proposing that future studies need to acknowledge the multifaceted nature of hedonic tone in esthetic experiences of artforms.

Homepage aesthetics: The search for preference factors and the challenges of subjectivity

While many studies have considered the usability of website homepages, subjective issues such as preference have been under explored. This paper describes a pilot study that investigates subjects' preferences for different homepages. The study applies Berlyne's theory of experimental aesthetics to website homepages. This theory suggests that there is an inverted-U shape relationship between preference for a stimulus and its complexity. Twelve subjects evaluated 12 homepages. The study used a ranking method to measure subjects' preferences and the relationships between complexity, pleasure and interestingness. In addition, verbal reports were collected. No support was found for an inverted-U shape relationship and the findings indicate that complexity is not a predictor of pleasure. However, the results uncovered a number of subjective factors that underlie preference. These factors include individual differences in taste and lifestyle all of which are highly personal factors that change and develop over time. In addition, the findings suggest a link between interestingness and curiosity. Lastly, the findings show an agreement on the judgements of complexity, and disagreement on aesthetic preferences. In conclusion, the paper points out the challenges faced in researching preference because of its highly subjective character.

The Effect of Extraneous Stimulation on Aesthetic Preference

Two experiments were conducted in order to test predictions derived from Berlyne's theory of aesthetic preference. According to the theory, preference is an inverted-U function of arousal potential; the determinants of arousal potential are summed, with the consequence that an increase in the amount of one determinant leads to a decrease in the maximally preferred level of other determinants; and arousal induced by extraneous stimulation is pooled with the arousal potential of a focal stimulus. The experiments supported none of these predictions. Preference tended to be related to its determinants by monotonic functions. The predicted trade-off among the determinants of preference was not generally present. Extraneous stimulation seemed to affect preference by distracting attention rather than by influencing arousal. The results are explained in terms of a neural-network theory of aesthetic preference.

Pleasure and Complexity: Berlyne Revisited

D. E. Berlyne (1960, 1974) posited an increasing linear function for complexity with an inverted U-shaped function for pleasure. Berlyne's theory of aesthetic response was tested through the presentation of 6 color reproductions of paintings to 92 participants and the gauging of their responses. When participants' pleasure was compared with interest, that hypothesis was upheld. However, when complexity was compared with pleasure, Berlyne's theory was not supported.

Of time and preference: temporal stability of environmental preferences.

Time is a central issue in discussions about art and in Berlyne's aesthetic theory. This article reports on the temporal stabilities of preferences for a novel and controversial building at three times after construction (2 years, 18 years, 23 years), and public preferences for 20 ordinary and noncontroversial buildings at three times over nine years. In all there were 5543 respondents. Analyses suggested that the initial response to the novel building was stable over the next 23 years, and the public responses for the 20 nonnovel buildings were stable over nine years. Implications for research are discussed.

Responses to music in aerobic exercise and yogic relaxation classes

Berlyne's theory of aesthetic response was investigated in two naturalistic music listening situations. Fifty participants in an aerobic exercise class, and 50 participants in a yogic relaxation class were presented with five three‐minute musical excerpts representing a range of complexity. Participants rated these excerpts on scales of either liking or complexity and appropriateness. The relationship between ratings of liking and complexity was broadly consistent with the prediction of an inverted‐U function, although not significantly so in the data obtained from the aerobics group. The prediction that a positive monotonic relationship should exist between ratings of liking and appropriateness was also confirmed.

Responses to Music in a Dining Area1

Berlyne's theory of aesthetic response was tested in an ecologically valid setting by playing music in a university cafeteria. Four music conditions were employed representing low, high, and moderate complexity new age music, and moderate complexity mechanical organ music. Response measures were how readily diners cited the music as an aspect of the environment which they might like to change, and how much they liked the music. Liking for the new age extracts was consistent with Berlyne's theory, although liking for the moderate complexity mechanical organ music indicated that factors other than complexity may also determine musical preference. As dislike became more extreme, music became more salient as a feature of the environment that subjects might like to change.

Manufactured Pleasures / Psychological Responses to Design

Introduction: psychological responses to design psychological explanations. Part 1 Nature or culture?: biological explanations preferences for landscape personal spaces. Part 2 Form and design: formal laws of beauty the good gestalt complexity and familiarity - Berlyne's theory. Part 3 Meaning and design: meaning and emotion the unconscious meanings of objects the classification of meanings objects as symbols of the self. Part 4 Function and design: ergonomics and the effectiveness of design making sense of visual displays communicating with the computer. Part 5 Form, meaning, function: colour multi-model perception form, meaning and function conclusions.

The Role of Formal Art Training on Perception and Aesthetic Judgment of Art Compositions

significance of the painting. It is Does formal art training educate the the point at which the scanning eye by enabling the viewer to carry out the pattern settles down on an average type of in-depth analysis of the compositiol path after initially traversing a varielements called for in Berlyne's theory? Do able number of more-or-less ranferences in visual exploration contribute to aesthetic judgment? To answer these ques dom paths largely determined by tions, the present study compares visual pictorial features. According to exploration patterns of art-trained and Molnar, the viewing of good comuntrained viewers who judged composition positions reaches equilibrium after that differed in balance through manipulati( of symmetrical organization. fewer transitions than does the viewing of bad compositions, which he demonstrates by comparing transition-probability matricies from Manet's Olympia with Titian's Sacred Love and Earthly Love. An important implication of this finding is that the aesthetic qualities of a visual composition are more likely to be sought during early scanning, presumably to satisfy diversive exploratory aims; late scanning is more likely to occur to satisfy cognitive curiosity, a specific exploration aim. Molnar's approach has great promise, and the present study uses it as a point of departure. Berlyne's theory of psychoaesthetics has been used by Molnar to provide a theoretical framework for relating perceptual analysis to aesthetic judgment. According to the theory, the viewer's aesthetic response to an artwork is closely tied to perceptual exploration. Berlyne distinguishes between two types of exploratory behavior: diversive and specific. Diversive exploratory behavior occurs in order to seek out stimulation, regardless of the content or source, that has appealing collative properties [8]. Specific exploratory behavior occurs when a state of perceptual or epistemic curiosity is aroused in the viewer by uncertainty about, or incomplete perception of, information content. The two types of exploratory behavior are reflected by the clustering or lack of clustering of eye fixations on pictorial features as a viewer scans it. Widely dispersed, sparsely populated clusters C. F. Nodine (perceptual psychologist), University of Pennsylvania, Department of Radiology, Pendergrass Diagnostic Research Laboratory, 308 Medical Education Building, 36th and Hamilton Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6086, U.S.A. PJ. Locher (experimental psychologist), Montclair State College, Department of Psychology, Upper Montclair, NJ 07043, U.S.A. E.A. Krupinski (vision researcher), University of Arizona, Department of Radiology, Tucson, AZ 85724, U.S.A. Received 22January 1991. LEONARDO, Vol. 26, No. 3, pp. 2219-227,1993 n

Intensity, Dissonance, and Preference for Pure Tones

An experiment on preference for pure tone pairs varying in intensity and dissonance was conducted in order to test predictions derived from Berlyne's theory of aesthetic preference. According to the theory, preference is an inverted-U function of arousal potential; the determinants of arousal potential are summed, so that an increase in the amount of one determinant leads to a decrease in the maximally preferred level of other determinants; and collative properties, such as dissonance, are the most important predictors of preference. The experiment supported none of these predictions. Preference was related to intensity and dissonance by monotonic or U-shaped functions. The trade-off between intensity and dissonance was not present. Intensity rather than dissonance was the most important determinant of preference. As compared with intensity, the effect of dissonance on preference was negligible. The results are explained in terms of a connectionist theory of aesthetic preference.

Children's Preference for Complexity as a Function of Perceived Units in Collative Motivation

The purpose of this investigation was to manipulate a constant number of four elements (red and blue rectangles) to represent differentially perceived units of complexity. The hypothesis that motivational arousal and choice preferences of second- and fifth-grade children would be a positive function of the number of perceived units, ranging from one to four, was confirmed, consistent with Berlyne's (1960) theory. When the number of elements was held constant at three, as compared to four, similar results were obtained in a test at two intermediate levels of complexity. Implications for organization of elements and the effects of symmetry in determining children's preferences for levels of complexity are discussed.

Aesthetic Preference: Anomalous Findings for Berlyne's Psychobiological Theory

Seven experiments were conducted to test predictions derived from Berlyne's theory of aesthetic preference. According to this theory, preference is an inverted-U function of arousal potential; the determinants of arousal potential are summed, with the consequence that an increase in the amount of one determinant leads to a decrease in the maximally preferred level of other determinants; and collative properties, such as complexity, are the most important predictors of preference

Relationship of Musical Preference to Collative, Ecological, and Psychophysical Variables

Two experiments were conducted in order to test predictions derived from Berlyne's theory of aesthetic preference. According to the theory, preference is an inverted-U function of arousal potential; the determinants of arousal potential are summed, with the consequence that an increase in the amount of one determinant leads to a decrease in the maximally preferred level of other determinants; and collative properties, such as dissonance, are the most important predictors of preference. The experiments supported none of these predictions. Preference tended to be related to its determinants by monotonic or U-shaped functions. The predicted trade-off among the determinants of preference was not clearly present. Semantic factors rather than collative properties were the most important determinants of preference. In Experiment 1, uncertainty was related to preference in an inverted-U manner, but it was shown that this may be an artifact of a U-shaped relationship between preference and melodic typicality. In Experiment 2, it was found that subject-rated meaningfulness is highly related to preference for melodies, whereas subjectively perceived complexity is essentially unrelated to preference. The results are explained in terms of a cognitive theory of aesthetic preference.

Relationship of Preference Judgments to Typicality, Novelty, and Mere Exposure

Two theories of aesthetic preference are reviewed. According to Berlyne's psychobiological theory, the main determinants of aesthetic preference are collative variables such as complexity and novelty, and preference is generally related to its determinants in an inverted-U manner. Recent findings contrary to these predictions are briefly reviewed. According to Martindale's cognitive theory, the main determinant of aesthetic preference is prototypicality or meaningfulness, and preference is usually related to its determinants in a monotonic or U-shaped fashion. Three experiments concerning preference for semantic category exemplars are reported. Typicality accounted for eight or nine times more of explained variance in preference than did long-term novelty, short-term novelty, or mere exposure. Preference was related to both typicality and collative variables by monotonic or U-shaped functions.

Cognitions in Consonance

A reconceptualization of some of the ideas associated with the aesthetic experience is proposed. The problems that arise in defining the terms ‘beautiful’ and ‘perfect’ may be overcome by substituting the term ‘fittingness.’ The core of the aesthetic experience is the experience of some degree of fit between the specimen (the aesthetic object or event) and the corresponding standard. The degree of fit determines the intensity of the experience. The essential element of the aesthetic experience is the process of collation between specimen and standard, but the nature of the experience must be sought in the realm of motivation. To every instance of an extrinsive motive that begins with a deficiency, stimulation, or conflict and ends in homeostasis, there corresponds an intrinsic motive that is self-reinforcing. Cognitive conflicts lead to cognitive dissonance, and cognitive equilibrium is achieved by various cognitive means. There is also a state of cognitive consonance, which is sought for its own sake. The aesthetic experience is the experience of cognitive reinforcement that occurs upon the realization that the aesthetic specimen approximates or fits the model of perfection currently held by the individual. This reinforcing experience of cognitive consonance is the core of the aesthetic experience. This view is compared with Berlyne's theory.

Reactions to uncertainty: A comparison of three motivational theories

This study attempted to explicate some of the variables underlying preference, pleasure, and reward. In order to accomplish this, Jones's (1966, 1969) information drive theory, Berlyne's (1967, 1971, 1973, 1978) optimal arousal potential theory, Helson's (1964, 1966, 1971, 1973) adaptation-level theory, and McClelland and Clark's (1953) discrepancy hypothesis were experimentally contrasted. Subjects (316) rated the hedonic tone, perceived uncertainty, arousing properties, and interest value of two series of visual stimuli of specified uncertainty. Regression analyses revealed that immediately prior experience with stimuli varying in uncertainty affected rating of perceived uncertainty and arousing properties but had no major effects on ratings of hedonic tone and interest value. The results did not support Jones's and McClelland and Clark's models. Berlyne's model seemed to account for the affective hedonic tone and interest results, while Helson's model best explained the nonaffective perceived uncertainty and arousal data. It was concluded that nonaffective variables are affected by short-term experience with uncertainty while affective variables are not. Speculations concerning the phenomenon of interest value were then offered.