Search

Ambivalence describes a conflict between contrasting valences, for example, when an image appears bitter but sweet. Such a potential for revealing ever-new facets of an object or situation might trigger interest that has been related to a combination of perceptual challenge with anticipation of coping or new experience. Interest might be even intensified when we heighten our awareness of the potential multiplicity of interpretations. We present two studies with artistic photographs examining the relationship between ambivalence and interest. The first study utilized explicit evaluations and revealed a positive relationship between estimated ambivalence and interest as well as an increase in interest after exploring positive and negative semantic facets of an image. The second study utilized a forced-choice paradigm that was captured by a high-speed eyetracker. It defined dwell time and choice-ratio as alternative measures of interest. When we asked participants which of two images they wanted to learn more about, they chose ambivalent photos more often and looked slightly longer at them. We discuss these findings and further examine the potential role of artistic context for interest in ambivalence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Predictive Processing (PP) provides a theoretical framework that describes perception as a process attempting to increase the predictability of stimulations by updating predictions or exploring new sensations. Moreover, perception and action are assumed to be closely linked within this process. While organisms seem to strive for predictability, we sometimes expose ourselves to objects and situations that challenge sense-making—such conditions often break perceptual habits or offer multiple possible meanings. This paper updates a previous qualification of these experiences of 'Semantic Instability' (SeIns) by following an embodied and situated understanding of perception and cognition. We suggest that art perception essentially differs from problem-solving as in engaging with art, we typically integrate contradictory elements dynamically and without the ultimate goal of resolving the contradictions—on the contrary, SeIns itself can generate aesthetic hedonics and interest. We discuss how current embodied accounts of PP might help understand what motivates such unstable yet insightful and pleasurable nonlinear sense-making processes. This article is part of the theme issue 'Art, aesthetics and predictive processing: theoretical and empirical perspectives'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ambivalent pictures offer several interpretations of different valence-e.g., some photographs by Claudia Otto document scenes which can be perceived as sad or happy, dangerous or sweet, and so on. We show that task experiences influence the experienced valence of these images. Previous work already documented that responses to images are task-dependent and self-created insights heighten pleasure. A resulting positive mood and high self-efficacy might broaden attention to positive valence. In contrast, low self-efficacy leads to the prediction of negative task experiences and strengthens the salience of a positive experience. In our study, participants rated the valence of ambivalent photographs to be more positive after positive feedback regarding the accomplishment of a precedent puzzle. We revealed a trend of positive feedback being more effective when it followed negative experiences. The experience of ambivalent images is strongly linked to mood and self-efficacy and both is influenced by taskexperiences in psycho-aesthetic studies.

Perceptual insight, like recognizing hidden figures, increases the appreciation of visually perceived objects. We examined this Aesthetic Aha paradigm in the haptic domain. Participants were thinking aloud during haptic exploration of 11 visually nonaccessible panels. They explored them again evaluating them on liking, pleasingness, complexity, and interestingness. Afterwards they rated photographs of the panels on the same variables. Haptic pleasingness was predictable by the strength of insight (Aha!) during free exploration and the material feel. Liking was increased when complexity was high in addition. Pleasingness and interest were negatively related to each other but predicted liking in a combined model. Personality and explorative strategies were considered, for example, strength of insight was increased for ambiguity-tolerant people, and people with high need for closure explored more globally. Evaluations of haptic and visual explorations correlated significantly, and in both modalities, complexity correlated more strongly with interest than with liking. Our study transfers the Aesthetic Aha effect to the haptic domain and reveals slight differences in its hedonic quality with a potentially higher relevance of pleasingness. We suggest that revealing a (meaningful) structure during exploration-visually or haptically-can enhance positive affect and interest hereby benefits from an increased level of complexity.