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The Aesthetics of Visual Form

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Language and Cognitive Science / 2016,2(1): 1−26 / 2016-08-26 699 758

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• Authors: Christopher      D      Nicholas¹      and      Thomas      G      Bever²     
• Information:

  1.Departments of Linguistics and Psychology, University of Arizona;
  2.Asymmetrica Labs Inc.

• Keywords: aesthetics; depth perception; golden mean; language; vision
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• Abstract: A perennial question involves the relation between linguistic structures and processes in other modalities, such as vision. Current investigations of linguistic universals have begun to explore formal/physical constraints on linguistic universals, such as the impact of the Fibonacci series on the ideal branching structure of phrase hierarchies. The mathematical limit of the Fibonacci series is the Golden Mean Ratio (φ = 1.618…:1). In this study, we propose and test a new theory of the human preference for the golden rectangle – one of the oldest problems of psychology. The initial visual decomposition of the golden rectangle into primitives elicits representational processes that explain its preference, according to classic Aristotelian aesthetic theories. The same decomposition processes involve a unique initial access of the third dimension. Thus, we predict that the golden rectangle uniquely enhances depth perception of scenes within it. Several new experiments confirm this prediction, which also explains our discovery that some artist schools systematically used the golden rectangle to frame topographic landscapes. The broader implication of this finding is support for the pervasive relevance of natural laws as part of a wide range of human cognitive behaviors.
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• DOI: https://doi.org/10.35534/LCS201602001
• Cite: Christopher D. Nicholas and Thomas G. Bever．The Aesthetics of Visual Form［J］．Language and Cognitive Science，2016，2（1）：1−26．