Visual Illusion and Aesthetic Preference: Some Common Stimulus Properties

Beauty is felt when we perceive an object of particular proportions. It may be thus defined as a perceptual quality. That is, the sense of beauty is derived from stimulus properties (shape, colour, etc.) rather than from empathy and interpretation of a subject (Noguchi 2003). Further we can distinguish perceptual from cognitive beauty. When a work of art is evaluated, both these top-down and bottom-up factors contribute to an overall assessment, and it is impossible to completely separate one from the other. We can, however, following the pioneering work of Fechner (1865) in experimental aesthetics, use simple visual stimuli that hardly contain an associated meaning or learned context. By this we can minimize the influence of cognitive factors as much as possible. Such an approach allows for valid conclusions in that the resulting experience of beauty is closely related to the perceived properties of a stimulus.