Relations Between Balance, Prototypicality, and Aesthetic Appreciation for Japanese Calligraphy

Abstract

Aesthetic appreciation of pictures partly depends on the perceptual balance of their elements. This relation has also been supported by objective measures predicting balance ratings as well as preference. Gershoni and Hochstein, however, applied these measures to Japanese calligraphies and failed to find such a relation, which questions the generality of these balance concepts. In our first experiment, we, therefore, tried to replicate these results with a slightly different method. In addition, we calculated further balance measures and collected liking ratings. As result, perceptual balance was again uncorrelated with the measures and with liking. In a second experiment, participants assessed the perceptual stability of the calligraphies, which was considered as alternative concept of balance, and their prototypicality. After discounting the effects of prototypicality on liking, there were correlations between liking and stability and between liking and one of the balance measures. However, the correlations were reliable only for atypical calligraphies.