Aesthetic preferences: influence of perceptual ability, age and complexity of stimulus

Aesthetic preferences for overlapping geometrical figures were studied with reference to perceptual abilities and age of 80 subjects in the context of the theory of functional pleasure. According to the working hypothesis, the level of complexity (number of crossings) of the preferred stimulus varies with the subjects' perceptual capacities as measured by an overlapping figures test and an embedded figures test. The results confirm this hypothesis with significant correlations between the two variables. Changes in preference for complexity with age (20 subjects each of 6, 8, 11, and 14 yr.) is seen as related to changes in perceptual ability. The general interpretation suggests that aesthetic preferences are partly based on the pleasure resulting from the quality of functioning of the perceptual mechanisms.