Cognitive Appraisals and Interest in Visual Art: Exploring an Appraisal Theory of Aesthetic Emotions.” Empirical Studies of the Arts 23(2): 119-133. http://dx.doi.org/10.2190/12AV-AH2P-MCEH-289E

Since Berlyne’s seminal research, the study of experimental aesthetics has examined interest as a response to art. The present research explores the implications of appraisal theories of emotion for the study of interest as an emotion relevant to aesthetics. Participants viewed pictures of modern experimental visual art and rated each picture for interest and for appraisals of complexity and comprehensibility. Multilevel modeling assessed the within-person effects of appraisals on interest. As predicted by appraisal theories, both appraisals significantly and strongly predicted interest at the within-person level. The within-person relationships were not moderated by individual-differences relevant to interest in art (e.g., trait curiosity). Theories of “aesthetic response ” should capitalize on modern theories and findings in emotion psychology. In the decades following Berlyne’s (1971, 1974) seminal research on “the new experimental aesthetics, ” a large literature has accumulated on people’s subjec-tive reactions to art. Much of this research has been guided by Berlyne’s theor-izing about the role of collative variables and arousal in determining the reward value of artistic stimuli. The collative–arousal theory of motivation that underlies Berlyne’s research has proved surprisingly resilient, given that psychology has moved away from arousal models of reward and from the concept of “arousal” itself (e.g., Neiss, 1988). Modern research on experimental aesthetics still takes inspiration from Berlyne’s ideas about how collative variables affect arousal, interest, and preference. The influence of the Berlyne tradition may be best seen i