User:Rehelfant/Psychology of art symmetry sandbox

There are a few small edits (e.g. adding in an extra citation) on the official wiki article that I may have forgotten to switch over here, so refer to the Psychology of art wikipedia page for my final edits.

Here is my final revision of the broader symmetry heading:

Symmetry is a common feature in numerous art forms. For instance, art containing geometric forms, as seen in much of Islamic art, has an inherent symmetry to the work. The use of symmetry in human artwork can be traced back as far as 500,000 years. The extensive use of symmetry in artwork may be explained by the common association found between symmetry and perceived beauty. Symmetry and beauty have a strong biological link that influences aesthetic preferences. It has been shown that ratings of facial attractiveness are directly related to the degree of symmetry present within a face. Human also tend to prefer art that contains symmetry, viewing it as more aesthetically pleasing.

Humans innately tend to see and have a visual preference for symmetry, an identified quality yielding a positive aesthetic experience that uses an automatic bottom-up factor. This bottom-up factor is speculated to rely on learning experience and visual processing in the brain, suggesting a biological basis. Many studies have ventured to explain this innate preference for symmetry with methods including the Implicit Association Test (IAT). Research suggests that we may prefer symmetry because it is easy to process; hence we have a higher perceptual fluency when works are symmetrical. Fluency research draws on evidence from humans and animals that point to the importance of symmetry regardless of biological necessity. This research highlights the efficiency with which computers recognize and process symmetrical objects relative to non-symmetrical models. There have been investigations regarding the objective features that stimuli contain that may affect the fluency and therefore the preferences. Factors such as amount of information given, the extent of symmetry, and figure-ground contrast are only a few listed in the literature.

Further research investigating perceptual fluency has found a gender bias towards neutral stimuli. Studies pertaining to generalizing symmetry preference to real-world versus abstract objects allow us to further examine the possible influence meaning may have on preference for a given stimuli. In order to determine whether meaning mattered for a given stimuli, participants were asked to view pairs of objects and make a forced-choice decision, evaluating their preference. The findings suggest that an overall preference for symmetric features of visual objects existed. Furthermore, a main effect for gender preference existed in the males that consistently indicated a preference for symmetry in both abstract and real objects. This finding did not transcend in the female participants which challenged the perceptual fluency explanation as it, in theory, should not be gendered. Further studies need to be conducted to investigate the factors that influence female preferences for visual stimuli as well as for why males showed a preference for symmetry in both abstract and real world objects.

The good genes hypothesis has also been proposed as an explanation for symmetry preference. It argues that symmetry is a biological indicator of stable development, mate quality and fitness and therefore explains why we choose symmetrical traits in our mates. The good genes hypothesis does not, however, explain why this phenomenon is observed in our preferences for decoration art. Another proposed hypothesis is the extended phenotype hypothesis that argues that decoration art is not mate-irrelevant but rather a reflection of the fitness of the artist, as symmetrical forms are difficult to produce. These hypothesis and findings provide evidence for evolutionary biases on preference for symmetry and as reinforcement for cultural biases. Research suggests that symmetrical preference due to its evolutionary basis, biological basis and cultural reinforcement, might be replicable cross-culturally.

This preference for symmetry has led to question on how fluency affects our implicit preferences by using the Implicit Association Test. Findings suggest that perceptual fluency is a factor that elicits implicit responses, as shown with the Implicit Association Test results. Research has branched from studying aesthetic pleasure and symmetry on an explicit but also implicit level. In fact, research tries to integrate priming (psychology), cultural influences and the different types of stimuli that may elicit an aesthetic preference.

I also added the following subheaders/sections:

Types of Symmetry
A pattern is considered symmetrical when it retains its appearance after the performance of an operation. There are three main operations that can be used to classify symmetry: reflection, rotation, and translation. Reflectional symmetry is what is most commonly thought of and stands out as the most obvious form of symmetry. A pattern is considered to have reflectional symmetry when one side of an axis is a mirror-image of the other side. Rotational symmetry is present when a pattern remains the same after a rotation of any degree. Lastly, translational symmetry is the repetition of a pattern such that the only change made is to its location. Reflectional symmetry is the most salient form in human perception which may explain why participants generally exhibit a preference for reflectional symmetry over both translational and rotational symmetry in aesthetic evaluation studies.

Generally, studies examining the effect of symmetry on aesthetic preference use stimuli with reflectional symmetry unless otherwise specified. Typically, if a study is investigating different types of symmetry (e.g. rotational), it is because they are including symmetry type as an independent variable. Exploration of the effect of symmetry type is more common for studies on the aesthetic preferences of geometric shapes or dot patterns. In contrast, studies using more visually complex stimuli, such as faces or art, tend to use stimuli with solely reflectional symmetry. Therefore, in most studies on aesthetic preferences, the use of the term “symmetry” without any reference to the specific type connotes the use of stimuli with reflectional symmetry.

The Influence of Art Expertise on Symmetry Preference
Recent studies suggest that aesthetic preferences for symmetry may be influenced by art expertise. However, this seems to depend on whether the evaluation task is implicit or explicit. One study examining both implicit and explicit aesthetic preferences of symmetry in abstract patterns found the difference between art experts and non-experts only arose in the explicit rating task. For the implicit evaluation, participants performed an IAT using 10 positive and 10 negative words presented with 20 abstract patterns, half symmetrical and half asymmetrical. Both those with and without art expertise preferred symmetrical abstract patterns. However, differences between these two groups arose when using an explicit evaluation, in which participants gave ratings on a scale of 1 to 7 after the presentation of each abstract pattern. While preference for symmetrical over asymmetrical stimuli was stable across the two groups, participants with greater art expertise rated asymmetrical stimuli higher in aesthetic value. However, another study, using roughly the same set of abstract patterns as their stimuli, found that participants with art expertise actually rated asymmetrical stimuli higher in aesthetic value than symmetrical stimuli whereas non-experts had the opposite preference. Given these mixed results, art experts’ preference for asymmetrical over symmetrical stimuli may not be universal, but there is evidence that they generally find more aesthetic value in asymmetrical stimuli than non-experts.

A proposed explanation for this phenomenon is that art experts may process complex stimuli more easily than non-experts due to their training. They may have more experience both viewing and constructing asymmetrical patterns, facilitating their ability to process them quickly. Therefore, according to the theory of perceptual fluency, their experience would enable more positive reactions to asymmetrical stimuli. However, given that both art experts and non-experts preferred symmetrical patterns over asymmetrical ones in the IAT, some propose that art experts alter their initial impression when consciously reflecting on their preference. Where the IAT measures automatic preference, explicit rating scales reflect the cognitive construction of one’s preference and can therefore be influenced by outside motivations or biases. It has been proposed that art experts may wish to differentiate themselves from the masses as evidence of their artistic competence. They may also have a greater appreciation for asymmetrical stimuli given its ubiquity in art history. Therefore, it may not be that art experts inherently prefer visual asymmetry, but that they see its value more than non-experts given their extensive experience with asymmetrical stimuli.

Domain-Specific Symmetry Preference
The influence of symmetry on aesthetic preferences has been examined across a wide variety of stimuli including faces, shapes, patterns, objects, and paintings. Aesthetic preferences for faces and shapes has been consistently associated with a higher degree of symmetry. However, symmetry does not predict aesthetic preferences as reliably for other types of stimuli, suggesting that preference for symmetry may be domain-specific. Symmetrical stimuli are often generated by transforming an originally asymmetrical image such that one half is a mirror image of the other. This artificial generation of symmetry can actually have a negative effect on perceived aesthetic value. In a study examining how symmetry preference differs across the domains of faces, abstract shapes, flowers, and landscapes, participants rated 6 sets of 10 differentially symmetrical image pairs in terms of their beauty and symmetry salience. Symmetry salience was included as a variable in order to examine whether noticing more symmetry contributed to higher beauty ratings. Each image pair consisted of an original, slightly asymmetrical version of the stimuli and a perfectly symmetrical version. Participants first rated the beauty of every image on a scale of 1 to 10 with the images presented in a random order. They were then presented with the images again and gave a rating of how salient or clear the symmetry was on a scale of 1 to 10. While the participants exhibited a preference for the perfectly symmetrical versions of faces and shapes, they conversely preferred the less symmetrical version of landscapes and had no significant preference for flowers. Further, when they examined the relationship between perceived symmetry salience and beauty, they found that noticing greater symmetry had a positive effect on beauty ratings for abstract shapes, but a negative effect on beauty ratings for landscapes. Therefore, symmetry can contribute to perceived beauty both positively and negatively depending on the domain.

Research suggests that symmetry may not be more aesthetically pleasing when it comes to abstract artwork such as paintings. Two different studies have indicated that symmetry is actually not viewed as more aesthetically pleasing when participants are rating abstract paintings. Both studies used Likert rating scales to measure participants preference, with the first asking them to rate paintings on a scale of 1 to 7 in terms of “pleasantness” while the second asked for 1 to 7 ratings of how much they “like” the painting. Both studies generated the symmetrical versions of originally asymmetrical abstract paintings by mirror-imaging one half on the other. While the first study simply found that perfectly symmetrical paintings were not preferred more or less than their asymmetrical counterparts, the second found that they were actually disfavored. Therefore, aesthetic preferences for symmetry may not apply to abstract artwork, and symmetry may actually detract from its perceived aesthetic value. This could potentially be explained by the lack of complexity associated with perfectly symmetrical paintings. Aesthetic preferences for artwork involve an interplay of complexity and symmetry that may not be satisfied by perfectly symmetrical abstract paintings.

Here is the original article (w/o references):
Symmetry and beauty have a strong biological link that influences aesthetic preferences. It has been shown that humans tend to prefer art that contains symmetry, deeming it more beautiful. Furthermore, symmetry directly correlates to the understanding of a face or artwork as beautiful. The greater the symmetry within the work or the face, generally the more beautiful it appears to be. Research on aesthetic preference for geometric forms and the fluent processing of symmetry sheds light on the role that symmetry plays in the overall aesthetic judgment and experience.

Humans innately tend to see and have a visual preference for symmetry, an identified quality yielding a positive aesthetic experience that uses an automatic bottom-up factor. This bottom-up factor is speculated to rely on learning experience and visual processing in the brain, suggesting a biological basis. Many studies have ventured to explain this innate preference for symmetry with methods including the Implicit Association Test (IAT). Research suggests that we may prefer symmetry because it is easy to process; hence we have a higher perceptual fluency when works are symmetrical. Fluency research draws on evidence from humans and animals that point to the importance of symmetry regardless of biological necessity. This research highlights the efficiency with which computers recognize and process symmetrical objects relative to non-symmetrical models. There have been investigations regarding the objective features that stimuli contain that may affect the fluency and therefore the preferences. Factors such as amount of information given, the extent of symmetry, and figure-ground contrast are only a few listed in the literature. This preference for symmetry has led to question on how fluency affects our implicit preferences by using the Implicit Association Test. Findings suggest that perceptual fluency is a factor that elicits implicit responses, as shown with the Implicit Association Test results. Research has branched from studying aesthetic pleasure and symmetry on an explicit but also implicit level. In fact, research tries to integrate priming (psychology), cultural influences and the different types of stimuli that may elicit an aesthetic preference.

Further research investigating perceptual fluency has found a gender bias towards neutral stimuli. Studies pertaining to generalizing symmetry preference to real-world versus abstract objects allow us to further examine the possible influence meaning may have on preference for a given stimuli. In order to determine whether meaning mattered for a given stimuli, participants were asked to view pairs of objects and make a forced-choice decision, evaluating their preference. The findings suggest that an overall preference for symmetric features of visual objects existed. Furthermore, a main effect for gender preference existed in the males that consistently indicated a preference for symmetry in both abstract and real objects. This finding did not transcend in the female participants. Further studies need to be conducted to investigate the factors that influence female preferences for visual stimuli as well as for why males showed a preference for symmetry in both abstract and real world objects.

Art containing geometric forms, as seen in much of Islamic art, has an inherent symmetry to the work. This symmetry can be correlated to the attractiveness associated with the art form, since there is a correlation between human preference and symmetry. In studies regarding facial attractiveness, symmetry is found to be a significant factor as well as the shape and coloration in determining attractiveness. The good genes hypothesis for symmetry preference argues that symmetry is a biological indicator of stable development, mate quality and fitness and therefore explains why we choose symmetrical traits in our mates. The good genes hypothesis does not, however, explain why this phenomenon is observed in our preferences for decoration art. Another proposed hypothesis is the extended phenotype hypothesis that argues that decoration art is not mate-irrelevant but rather a reflection of the fitness of the artist, as symmetrical forms are difficult to produce. These hypothesis and findings provide evidence for evolutionary biases on preference for symmetry and as reinforcement for cultural biases. Research suggests that symmetrical preference due to its evolutionary basis, biological basis and cultural reinforcement, might be replicable cross-culturally.