Naïve Observers and Art Experts Rate Irregular Stochastic Pictures More Dynamic and Beautiful

Abstract

Several artists, neuroscientists, and art psychologists have investigated the existence of a relationship between perceived motion and beauty in figurative and abstract paintings. In our study, we created stimulus pictures by combining the same matrices, consisting of modular stochastic polygons, to obtain regular (translational symmetry) and irregular (non-symmetry) combinations. Some of these combinations consisted of many small matrices, making it difficult to read the ‘shapes’ of stochastic polygons. Our sample consisted of both art experts and non-art experts. We hypothesised that irregular combinations, with fewer and greater numbers of the same matrices, would have stimulated more perception of motion, complexity and beauty than regular compositions. Results showed that stochastic irregular combinations are generally dynamic, more complex, and more aesthetically pleasing than stochastic regular compositions. Perhaps the greater dynamism of irregular combinations influences beauty evaluation for compositions with stochastic matrices. Research has shown that specific artistic competence influences the assessment of irregular or asymmetrical stimuli as beautiful. Our study, on the other hand, shows that irregular stochastic combinations are more beautiful for both art experts and non-experts.