Beauty and the busy mind
Subtitle
Occupied working memory resources impair aesthetic experiences in everyday life
Publication date
2021-03-12
Document type
Forschungsartikel
Author
Weigand, Rosalie
Organisational unit
ISSN
Series or journal
PLoS ONE
Periodical volume
16
Periodical issue
3
Peer-reviewed
✅
Part of the university bibliography
✅
Keyword
Working memory
Cognitive impairment
Emotions
Mathematical model
Attention
Research laboratory
Sensory perception
Statistical model
Abstract
Aesthetic experiences have been distinguished from other experiences based on an aesthetic mode of processing that often entails concentrating working memory resources on the aesthetic stimulus. Since working memory is a limited-capacity system, there should be a trade-off between available resources and the aesthetic experience. To test whether the intensity of the aesthetic experience is reduced if working memory resources are otherwise occupied, we employed an experience sampling method. One hundred and fifteen undergraduate students (45% female; M age = 23.50 years, SD = 2.72 years) participated in a 2-week experience sampling study and furnished a total of 15,047 reports of their aesthetic experiences. As measures of current working memory resources, participants answered questions regarding their current working memory load and whether they were engaged in a second task. In addition, they reported whether they had had an aesthetic experience and how much they had savored the aesthetic experience. Multilevel modeling was used for data analysis. A higher working memory load was associated with fewer aesthetic experiences and reduced the savoring of aesthetic experiences. Second tasks, however, that were perceived as demanding and requiring a lot of concentration enhanced the savoring of aesthetic experiences. In sum, other goal-oriented behavior that requires working memory resources appears to conflict with aesthetic experiences in everyday life.
Version
Published version
Access right on openHSU
Metadata only access