Short article Finding meaning in art: Preferred levels of ambiguity in art appreciation

摘要

Uncertainty is typically not desirable in everyday experiences, but uncertainty in the form of ambiguitymay be a defining feature of aesthetic experiences of modern art. In this study, we examined differenthypotheses concerning the quuptity and quality of information appreciated in art. Artworks wereshown together with auditorily presented statements. We tested whether the amount of information,the amount of matching information, or the proportion of matching to nonmatching statementsapparent in a picture (levels of ambiguity) affect liking and interestingness. Only the levels ofambiguity predicted differences in the two dependent variables. These findings reveal that ambiguityis an important determinant of aesthetic appreciation and that a certain level of ambiguity isappreciable.