Art expertise: a study of concepts and conceptual spaces.

Author(s)

Dorothee Augustin, Helmut Leder

Abstract

An aesthetic experience is a complex cognitive process, the nature and outcome of which

depend upon the perceiver's concepts and expertise (Leder, Belke, Oeberst, & Augustin,

2004). The present study aimed to find out more about the role of expertise in the experience

of contemporary art. By combining a natural grouping task and correspondence analysis we

compared a group of art experts with a group of non-experts as to the concepts they applied

to a set of contemporary artworks and the general dimensions underlying their perception

and interpretation of the works. There were marked parallels between both groups, pointing

to general characteristics of aesthetic experiences. Still, the results support the hypothesis

that experts process artworks more in relation to style, whereas non-experts refer to criteria

such as personal feelings.

Organisation(s)

Journal

Psychology Science

Volume

Pages

135-156

No. of pages

ISSN

1614-9947

Publication date

2006

Peer reviewed

Yes

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

501001 General psychology

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