Aesthetic preferences for prototypical movements in human actions

Chen, Y.-C., Pollick, F. and Lu, H. (2023) Aesthetic preferences for prototypical movements in human actions. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 8(1), 55. (doi: 10.1186/s41235-023-00510-0) (PMID:37589891) (PMCID:PMC10435434)

Abstract

A commonplace sight is seeing other people walk. Our visual system specializes in processing such actions. Notably, we are not only quick to recognize actions, but also quick to judge how elegantly (or not) people walk. What movements appear appealing, and why do we have such aesthetic experiences? Do aesthetic preferences for body movements arise simply from perceiving others’ positive emotions? To answer these questions, we showed observers different point-light walkers who expressed neutral, happy, angry, or sad emotions through their movements and measured the observers’ impressions of aesthetic appeal, emotion positivity, and naturalness of these movements. Three experiments were conducted. People showed consensus in aesthetic impressions even after controlling for emotion positivity, finding prototypical walks more aesthetically pleasing than atypical walks. This aesthetic prototype effect could be accounted for by a computational model in which walking actions are treated as a single category (as opposed to multiple emotion categories). The aesthetic impressions were affected both directly by the objective prototypicality of the movements, and indirectly through the mediation of perceived naturalness. These findings extend the boundary of category learning, and hint at possible functions for action aesthetics.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This study was funded by National Science Foundation BSC-1655300 awarded to HL.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Pollick, Professor Frank
• Authors: Chen, Y.-C., Pollick, F., and Lu, H.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Psychology & Neuroscience
• Journal Name: Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications
• Publisher: SpringerOpen
• ISSN: 2365-7464
• ISSN (Online): 2365-7464
• Published Online: 17 August 2023
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © The Author(s) 2023
• First Published: First published in Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications 8(1):55
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons license