The Effect of Extraneous Stimulation on Aesthetic Preference

Abstract

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.

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