The Roles of Explicit and Implicit Memory on Aesthetic Experiences of Visual Art

Abstract

In this dissertation, I argue that aesthetic experience is a unique metacognitive state reflecting a heightened integration of sensory perception, emotion, and memory. Further, I argue that explicit memory retrieval can distinguish between “moved” reactions to abstract paintings and disengaged reactions. In Chapter 1, I present a novel synthesis of the literature on the intersection of aesthetic experience and autobiographical memory retrieval. In Chapter 2, I test whether recollection, rather than familiarity, deepens aesthetic experiences of visual art. In three studies, I found that participants indeed rated paintings that spontaneously cued autobiographical memories as more moving. In Chapter 3, I argue that the single-process model of aesthetic liking based on processing fluency leaves out explicit forms of meaning-making that likely overpower fluency effects on aesthetic ratings. I found that manipulating fluency in a Mere Exposure paradigm increased neither liking nor aesthetic moving ratings. In fact, three repetitions significantly decreased moving ratings. Finally, in Chapter 4, I return to the possibility that repetition effects on judgments of art may be present, albeit for perceived “authenticity” rather than for aesthetic value. I find that repeated viewing of AI-generated art increases the possibility of misattributing it to a human creator. However, this effect fails to replicate in a large sample. In all, this dissertation treats aesthetic experience as a metacognitive phenomenon related, but distinct, from other metacognitive experiences such as preference and belief. Furthermore, the psychological study of aesthetics benefits from, and can inform, the use of experimental tasks associated with the cognitive processes that subsume it, to the extent that those processes are key difference-makers in the strength of the aesthetic experience. This dissertation demonstrates that autobiographical memory is one such difference-maker.