Positive fEMG Patterns with Ambiguity in Paintings

Frontiers in Psychology

Martina Jakesch¹ 

关键词: empirical aesthetics;    ambiguity;    fEMG;    emotion;    fluency;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00785

学科分类：心理学（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Whereas ambiguity in everyday life is often negatively evaluated, it is considered key in art appreciation. In a facial EMG study, we tested whether the positive role of visual ambiguity in paintings is reflected in a continuous affective evaluation on a subtle level. We presented ambiguous (disfluent) and non-ambiguous (fluent) versions of Magritte paintings and found that M. Zygomaticus major activation was higher and M. corrugator supercilii activation was lower for ambiguous than for non-ambiguous versions. Our findings reflect a positive continuous affective evaluation to visual ambiguity in paintings over the 5 s presentation time. We claim that this finding is indirect evidence for the hypothesis that visual stimuli classified as art, evoke a safe state for indulging into experiencing ambiguity, challenging the notion that processing fluency is generally related to positive affect.

【 授权许可】

CC BY