Bigger is better: the influence of physical size on aesthetic preference judgments

Identifying the Effect of Cognitive Motivation with the Method Based on Temporal Association Rule Mining Concept

Being motivated has positive influences on task performance. However, motivation could result from various motives that affect different parts of the brain. Analyzing the motivation effect from all affected areas requires a high number of EEG electrodes, resulting in high cost, inflexibility, and burden to users. In various real-world applications, only the motivation effect is required for performance evaluation regardless of the motive. Analyzing the relationships between the motivation-affected brain areas associated with the task's performance could limit the required electrodes. This study introduced a method to identify the cognitive motivation effect with a reduced number of EEG electrodes. The temporal association rule mining (TARM) concept was used to analyze the relationships between attention and memorization brain areas under the effect of motivation from the cognitive motivation task. For accuracy improvement, the artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm was applied with the central limit theorem (CLT) concept to optimize the TARM parameters. From the results, our method can identify the motivation effect with only FCz and P3 electrodes, with 74.5% classification accuracy on average with individual tests.

Improving the Generalizability of Behavioral Science by Using Reality Checks: A Tool for Assessing Heterogeneity in Participants' Consumership of Study Stimuli

In attempting to draw bigger conclusions, researchers in psychology open their labs to more diverse groups of people. Yet even the most far-reaching theories must be tested with specific stimuli, materials, and methodology. To the extent that a study's stimuli are familiar beyond the lab to groups of people writ large, an experiment is said to have mundane realism-a type of external validity. We propose that an experiment's stimuli will vary in their relevance to each individual participant (such as how much they consume the stimuli outside the lab) and can be assessed using a tool: reality checks. We found that accounting for a study's mundane realism, at the individual level, significantly altered a study's results-which we found to be the case in testing well-established findings in psychology and behavioral economics. Our work suggests that measuring mundane realism (in addition to creating it) is a useful way of testing effects in psychology among the participants for whom the studies' scenarios and decisions will matter most outside of the lab.

Toward a sustainable circular economy for cigarette butts, the most common waste worldwide on the coast

The circular economy is based on the maximum use of resources by reducing, reusing, and recycling the elements used. Currently, the items littered most frequently in the world are cigarettes butts (CB) as these debris are freely disseminated in the marine habitat, they are generally difficult to collect and very complex to recycle. Litter CB is a great social problem that generates excessive economic costs and serious environmental problems. CB is also not biodegradable and highly toxic to marine organisms and presents a distinctive mixture of physical and chemical contamination. However, little research has been done on the management and recycling of this dangerous waste. Several proposals have been made to incorporate this waste into high-volume articles of direct production or recycling, but collection logistics are lacking since the current system is inefficient, in addition to the poor environmental behaviour of citizens. This work presents a current synthesis of the CB problem from all its possible aspects in order to have a global vision of the life cycle of the CB, indicating both the known and the gaps in the knowledge of each of them, and intends to give a general outline of the steps to follow to try to end such a worrying problem at the global level.

The value of banknotes: relevance of size, colour and design

In the current study, we evaluate the relevance of three physical features when people retrieve the monetary value of banknotes. To this end, three monetary comparison tasks were designed in which in each trial a pair of banknotes were presented and participants selected the one with higher monetary value. In each task, a different banknote feature (size, colour and design) was examined and a congruent and an incongruent condition (the value of the physical feature corresponded or not to its actual value, respectively) were compared to a neutral condition (no information about the physical feature was provided). We found a pattern of facilitation and interference effects which suggests that size is the most relevant physical feature for accessing the monetary value of banknotes followed by colour. However, the availability of a variety of designs across banknotes seemed not to facilitate the performance of the task, but rather the opposite, hindering the monetary comparison task.

The influence of visitor-based social contextual information on visitors’ museum experience

Visitor-centered approaches have been widely discussed in the museum experience research field. One notable approach was suggested by Falk and Dierking, who defined museum visitor experience as having a physical, personal, and social context. Many studies have been conducted based on this approach, yet the interactions between personal and social contexts have not been fully researched. Since previous studies related to these interactions have focused on the face-to-face conversation of visitor groups, attempts to provide the social information contributed by visitors have not progressed. To fill this gap, we examined such interactions in collaboration with the Lee-Ungno Art Museum in South Korea. Specifically, we investigated the influence of individual visitors’ social contextual information about their art museum experience. This data, which we call “visitor-based social contextual information” (VSCI), is the social information individuals provide—feedback, reactions, or behavioral data—that can be applied to facilitate interactions in a social context. The study included three stages: In Stage 1, we conducted an online survey for a preliminary investigation of visitors’ requirements for VSCI. In Stage 2, we designed a mobile application prototype. Finally, in Stage 3, we used the prototype in an experiment to investigate the influence of VSCI on museum experience based on visitors’ behaviors and reactions. Our results indicate that VSCI positively impacts visitors’ museum experiences. Using VSCI enables visitors to compare their thoughts with others and gain insights about art appreciation, thus allowing them to experience the exhibition from new perspectives. The results of this novel examination of a VSCI application suggest that it may be used to guide strategies for enhancing the experience of museum visitors.

The Size-Value Compatibility Effect

This study aimed to examine the relationship between an object's physical size and judgements of its value. Two preregistered experiments were performed to explore a size-value compatibility effect. Two images of Japanese-yen coins with different values but similar actual sizes (10-yen and 100-yen) were manipulated for size and presented side-by-side on a computer screen. Participants judged which coin was larger or smaller based on the images. Results revealed that size judgements were slower and less accurate when the lower-value coin was presented as larger than the higher-value coin, compared to when the lower-value coin was presented as smaller. This effect was observed even after participants had been allowed to examine the physical coins prior to the experiment to judge their actual size. This finding suggests that participants perceived the coins' values based on their sizes, indicating it may be difficult for many people to stop thinking 'better is bigger'.

Individual Differences in Aesthetic Preferences for Multi-Sensorial Stimulation

The aim of the current project was to investigate aesthetics in multi-sensorial stimulation and to explore individual differences in the process. We measured the aesthetics of interactive objects (IOs) which are three-dimensional objects with electronic components that exhibit an autonomous behaviour when handled, e.g., vibrating, playing a sound, or lighting-up. The Q-sorting procedure of Q-methodology was applied. Data were analysed by following the Qmulti protocol. The results suggested that overall participants preferred IOs that (i) vibrate, (ii) have rough surface texture, and (iii) are round. No particular preference emerged about the size of the IOs. When making an aesthetic judgment, participants paid more attention to the behaviour variable of the IOs than the size, contour or surface texture. In addition, three clusters of participants were identified, suggesting that individual differences existed in the aesthetics of IOs. Without proper consideration of potential individual differences, aesthetic scholars may face the risk of having significant effects masked by individual differences. Only by paying attention to this issue can more meaningful findings be generated to contribute to the field of aesthetics.

Who says “larger” and who says “smaller”? Individual differences in the language of comparison

When comparing a pair of attribute values, English speakers can use a “larger” comparative (“A is larger/longer/higher/more than B”) or a “smaller” comparative (“B is smaller/shorter/lower/less than A”). This choice matters because it affects people’s inferences about the absolute magnitudes of the compared items, and influences the perceived truthfulness of the comparative sentence itself. In 4 studies (total N = 2335), we investigated the language that people use to describe ordinal relations between attributes. Specifically, we examined whether demography, emotion, and personality predict the tendency to use “larger” comparatives rather than “smaller” ones. Participants viewed pairs of items differing in a single attribute and indicated the word they would use to describe the relationship between them; they also completed a series of self-report measures. Replicating previous work, we found a robust tendency to use “larger” comparatives, both when people chose between two adjectives and when they freely produced their own words in a sentence completion task. We also found that this tendency was more pronounced in older participants, those with positive mood or outlook, and among people high in agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability. However, these effects were very small, with meta-analytic effect sizes indicating they explain less than 1% of the variance. We conclude that, although people’s use of comparative adjectives is influenced by properties of the items that are being compared, the way that people describe magnitude relations is relatively stable across variation in a range of important traits and dispositions, protecting decision-makers from a potentially undesirable source of bias in their inferences and representations of described options.

On the perceptual aesthetics of interactive objects

This study examined the aesthetics of interactive objects (IOs), which are three-dimensional physical artefacts that exhibit autonomous behaviour when handled. The aim of the research was threefold: first, to investigate whether aesthetic preference for distinctive objects' structures emerges in compound stimulation; second, to explore whether there exists aesthetic preference for distinctive objects' behaviours; and, finally, to test whether there exists aesthetic preference for specific combinations of objects' structures and behaviours. The following variables were systematically manipulated: (a) IOs' contour (rounded vs angular), (b) IOs' size (small vs large), (c) IOs' surface texture (rough vs smooth), and (d) IOs' behaviour (lighting, sounding, vibrating, and quiescent). Results show that behaviour was the dominant factor: it influenced aesthetics more than any other characteristic; vibrating IOs were preferred over lighting and sounding IOs, supporting the importance of haptic processing in aesthetics. Results did not confirm the size and smoothness effects previously reported in vision and touch, respectively, which suggests that the aesthetic preference that emerges in isolated conditions may be different in compound stimulation. Results corroborate the smooth curvature effect. We suggest that behavior may be an aesthetic primitive.

Augmented Reality for Evaluating Low Environmental Impact 3D Concepts in Industrial Design

This work uses augmented reality (AR) as a supplementary tool in teacher's evaluation of low environmental impact 3D concepts in industrial design, which are part of contents in subjects taken by fifth semester undergraduate students of Industrial Design at the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico (UAEM), specifically in the Tool Design Workshop. Design criteria are presented and they will be used to evaluate 3D concepts through the use of AR. The project is developed in three stages: 1) presenting the 3D concept through AR scenarios in order to be evaluated, 2) visual evaluation with established technical criteria, and 3) evaluation feedback so as to improve the 3D concept. The aim is to reduce evaluation subjectivity in order to reduce production costs, waste generation, and energy use in producing mockups and models.

Biological motion distorts size perception

Visual illusions explore the limits of sensory processing and provide an ideal testbed to study perception. Size illusions - stimuli whose size is consistently misperceived - do not only result from sensory cues, but can also be induced by cognitive factors, such as social status. Here we investigate, whether the ecological relevance of biological motion can also distort perceived size. We asked observers to judge the size of point-light walkers (PLWs), configurations of dots whose movements induce the perception of human movement, and visually matched control stimuli (inverted PLWs). We find that upright PLWs are consistently judged as larger than inverted PLWs, while static point-light figures do not elicit the same effect. We also show the phenomenon using an indirect paradigm: observers judged the relative size of a disc that followed an inverted PLW larger than a disc following an upright PLW. We interpret this as a contrast effect: The upright PLW is perceived larger and thus the subsequent disc is judged smaller. Together, these results demonstrate that ecologically relevant biological-motion stimuli are perceived larger than visually matched control stimuli. Our findings present a novel case of illusory size perception, where ecological importance leads to a distorted perception of size.

Sizing Up Objects: The Effect of Diminutive Forms on Positive Mood, Value, and Size Judgments

Language (e.g., structure, morphology, and wording) can direct our attention toward the specific properties of an object, in turn influencing the mental representation of that same object. In this paper, we examined this idea by focusing on a particular linguistic form of diminution used in many languages (e.g., in Polish, Spanish, and Portuguese) to refer to an object as being “smaller.” Interestingly, although objects are usually considered “better” when they are bigger in size, objects described with linguistic diminution can also refer to those that are emotionally positive. Across three experiments conducted in Polish, we examined this lexical ambiguity in terms of mood (Experiment 1), subjective quality and monetary value (Experiment 2), and choice selection (Experiment 3). Overall, we found that people evaluate objects differently depending on the linguistic form (i.e., with or without diminution) with which they are described, and that it was related to the perceptual representation of these objects, and not their affective status. Objects described with diminution are evaluated as less satisfying and of lesser value and this effect is attributed to the way participants represent the objects (i.e., encoded and memorized). The generalizability of these effects is discussed.

Big Money: The Effect of Money Size on Value Perceptions and Saving Motivation

Motivated perception has been shown to affect people's estimates of money (e.g., perceiving coins as larger than real size). In the present research, we examine whether simply varying the size of a picture of money can affect its perceived value and subsequent decisions. Participants presented with a picture of money enlarged by 15% perceived the depicted money as more valuable compared with those seeing a real-size picture (Study 1). When told to imagine their own cash and banked money in the depicted form, participants presented with a picture enlarged by 15% felt more subjectively wealthy and reported fewer intentions to conserve their money compared with those seeing a real-size picture of the same money (Study 2). Together, these studies suggest that judgments about money and even attitudes toward personal spending can be influenced by manipulating the size of a picture of money.

Can we measure beauty? Computational evaluation of coral reef aesthetics

The natural beauty of coral reefs attracts millions of tourists worldwide resulting in substantial revenues for the adjoining economies. Although their visual appearance is a pivotal factor attracting humans to coral reefs current monitoring protocols exclusively target biogeochemical parameters, neglecting changes in their aesthetic appearance. Here we introduce a standardized computational approach to assess coral reef environments based on 109 visual features designed to evaluate the aesthetic appearance of art. The main feature groups include color intensity and diversity of the image, relative size, color, and distribution of discernable objects within the image, and texture. Specific coral reef aesthetic values combining all 109 features were calibrated against an established biogeochemical assessment (NCEAS) using machine learning algorithms. These values were generated for ∼2,100 random photographic images collected from 9 coral reef locations exposed to varying levels of anthropogenic influence across 2 ocean systems. Aesthetic values proved accurate predictors of the NCEAS scores (root mean square error < 5 for N ≥ 3) and significantly correlated to microbial abundance at each site. This shows that mathematical approaches designed to assess the aesthetic appearance of photographic images can be used as an inexpensive monitoring tool for coral reef ecosystems. It further suggests that human perception of aesthetics is not purely subjective but influenced by inherent reactions towards measurable visual cues. By quantifying aesthetic features of coral reef systems this method provides a cost efficient monitoring tool that targets one of the most important socioeconomic values of coral reefs directly tied to revenue for its local population.

Aesthetic perception and its minimal content: a naturalistic perspective

Aesthetic perception is one of the most interesting topics for philosophers and scientists who investigate how it influences our interactions with objects and states of affairs. Over the last few years, several studies have attempted to determine "how aesthetics is represented in an object," and how a specific feature of an object could evoke the respective feelings during perception. Despite the vast number of approaches and models, we believe that these explanations do not resolve the problem concerning the conditions under which aesthetic perception occurs, and what constitutes the content of these perceptions. Adopting a naturalistic perspective, we here view aesthetic perception as a normative process that enables agents to enhance their interactions with physical and socio-cultural environments. Considering perception as an anticipatory and preparatory process of detection and evaluation of indications of potential interactions (what we call "interactive affordances"), we argue that the minimal content of aesthetic perception is an emotionally valued indication of interaction potentiality. Aesthetic perception allows an agent to normatively anticipate interaction potentialities, thus increasing sense making and reducing the uncertainty of interaction. This conception of aesthetic perception is compatible with contemporary evidence from neuroscience, experimental aesthetics, and interaction design. The proposed model overcomes several problems of transcendental, art-centered, and objective aesthetics as it offers an alternative to the idea of aesthetic objects that carry inherent values by explaining "the aesthetic" as emergent in perception within a context of uncertain interaction.

Does screen size matter for smartphones? Utilitarian and hedonic effects of screen size on smartphone adoption

This study explores the psychological effects of screen size on smartphone adoption by proposing an extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) that integrates an empirical comparison between large and small screens with perceived control, affective quality, and the original TAM constructs. A structural equation modeling analysis was conducted on data collected from a between-subjects experiment (N=130) in which users performed a web-based task on a smartphone with either a large (5.3 inches) or a small (3.7 inches) screen. Results show that a large screen, compared to a small screen, is likely to lead to higher smartphone adoption by simultaneously promoting both the utilitarian and hedonic qualities of smartphones, which in turn positively influence perceived ease of use of-and attitude toward-the device respectively. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Reversed better-than-average effect in direct comparisons of nonsocial stimuli depends on the set size

Studies on direct comparative judgments typically show that, for items that are positively evaluated, a single item randomly drawn from a larger set of similar items tends to be judged as better than average (the BTA effect). However, Windschitl, Conybeare, and Krizan (2008) demonstrated that, under timing conditions that do not favor focusing attention on the single item, the reversal of the BTA effect occurs. We report two experiments showing that the magnitude of the reversed BTA effect increases as a function of the size of a multiitem referent with which a single item target is compared. Specifically, in direct comparative judgments of the attractiveness of positively evaluated objects (nice-looking cloth buttons, attractive buildings, or cupcakes), underestimation of the attractiveness of singletons, as compared with a multiitem set (reversed BTA effect), increased with the increased set size. Analysis of absolute judgments obtained for singletons and for small and large multiitem sets suggests that, for attractive stimuli, both the reversed BTA effect in comparative judgments and its sensitivity to set size occur as a result of a positive relationship between set size and perceived attractiveness in absolute judgments.

The influence of presentation format on the "bigger is better" (BIB) effect

Two experiments tested the "bigger is better" (BIB) effect, whereby bigger objects are perceived more favorably than smaller ones. In Experiment 1, participants directly compared pairs of objects and a strong BIB effect was obtained for both positively and negatively valenced stimuli. In Experiment 2, comparative and absolute evaluations were combined in a single experiment and the BIB effect was mediated for positively and negatively valenced stimuli. Taken in combination, the data support a complex hypothesis that pair-wise presentations induce a comparative process that causes a BIB effect. But when objects are evaluated separately, size and valence interact such that increased size evokes more positive ratings of positive objects and more negative ratings for negative objects.

Size-brightness correspondence: crosstalk and congruity among dimensions of connotative meaning

Following Karwoski, Odbert, and Osgood (Journal of General Psychology 26:199-222, 1942), in the present article, cross-sensory correspondences are proposed to reflect the alignment of, and extensive bidirectional cross-activation among, dimensions of connotative meaning. The size-brightness correspondence predicted on this basis (in which smaller is aligned with brighter) was confirmed in two ways. First, when participants explored three wooden balls of different size by touch alone and indicated how bright they thought each of them was, the smaller ball was judged to be brighter than the bigger ball. Second, when these two balls served as response keys in a speeded brightness-classification task, participants were quicker and more likely to be correct when confirming that a stimulus was bright (dark) when this required them to press the smaller (bigger) key, than when it required them to press the bigger (smaller) key. This congruity effect originated from interactions embedded in the later stages of information processing concerned with stimulus classification and response selection. These results, together with the observation that the cross-sensory features associated with smallness are the same as those associated with higher pitch sounds (i.e., both attributes are more active, brighter, faster, lighter in weight, quieter, sharper, and weaker than their opposites), support the suggestion that there exists a core set of cross-sensory correspondences that emerges whichever stimulus feature is used to probe it.

Sizing Opportunity

An abundance of research has investigated the effects of motivational states on size estimates, with initially a strong focus on the functionality of size overestimations. We suggest and found, however, that goal-relevant objects can be over- and underestimated, depending on which size is goal congruent. Specifically, we found that people with a throwing goal estimated (verbally and via visual matching) the size of a basketball as smaller than people without a throwing goal; hoop size estimates showed the reverse effect (Experiments 1 and 2). In Experiment 3, sex-primed men estimated a woman’s breasts as larger than neutral-primed men; women showed the reverse effect. Finally, Experiment 4 replicated this finding for people in impulsive but not reflective cognitive states, suggesting that biased size estimation is a spontaneous process that promotes readiness for goal pursuit. We conclude that bigger is not always better; people size the world as it best suits them.

Perception while watching movies: Effects of physical screen size and scene type

Over the last decade, television screens and display monitors have increased in size considerably, but has this improved our televisual experience? Our working hypothesis was that the audiences adopt a general strategy that "bigger is better." However, as our visual perceptions do not tap directly into basic retinal image properties such as retinal image size (C. A. Burbeck, 1987), we wondered whether object size itself might be an important factor. To test this, we needed a task that would tap into the subjective experiences of participants watching a movie on different-sized displays with the same retinal subtense. Our participants used a line bisection task to self-report their level of "presence" (i.e., their involvement with the movie) at several target locations that were probed in a 45-min section of the movie "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly." Measures of pupil dilation and reaction time to the probes were also obtained. In Experiment 1, we found that subjective ratings of presence increased with physical screen size, supporting our hypothesis. Face scenes also produced higher presence scores than landscape scenes for both screen sizes. In Experiment 2, reaction time and pupil dilation results showed the same trends as the presence ratings and pupil dilation correlated with presence ratings, providing some validation of the method. Overall, the results suggest that real-time measures of subjective presence might be a valuable tool for measuring audience experience for different types of (i) display and (ii) audiovisual material.

Emotional valence modulates the preference for curved objects

Previous studies have shown that people prefer objects with curved contours over objects with sharp contours. However, those studies used stimuli that were mainly neutral in emotional valence. We tested here the interplay between visual features and general valence as positive or negative. After replicating curvature preferences for neutral objects, we used positive (cake, chocolate) and negative (snake, bomb) stimuli to examine if emotional valence-through response prioritisation-modulates the preference for curved objects. We found that people indeed preferred the curved versions of objects to the sharp versions of the same objects, but only if the objects were neutral or positive in emotional valence. There were no difference in liking for objects with negative emotional valence. This is evidence that the aesthetic response is adaptive, in this case prioritising valence over contour as demanded by the general semantic classification.

Conceptual Metaphors of Affect

Emotional experiences are often described in metaphoric language. A major question in linguistics and cognitive science is whether such metaphoric linguistic expressions reflect a deeper principle of cognition. Are abstract concepts structured by the embodied, sensorimotor domains that we use to describe them? This review presents the argument for conceptual metaphors of affect and summarizes recent findings from empirical studies. These findings show that, consistent with the conceptual metaphor account, the associations between affect and physical domains such as spatial position, musical pitch, brightness, and size which are captured in linguistic metaphors also influence performance on attention, memory and judgment tasks. Despite this evidence, a number of concerns with metaphor as an account of affect representation are considered.

Just how stable are stable aesthetic features? Symmetry, complexity, and the jaws of massive familiarization

Using both group- and individual-level analyses, we explored the complex and dynamic effects of basic visual features on aesthetic judgment. Specifically, the mediating influence of familiarization on the combined effects of complexity and symmetry on aesthetic judgment was examined. Experiment 1 showed that symmetry and complexity are indeed powerful determinants of aesthetic judgment. Experiment 2 demonstrated that massive familiarization generated contrast effects for complexity: participants familiarized to simple stimuli subsequently judged complex stimuli more beautiful and participants familiarized to complex stimuli subsequently judged simple stimuli more beautiful. In contrast, moderate familiarization in Experiment 3 did not elicit the above effects. Group-level analyses were augmented with judgment analyses of individual response patterns resulting in a more comprehensive assessment of aesthetic judgment.

Experimental dissociations between memory measures: influence of retrieval strategies

The objective of this study was to explore the participants' processing strategies on the mere exposure effect, object decision priming and explicit recognition. In Experiments 1, we observed that recognition and the mere exposure effect for unfamiliar three-dimensional objects were not dissociated by plane rotations in the same way as recognition and object decision priming. However, we showed that, under identical conditions, prompting analytic (part-based) processing at testing produced a large plane rotation effect on recognition and the mere exposure effect similar to that observed for object decision priming (Experiment 2). Furthermore, inducing a non-analytic (whole-based) processing strategy at testing produced a reduced plane rotation effect on recognition and object decision (Experiments 3 and 4), similar to that observed for the mere exposure effect. These findings suggest that participants' processing strategies influence performance on the three tasks.