Form Pleasantness: Arousal Processing or Arousal Pick-up?

Abstract

In what way is physiological arousal implicated in form pleasantness? Does form pleasantness necessarily imply cognitive processing of the arousal response to the visual stimuli? Or can the physiological arousal response also have a direct effect on it? This problem has scientific relevance since it contributes to the settlement of two debates of a similar nature: one between two rival theories of perception and one between two rival theories of emotion. The two theories of perception are the indirect information-processing one as stated by Fodor and Pylyshyn in 1981 versus the direct information pick-up viewpoint as stated by Turvey, Shaw, Reed, and Mace in 1981. The two theories of emotion are the indirect cognition-arousal theory which begins with Schachter in 1964 versus the view that emotions can be the direct result of purely somatic arousal and emotion patterns as stated both by Zajonc and Leventhal in 1984. This is explained in the first part of the article. The second part describes an experiment on the conflicting consequences of these two approaches (the indirect, cognitive and the direct sensory-motor). An inverted U-shaped relation between the arousal potential of visual stimuli and the pleasantness rating of those stimuli is usually found. If the supporters of the direct theories are right, this will always be so however much one tries to manipulate arousal processing. If, on the other hand the cognitivists are right, it would be indeed possible to manipulate the curve. This can be done, for example, by giving the subject bogus feedback relating to his physiological arousal in response to the visual stimuli, under well controlled conditions. This is a much used procedure in the cognitive-arousal theory of emotion. According to the results of the present experiment, this manipulation does not affect the inverted U-shaped relation between the arousal potential of visual stimuli and their pleasantness rating. A direct effect of physiological arousal on form pleasantness appears plausible.