The role of affect in late perceptual processes: Evidence from bi-stable illusions, object identification, and mental rotation.

Computational views of perception do not consider affect to be required to solve a perceptual task. Previous research provided evidence for an affective component in early perceptual processes, but it is unclear whether late perceptual processes yield concomitant affect. Three studies using three different tasks explored changes in affect related to late perceptual processes by exposing participants to a visual object and measuring activity in facial muscles (zygomaticus major and corrugator supercilii) using facial EMG as indicators for affect.

A Relationship Between Visual Complexity and Aesthetic Appraisal of Car Front Images: An Eye-Tracker Study.

Image aesthetic pleasure (AP) is conjectured to be related to image visual complexity (VC). The aim of the present study was to investigate whether (a) two image attributes, AP and VC, are reflected in eye-movement parameters; and (b) subjective measures of AP and VC are related. Participants (N=26) explored car front images (M=50) while their eye movements were recorded.