Empirical Psycho-Aesthetics and Her Sisters: Substantive and Methodological Issues—Part I

Empirical psycho-aesthetics–an interdisciplinary field with a long tradition–is approached in this two-part article from two directions, in each case with several objectives. Part I, in this issue of JAE, is devoted to the first direction, which is mainly definitional and organizational: the objectives are to present an outline of the field’s origins; to discuss its attributes vis-à-vis the features of several “sister” disciplines–experimental philosophy, cognitive neuroscience of art, and neuroaesthetics; and to examine, in part through an analysis of notable in-field and cross-field recent debates (some of them heated, all instructive), a number of substantive, methodological, and science-practice issues regarding these various disciplines–with philosophical aesthetics as a backdrop. The second direction, to which part II of the article–to appear in the spring 2013 issue of JAE–is addressed, is empirical: the objectives are to illustrate, on the basis of a detailed presentation of five groups of research studies in a variety of art domains, the broad range of psycho-aesthetic topics, methods, participants, and techniques of stimulus manipulation and measurement and to use the presented research in a constructive dialogue with philosophical aesthetics and neuroaesthetics.