Ana Clemente- Hedonic evaluation of multisensory objects

When: 2023-04-03 14:00-16:00 (Tallinn time)
Where: online

The event is public via zoom: https://zoom.us/j/99209544202 Websites:Skov, M. (2019). The neurobiology of sensory valuation. In Nadal, M. and Vartanian, O., eds., The Oxford Handbook of Empirical Aesthetics, (pp. 1–40). Oxford University Press. Clemente, A. (2022). Aesthetic sensitivity: Origin and development. In Skov, M. and Nadal, M., eds., The Routledge International Handbook of Neuroaesthetics (pp. 240–253). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003008675-13 Corradi, G., Chuquichambi, E. G., Barrada, J. R., Clemente, A., & Nadal, M. (2020). A new conception of visual aesthetic sensitivity. British Journal of Psychology, 111(4), 630–658. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12427 Clemente, A., Pearce, M. T., & Nadal, M. (2022). Musical aesthetic sensitivity. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 16(1), 58–73. https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000381 Clemente, A., Pearce, M. T., Skov, M., & Nadal, M. (2021). Evaluative judgment across domains: Liking balance, contour, symmetry, and complexity in melodies and visual designs. Brain and Cognition, 151, 105729. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2021.105729 Clemente, A., Friberg, A., & Holzapfel, A. (2022). Relations between perceived affect and liking for melodies and visual designs. Emotion. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0001141 Clemente, A., Vila-Vidal, M., Pearce, M. T., Aguiló, G., Corradi, G., & Nadal, M. (2020). A set of 200 musical stimuli varying in balance, contour, symmetry, and complexity: Behavioral and computational assessments. Behavior Research Methods, 52(4), 1491–1509. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-019-01329-8

Abstract – Humans and other cognitive systems rely on sensory information to assign value to objects, situations, and events they encounter or anticipate, depending on their current state, goals, and expectations. So, the ability to judge the world as desirable or avoidable, liked or disliked, beneficial or damaging enables comparing, deciding, and prioritizing actions. The evaluation of sensory objects is, therefore, a fundamental aspect of cognition, crucial for survival. Aesthetic or hedonic sensitivity, conceived as the individual responsiveness in the hedonic evaluation of a particular stimulus property, has proven an excellent tool to advance knowledge in this realm. However, our experience of and interaction with the world are eminently multisensory and dynamic, so we constantly process and weigh endogenous and exogenous information from multiple sensory streams at multiple temporal dimensions. Thus, although musical and visual complexity is known to affect the experience of music and paintings, respectively, how they are integrated into the experience of film or dance, for example, requires further consideration. In this seminar, we will discuss some ideas and approaches to the challenges imposed by such inherent complexity of hedonic evaluation.

Abstract - Ana Clemente works at the Department of Cognition, Development and Educational Psychology, Institute of Neurosciences, University of Barcelona.