How Does Knowledge About an Artist's Disability Change the Aesthetic Experience?

Area of Science:

• Psychology of Aesthetics
• Art Perception
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Aesthetic appreciation is influenced by cognitive processes and the reward of understanding challenging art.
• Previous models suggest making sense of art impacts aesthetic judgments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if knowledge of an artist's visual disability influences appreciation of ambiguous artworks.
• To explore how artist disability information affects viewers' aesthetic emotions.
• To examine this effect across different art categories: photos, sculptures, and drawings.

Main Methods:

• 145 nonexpert viewers assessed 32 artworks by visually impaired amateur artists.
• Artworks included photos, sculptures, and drawings.
• Aesthetic appreciation (liking, value) and emotions (valence, arousal, dominance, origin, significance) were measured using Self-Assessment Manikin scales.

Main Results:

• Knowledge of the artist's disability positively influenced appreciation, but only for sculptures and drawings, not photos.
• This effect was significant for artworks with lower detectability (difficulty in interpretation).
• A similar pattern was observed for arousal and significance, indicating context matters for aesthetic experience.

Conclusions:

• Information about an artist's disability can enhance aesthetic appreciation, particularly for more ambiguous or difficult-to-interpret works.
• The impact of disability information is moderated by artwork category and its inherent interpretability.
• This highlights the role of cognitive context and interpretative challenges in shaping aesthetic responses.