How Stable Are Human Aesthetic Preferences Across the Lifespan?
How stable are human aesthetic preferences, and how does stability change over the lifespan? Here we investigate the stability of aesthetic taste in a cross-sectional study. We employed a simple rank-order preference task using paintings and photographs of faces and landscapes. In each of the four s...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2017-05-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Human Neuroscience |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00289/full |
| _version_ | 1819013690855260160 |
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| author | Cameron Pugach Helmut Leder Daniel J. Graham |
| author_facet | Cameron Pugach Helmut Leder Daniel J. Graham |
| author_sort | Cameron Pugach |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | How stable are human aesthetic preferences, and how does stability change over the lifespan? Here we investigate the stability of aesthetic taste in a cross-sectional study. We employed a simple rank-order preference task using paintings and photographs of faces and landscapes. In each of the four stimulus classes, we find that aesthetic stability generally follows an inverted U-shaped function, with the greatest degree of stability appearing in early to middle adulthood. We propose that one possible interpretation of this result is that it indicates a role for cognitive control (i.e., the ability to adapt cognition to current situations) in the construction of aesthetic taste, since cognitive control performance follows a generally similar trajectory across the lifespan. However, human aesthetic stability is on the whole rather low: even the most stable age groups show ranking changes of at least 1 rank per item over a 2-week span. We discuss possible implications for these findings in terms of existing theories of visual aesthetics and in terms of methodological considerations, though we acknowledge that other interpretations of our results are possible. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T02:03:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-accb656a2e8243ccb9711a3dd40a3d9d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1662-5161 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T02:03:58Z |
| publishDate | 2017-05-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Human Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj.art-accb656a2e8243ccb9711a3dd40a3d9d2022-12-21T19:19:34ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Human Neuroscience1662-51612017-05-011110.3389/fnhum.2017.00289246626How Stable Are Human Aesthetic Preferences Across the Lifespan?Cameron Pugach0Helmut Leder1Daniel J. Graham2Department of Psychology, John Jay College of Criminal JusticeNew York, NY, United StatesFaculty of Psychology, University of ViennaVienna, AustriaDepartment of Psychology, Hobart and William Smith CollegesGeneva, NY, United StatesHow stable are human aesthetic preferences, and how does stability change over the lifespan? Here we investigate the stability of aesthetic taste in a cross-sectional study. We employed a simple rank-order preference task using paintings and photographs of faces and landscapes. In each of the four stimulus classes, we find that aesthetic stability generally follows an inverted U-shaped function, with the greatest degree of stability appearing in early to middle adulthood. We propose that one possible interpretation of this result is that it indicates a role for cognitive control (i.e., the ability to adapt cognition to current situations) in the construction of aesthetic taste, since cognitive control performance follows a generally similar trajectory across the lifespan. However, human aesthetic stability is on the whole rather low: even the most stable age groups show ranking changes of at least 1 rank per item over a 2-week span. We discuss possible implications for these findings in terms of existing theories of visual aesthetics and in terms of methodological considerations, though we acknowledge that other interpretations of our results are possible.http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00289/fullempirical aestheticsaesthetic stabilityart perceptionneuroaestheticsvisionlifespan development |
| spellingShingle | Cameron Pugach Helmut Leder Daniel J. Graham How Stable Are Human Aesthetic Preferences Across the Lifespan? Frontiers in Human Neuroscience empirical aesthetics aesthetic stability art perception neuroaesthetics vision lifespan development |
| title | How Stable Are Human Aesthetic Preferences Across the Lifespan? |
| title_full | How Stable Are Human Aesthetic Preferences Across the Lifespan? |
| title_fullStr | How Stable Are Human Aesthetic Preferences Across the Lifespan? |
| title_full_unstemmed | How Stable Are Human Aesthetic Preferences Across the Lifespan? |
| title_short | How Stable Are Human Aesthetic Preferences Across the Lifespan? |
| title_sort | how stable are human aesthetic preferences across the lifespan |
| topic | empirical aesthetics aesthetic stability art perception neuroaesthetics vision lifespan development |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00289/full |
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