Components of aesthetic experience: aesthetic fascination, aesthetic appraisal, and aesthetic emotion - PubMed (original) (raw)

Components of aesthetic experience: aesthetic fascination, aesthetic appraisal, and aesthetic emotion

Slobodan Marković. Iperception. 2012.

Abstract

In this paper aesthetic experience is defined as an experience qualitatively different from everyday experience and similar to other exceptional states of mind. Three crucial characteristics of aesthetic experience are discussed: fascination with an aesthetic object (high arousal and attention), appraisal of the symbolic reality of an object (high cognitive engagement), and a strong feeling of unity with the object of aesthetic fascination and aesthetic appraisal. In a proposed model, two parallel levels of aesthetic information processing are proposed. On the first level two sub-levels of narrative are processed, story (theme) and symbolism (deeper meanings). The second level includes two sub-levels, perceptual associations (implicit meanings of object's physical features) and detection of compositional regularities. Two sub-levels are defined as crucial for aesthetic experience, appraisal of symbolism and compositional regularities. These sub-levels require some specific cognitive and personality dispositions, such as expertise, creative thinking, and openness to experience. Finally, feedback of emotional processing is included in our model: appraisals of everyday emotions are specified as a matter of narrative content (eg, empathy with characters), whereas the aesthetic emotion is defined as an affective evaluation in the process of symbolism appraisal or the detection of compositional regularities.

Keywords: aesthetic experience; appraisal; composition; emotion; fascination; narrative.

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Figures

Figure 1.

Figure 1.

The two stages of the functional relationships between cognitive, attentional and emotional aspects of aesthetic experience of an object. Arrows indicate the direction of influence (see the text for explanation).

Figure 2.

Figure 2.

The model shows four parallel streams of aesthetic information processing and their connections with external information and internal emotional responses. Underlying dispositions for each stream are shown as well. Arrows indicate the direction of influence. Solid arrows denote primary connections, and the dashed ones denote secondary connections. (See the text for detailed explanation.)

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