Ratna Cahaya, Ady Nugeraha, Mariska Legia, Rani Aryani Widjono
{"title":"Does the Source Matter? An Experimental Study on User Perception of AI-Generated Versus Human-Authored Curatorial Narratives","authors":"Ratna Cahaya, Ady Nugeraha, Mariska Legia, Rani Aryani Widjono","doi":"10.1177/02762374261449067","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02762374261449067","url":null,"abstract":"This study investigates how curatorial attribution (AI versus human) influences audience perception across Narrative Coherence, legitimacy, and Aesthetic-Emotional Engagement. Utilizing a 2 × 2 factorial design (N = 281), participants evaluated identical artworks under varying provenance labels. Results from PLS-SEM indicate that while Narrative Coherence was not statistically significant, a marginal trend suggests a possible influence of attribution. The “Human” label significantly enhances perceived legitimacy and Aesthetic-Emotional Engagement. Notably, Signal Detection Theory (SDT) analysis indicates limited discrimination ability, suggesting that participants were generally unable to reliably distinguish between AI and human authored texts. However, Aesthetic-Emotional Engagement emerged as the primary significant mediator of Overall Evaluation. These findings demonstrate an attribution-based asymmetry, where evaluations appear to be shaped more by attribution cues than by accurate source identification. This research extends the Model of Aesthetic Experience, offering strategic implications for galleries regarding the integration of AI efficiency with human expertise.","PeriodicalId":45870,"journal":{"name":"Empirical Studies of the Arts","volume":"22 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2026-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148285706","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Role of Virtual Reality (VR) in Managing Performance Anxiety for Pianists","authors":"Dong Lu","doi":"10.1177/02762374261449493","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02762374261449493","url":null,"abstract":"Through the provision of realistic, simulated performance settings, this study explores the use of virtual reality (VR) as an innovative tool for managing performance anxiety in pianists. Assessing the efficacy of VR-based exposure treatment in lowering pianists’ psychological and physiological indicators of anxiety was the main goal of the study. A quasi-experimental research design was used, with 50 pianists randomly assigned to either a VR intervention group or a control group practicing traditional relaxation techniques. This study explores the use of VR as an innovative tool for managing performance anxiety in pianists by providing immersive, simulated performance environments. The primary objective of the study is to assess the effectiveness of VR-based exposure therapy in reducing both psychological and physiological markers of anxiety. The VR group's performance anxiety was significantly reduced, as evidenced by a 23.4% increase in HRV and a 26.9% drop in self-reported anxiety levels.","PeriodicalId":45870,"journal":{"name":"Empirical Studies of the Arts","volume":"34 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2026-05-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148291403","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Symmetry and Aesthetic Judgments in Ikebana: The Japanese Art of Flower Arrangement","authors":"Jimpei Hitsuwari, Thomas Jacobsen","doi":"10.1177/02762374261445299","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02762374261445299","url":null,"abstract":"This study presents the first investigation of aesthetic evaluation in ikebana, Japanese art of flower arrangement characterised by asymmetry. While symmetry has been central in empirical aesthetics, we examined how subjective and objective symmetry relate to beauty and liking in this significant art form. A total of 245 Japanese adults evaluated 75 professional ikebana images on beauty, liking, and perceived symmetry. Objective symmetry was assessed with computer vision analysis. Contrary to expectations, objective and subjective symmetry were uncorrelated. Subjective symmetry predicted both beauty and liking, with a shallow U-shaped relation for beauty. Ikebana experience moderated this effect, as less experienced participants preferred symmetry more strongly, consistent with cognitive mastering theory. These findings suggest that perceived balance, rather than pixel-level symmetry, drives aesthetic evaluation in ikebana. More broadly, the study shows how cultural expertise shapes aesthetic judgement and highlights the value of examining culturally situated practices for cross-cultural empirical aesthetics.","PeriodicalId":45870,"journal":{"name":"Empirical Studies of the Arts","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2026-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147743906","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Dominance of Audio Features in Audience Emotion: A Multimodal EEG Analysis of Music Videos","authors":"Jiaxuan Wang, Yuqing Liu, Yao Song","doi":"10.1177/02762374261426246","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02762374261426246","url":null,"abstract":"This study investigates how auditory, visual, and lyrical features in music videos shape emotional responses, using EEG data from 26 participants. Five widely viewed music videos were selected based on their global popularity and cross-cultural appeal. A CNN–LSTM model classified emotional states with 97.67% accuracy, and complementary regression results showed strong generalization (best model RMSE = 0.15, MAE = 0.10). Feature selection reduced 27 candidates to a sparse set dominated by auditory and visual cues, and SHAP interpretation revealed a clear modality hierarchy: pitch- and dynamics-related auditory features accounted for the largest share of predictive importance, visual color properties (hue, saturation) provided secondary influence, and lyrical sentiment contributed least. These findings support neuroaesthetic accounts in which low-level sensory structure drives rapid affective appraisal, with visual tone refining emotional meaning. Practically, the results suggest that deliberate control of pitch/dynamics can reliably steer emotional engagement in music-video creation for diverse audiences.","PeriodicalId":45870,"journal":{"name":"Empirical Studies of the Arts","volume":"12 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2026-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147682080","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"When Labels Matter More: Behavioral and Eye-Tracking Evidence on Aesthetic Judgment of AI-Generated and Human-Created Paintings by Lay Viewers","authors":"Yan Wang, Xiaoxue Leng, Guohao He, Hongyi Lin","doi":"10.1177/02762374261441560","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02762374261441560","url":null,"abstract":"Although Artificial Intelligence (AI) can now produce exquisite artworks, evidence suggests that people hold biases against AI-generated art. Previous studies have primarily relied on self-report measures to examine the effects of creator labels and the actual source of artworks, with limited attention to viewers’ visual processing (e.g., fixation duration, pupil size, etc.) during art perception. Through three studies, the present study extends this literature by integrating eye-tracking with self-reports to investigate how top-down processing and bottom-up processing influence aesthetic judgments among lay participants. The results showed that a preference for paintings labeled as human-created under conditions in which participants could not reliably distinguish the artworks’ actual sources. Although the eye-tracking data indicated that artworks labeled as AI led to more dispersed gaze patterns, the overall results were mixed. These findings highlight the role of contextual and labeling information in aesthetic evaluations. Future research should promote transparency to reduce AI-label bias.","PeriodicalId":45870,"journal":{"name":"Empirical Studies of the Arts","volume":"133 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2026-04-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147682079","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Does Priming Improve Visitor Experience? Evidence from a Museum-Based Study","authors":"Marta Pizzolante, Annalisa Banzi, Andrea Gaggioli","doi":"10.1177/02762374261441494","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02762374261441494","url":null,"abstract":"Priming — exposure to a stimulus that influences responses to a subsequent, related stimulus — has been widely studied in laboratory settings but rarely examined in ecological cultural contexts such as museums. This exploratory study investigated whether different priming modalities influence museum experiences across learning, affect, and pro-environmental attitudes. At the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan, 161 visitors were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: visual, semantic, visuo-semantic priming or a no priming control condition. One-way ANOVA revealed no overall effect of priming condition on learning; however, exploratory pairwise comparisons indicated that the visuo-semantic condition produced higher learning scores than the visual condition alone (Cohen's d = 0.54, 95% CI [0.13, 0.95]). Unexpectedly, the control condition reported higher recycling intentions and intrinsic motivation than the visual priming condition. Overall, the findings suggest selective differences between priming modalities and underscore both the potential and the limits of applying cognitive principles in cultural settings.","PeriodicalId":45870,"journal":{"name":"Empirical Studies of the Arts","volume":"33 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2026-04-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147682078","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jurgis Peters, Mila Bujić, Riku Roihankorpi, Juho Hamari
{"title":"Designing for Aesthetic Awe: Self-Transcendent Experiences with Generative AI and Augmented Self-Reflection","authors":"Jurgis Peters, Mila Bujić, Riku Roihankorpi, Juho Hamari","doi":"10.1177/02762374261437049","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02762374261437049","url":null,"abstract":"Previous research has often relied on passive observation of external phenomena when exploring technology-mediated self-transcendent experiences, overlooking co-creative, embodied interactivity. This study addresses this gap by investigating how aesthetic awe can be intentionally designed for using a novel Generative AI enabled interactive installation that augments a participant's self-reflection in real-time We conducted a within-subjects experiment (N = 40) with four scenarios, each employing a distinct artistic design strategy. Experiences were evaluated using psychometric instruments for awe, self-immersion, and individual traits, alongside subjective impact ratings. Findings suggested two psychological pathways to awe: a ‘Connection-Driven’ pathway, utilising realistic, narrative-led stimuli, fostered higher self-immersion and activated the Connectedness facet of awe; and a ‘Vastness-Driven’ pathway, employing abstract and unpredictable stimuli, activated the perceived Vastness and Accommodation facets of awe, despite lower self-immersion. Furthermore, individual traits were significant predictors of the experience, with Self-Transcendence, Engagement with Beauty, and Neuroticism all positively correlating with reported awe experience.","PeriodicalId":45870,"journal":{"name":"Empirical Studies of the Arts","volume":"64 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2026-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147586563","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Conscious vs. Preconscious Affective Priming Modulate Beauty Ratings and Gaze Patterns in AI-Generated Paintings","authors":"Erdem Taskiran, Alessandro Grecucci, Fatma Ebru Köse","doi":"10.1177/02762374261434845","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02762374261434845","url":null,"abstract":"Research on how affective priming influences art appreciation remains limited and contradictory. This study examined how unpleasant versus neutral primes affect beauty ratings and eye-movement patterns across abstract, landscape, and portrait paintings, comparing conscious (1000 ms) and preconscious (50 ms) prime presentations. Fifty-two participants rated 120 AI-generated paintings at baseline, then re-evaluated them two weeks later following affective primes while eye movements were recorded. Results revealed that painting category independently influenced rating changes, with abstract paintings showing larger decreases than landscapes and portraits. Critically, unpleasant primes reduced beauty ratings only under conscious presentation (p = .006), with no effect during preconscious viewing. Eye-tracking data (N = 48) showed the conscious group displayed less exploratory viewing behavior—fewer fixations, saccades, and shorter scan-paths—regardless of prime valence. Painting type also modulated scan-path length. These findings demonstrate that conscious awareness is necessary for negative affect to bias aesthetic judgments, while awareness level independently constrains visual exploration patterns.","PeriodicalId":45870,"journal":{"name":"Empirical Studies of the Arts","volume":"25 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2026-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147536232","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Narrative Review of the Concept of Aesthetic Taste: Challenges for Empirical Consumer Research","authors":"Lina M. Ceballos, María Camila Moná, Jorge Maya","doi":"10.1177/02762374261422573","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02762374261422573","url":null,"abstract":"Intellectuals have debated aesthetic taste since ancient times. However, fragmented definitions and a lack of consensus among authors represent challenges for empirical aesthetics, limiting its practical application in contexts such as consumer research. Despite its relevance, this broad and elusive concept remains underexplored in empirical consumer studies. This article reviews aesthetic taste to reveal three streams of thought and nine perspectives that describe how authors have addressed the concept since the eighteenth century. The challenges posed by these diverse, apparently disjointed views for empirical consumer studies are discussed. This study proposes a comprehensive framework for applying the concept in future studies. Findings suggest that aesthetic taste is a subjective and complex concept, best understood as a multidimensional, multifaceted, and multilevel phenomenon that harmonizes our perception of beauty and dynamically shapes consumer behavior. The study contributes to a deeper understanding of aesthetic phenomena in empirical consumer research.","PeriodicalId":45870,"journal":{"name":"Empirical Studies of the Arts","volume":"8 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2026-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147393220","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Isolated White Frames in Fiction Films: Analysis and Functional Characterization","authors":"Javier Sanz-Aznar, Juan José Caballero-Molina","doi":"10.1177/02762374261426245","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02762374261426245","url":null,"abstract":"The inclusion of isolated white frames devoid of figurative information, whose function is to trigger an impact on the viewer, constitutes a deliberate audiovisual strategy. In the present study, 99 films were identified that contain at least one isolated white frame, totaling 740 target stimuli. Through inductive analysis, specific narrative contexts associated with the use of white frames were categorized as follows: (I) explosions or shots, (II) lights, (III) spatial/temporal jumps (IV) mental images (V) chromatic changes, and (VI) hits. Statistical analysis indicated a tendency for the white frame to be accompanied by a sound mark, as well as to appear associated with a triggering event. Similarly, we could differentiate how when it is associated with an explosion or a light were usually embedded during the shot, while chromatic changes or spatial/temporal jumps are usually incorporated in editing cuts.","PeriodicalId":45870,"journal":{"name":"Empirical Studies of the Arts","volume":"24 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2026-02-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147287293","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}