Preference for complexity in the auditory and visual modes

The contribution of sex and age was determined in comparisons of complexity preference in the auditory and visual modes. Six tonal passages and 22 random polygons of varying complexity constituted the auditory and visual stimuli, respectively. Preferences for complexity were elicited from 30 M and 30 F Ss, all of similar socio-economic status, in each of the age groups 5 and 17 yrs. Preference for complexity was not correlated across auditory and visual modes for any age or sex group. It was interesting, however, that although for 5-yr-old boys there was anon-significant inverse relationship between modes, and for 17-yr-old youths there was a non-significant direct relationship, the difference between these two correlations was significant. There was a significant (p less than .001) increase in visual complexity preference with age, although no such effect was found for auditory complexity; preference in the auditory mode remained at a moderate level for all groups.