M. S. AtKisson
>irst off, the experiment I described had no intention of exploring the
>"aesthetic value" of the two images presented. The hypothesis which was
>being tested (this is science, not art) was that pre-presentation would
>influence which image a subject preferred, given a fairly quick
>presentation and response paradigm. The subjects were not asked to write
>a critical essay on why one indecipherable kanji appealed to them at that
>moment more than another indecipherable kanji.
>
>I repeat, aesthetics were not the point of the experiment,
Right.
But many aesthetic theories base something's aesthetic value on how
people respond to it (and some just on whether they like it for this or
that).
So on the face of it, this sort of research might bear on aesthetics. I
thought it was mentioned to provide an example of something that might
indirectly apply to aesthetics, as proof that what brain studies might
have to do with aesthetics.
>Again, I brought up the experiment not as an explanation for aesthetic
>judgements (good god, no!), but as a point of human unconscious reactions
>which might underly a person's unexamined preferences, or inform an
>examination thereof.
But won't our unexamined preferences have a lot to do with our aesthetic
judgments on some aesthetic theories?
- George
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