IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/palcom/v7y2020i1d10.1057_s41599-020-00648-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A shared fractal aesthetic across development

Author

Listed:
  • Kelly E. Robles

    (University of Oregon)

  • Nicole A. Liaw

    (University of Oregon)

  • Richard P. Taylor

    (University of Oregon)

  • Dare A. Baldwin

    (University of Oregon)

  • Margaret E. Sereno

    (University of Oregon)

Abstract

Fractal patterns that repeat at varying size scales comprise natural environments and are also present in artistic works deemed to be highly aesthetic. Observers’ aesthetic preferences vary in relation to fractal complexity. Previous work demonstrated that fractal preference consistently peaks at low-to-moderate complexity for patterns that repeat in a statistical manner across scale, whereas preference for exact repetition fractals peaks at a higher complexity due to the presence of order introduced by symmetry and exact recursion of features. However, these highly consistent preference trends have been demonstrated only in adult populations, and the extent to which exposure, development, or individual differences in perceptual strategies may impact preference has not yet been established. Here, we show differences in preference between fractal-type, but no differences between child and adult preferences, and no relationship between systemizing tendencies (demonstrated by the Systemizing Quotient and Ponzo task) and complexity preferences, further supporting the universality of fractal preference. Consistent preferences across development point toward shared general aesthetic experience of these complexities arising from a fluency of fractal processing established relatively early in development. This in part determines how humans experience natural patterns and interact with natural and built environments.

Suggested Citation

  • Kelly E. Robles & Nicole A. Liaw & Richard P. Taylor & Dare A. Baldwin & Margaret E. Sereno, 2020. "A shared fractal aesthetic across development," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 7(1), pages 1-8, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:7:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-020-00648-y
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-020-00648-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41599-020-00648-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41599-020-00648-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Celeste Kidd & Steven T Piantadosi & Richard N Aslin, 2012. "The Goldilocks Effect: Human Infants Allocate Attention to Visual Sequences That Are Neither Too Simple Nor Too Complex," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(5), pages 1-8, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Richard P. Taylor & Richard York, 2022. "Fractal shifts and esthetic rifts: climate change and emotional well-being," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 173(1), pages 1-9, July.
    2. Alexandros A. Lavdas & Nikos A. Salingaros, 2021. "Can Suboptimal Visual Environments Negatively Affect Children’s Cognitive Development?," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-12, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Giovanni Cassani & Robert Grimm & Walter Daelemans & Steven Gillis, 2018. "Lexical category acquisition is facilitated by uncertainty in distributional co-occurrences," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(12), pages 1-36, December.
    2. Alexandr Ten & Pramod Kaushik & Pierre-Yves Oudeyer & Jacqueline Gottlieb, 2021. "Humans monitor learning progress in curiosity-driven exploration," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-10, December.
    3. Francesco Poli & Yi-Lin Li & Pravallika Naidu & Rogier B. Mars & Sabine Hunnius & Azzurra Ruggeri, 2024. "Toddlers strategically adapt their information search," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    4. Nazia Parveen & Maryam Khalid & Muhammad Azam & Dr. Afshan Khalid & Dr. Abid Hussain & Dr. Munir Ahmad, 2023. "Unravelling the impact of Perceived Parental Styles on Curiosity and Exploration," Bulletin of Business and Economics (BBE), Research Foundation for Humanity (RFH), vol. 12(4), pages 254-263.
    5. Elisabeth A. Karuza & Ari E. Kahn & Danielle S. Bassett, 2019. "Human Sensitivity to Community Structure Is Robust to Topological Variation," Complexity, Hindawi, vol. 2019, pages 1-8, February.
    6. Kurt Gray & Peter Schmitt & Nina Strohminger & Karim S Kassam, 2014. "The Science of Style: In Fashion, Colors Should Match Only Moderately," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(7), pages 1-3, July.
    7. Cory D Bonn & Maria-Eirini Netskou & Arlette Streri & Maria Dolores de Hevia, 2019. "The association of brightness with number/duration in human newborns," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(10), pages 1-23, October.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:7:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-020-00648-y. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.nature.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.