Contemporary Experimental Aesthetics: State of the Art Technology

Abstract

The purpose of this essay is to provide the reader with a brief overview of several recent person-artifact-context relational models that explain the complex interaction of the processes that underlie an ongoing aesthetic experience with visual art forms. Recent progress towards a comprehensive understanding of these processes has been made possible in large part by experimental approaches that take advantage of recent advances in computer technology and electronic sophistication. To illustrate this point, three experimental techniques at the forefront of the field of experimental aesthetics are highlighted here. They include the investigation of viewers— body postural adjustments to depicted pictorial depth and movement in paintings; the use of hand-held computers known as personal data assistants to record audience members— on-going emotional reactions to live performances of dance; and the contribution of audio tour information to museum visitors— interaction with and aesthetic evaluation of sculptures and paintings. Finally, the eMotion: Mapping Museum Experience project, which has the potential to make a tremendous contribution to the understanding of the complex interaction of factors that contribute to a museum visitor's experience, is described.

Perspective-taking increases emotionality and empathy but does not reduce harmful biases against American Indians: Converging evidence from the museum and lab

“…Next, we examined how emotionally moved participants reported being in response to each photograph (self-reports ranging from 1-6). Sensitivity analyses conducted using G � Power ( These findings are consistent with prior literature showing that engaging with real museum objects leads to more emotional investment than engaging with digital representations [17][18][19][20][21]. These results may also be explained by the demand characteristics associated with self-reports at a museum and with self-selection in attending a Native-focused art museum.…”

The Influence of Listening to Curatorial Information on Emotions Caused by Artworks, and the Assessment of Contemporary Art by Students. Research in the Space of an Art Gallery

“…This is a rather uncommon situation that can perhaps occur during a curator-guided tour but usually, the curator would rather talk from memory about the exhibition and reading aloud previously prepared information would be rare. As a rule, visiting a museum or a gallery we read the information about exhibits ourselves or we use the increasingly popular audio guides (Barbieni et al, 2009;Locher, 2011). It would be advisable to verify in future studies if the curatorial information supplied to non-expert viewers in ways other than the one used in this experiment, also influences emotions and aesthetic evaluation.…”

Estética y neurociencia: estableciendo puentes

“…Bullot y Reber, 2013; Jacobsen, 2006;Leder et al, 2004;Locher, 2006Locher, , 2011Locher, , 2014Silva, 2009, 2012): a) Proveer a los participantes información sobre el estilo de pintores abstractos, incrementa los valores de preferencia en los sujetos. Sin embargo, este incremento en las preferencias no se observa en participantes con un alto nivel de experiencia artística (Belke et al, 2006) b) Existe una correlación positiva entre cómo se evalúa una pintura ("goodness") y la facilidad con la que el observador puede inferir la intención del autor al realizar esa pintura.…”