The importance of behaviour as an aesthetic feature

In this study we measured aesthetics of interactive objects (IOs), which are three-dimensional physical artefacts. By means of an Arduino Mini board fitted with a motion sensor to detect the ‎objects being picked up, IOs can exhibit autonomous behaviour when ‎handled. These stimuli therefore activate more than one sense at the time, in compound stimulation. The main aim of this research was to test the hypotheses that behaviour is an aesthetic feature. Corollary aims were to investigate whether aesthetic preference for distinctive objects' structures emerges in compound stimulation to investigate whether aesthetic preference for distinctive objects' structures emerges in compound stimulation; secondly, to explore whether there exists aesthetic preference for distinctive objects’ behaviours; and lastly, to test whether there exists aesthetic preference for specific combinations of objects' structures and behaviours. The following variables were manipulated: 1) IOs’ contour (rounded vs. angular); 2) IOs’ size (small vs. large); 3) IOs’ surface texture (rough vs. smooth); and 4) IOs’ behaviour (Lighting, Sounding, Vibrating, and Quiescent). Results show that behaviour influenced aesthetics preference more than any other characteristic; Vibrating IOs were preferred over Lighting and Sounding IOs, supporting the importance of haptic processing in aesthetics. Results did not confirm the size and smoothness effects previously reported in vision and touch, respectively; this suggests that, for some stimulation, the aesthetics preference that emerges in isolated conditions may be different in compound stimulation. Results corroborate the smooth curvature effect. It is concluded that for Interactive Objects behaviour can be considered an aesthetic primitive.