Psychophysics of perceptual organization and aesthetics of visual patterns: general principles and individual differences

In spite of a century-long research tradition of research on perceptual organization, psychophysical experiments on the principles of perceptual grouping and figure-ground organization are still relatively scarce. And yet, it is of crucial importance to establish quantitative relationships between the relevant stimulus properties and the equivalent characteristics of their perception. A similar gap is present in the long tradition of empirical aesthetics of visual patterns. In spite of the central importance of perceptual organization principles in determining the aesthetic appeal of visual patterns, surprisingly little research is conducted to investigate this relationship quantitatively in good solid psychophysical experiments. The overall goal of this PhD project is to fill these two gaps. We will study the principles of perceptual organization in psychophysical experiments and investigate their role in the aesthetic appeal of visual patterns. We will do this at the group level as well as at the level of (clusters of) individuals. One of the main tools will be OCTA, the Order and Complexity Toolbox for Aesthetics, recently developed by another PhD student in the lab (Eline Van Geert). In addition, psychometric functions will be established by adaptive procedures in combination with the method of constant stimuli. For aesthetics, we will mainly rely on 5-point Likert scales for major aesthetic qualities like pleasingness, interestingness, complexity, order, uniformity, and balance.