The Effect of Color on Automaticity of Aesthetic Judgments

The cognitive processing mode used to process color while making aesthetic judgments was examined. In two experiments, participants rated artistic photographs for preference. Half the participants performed a concurrent memory preload task while rating the photographs to index whether automatic or controlled modes of processing was engaged. Overall, the results showed that preload had little effect on the pattern of ratings for color, black and white, and false color versions of the photographs. The results suggest that color processing during the judgment task was automatic and required few cognitive resources. Furthermore, the results indicate that the dual-mode processing framework can be a useful theoretical tool for examining the cognitive processes that underlie aesthetic experience.