Adjustment Task An Inward Bias in Aesthetics Why do we have aesthetic experience? Inward biases can be driven by minimal directional cues This aesthetic preference may help us 'look into the future' Aesthetic preferences can be adaptive! Yi-Chia Chen 1,2 , Clara Colombatto 2 , & Brian Scholl 2 ( 1 Harvard University & 2 Yale University) An inward bias in aesthetic experience driven only by gaze cues Stimuli An inward bias driven only by averted gaze! Looking into the future: Which is more aesthetically pleasing? (Palmer et al., 2008, Spatial Vision) Looking into the Future? “Position the person so that the photo looks maximally aesthetically pleasing” % position shift = Main Difficulty Global shape confounds Solution Gaze: Minimal changes -100 -50 0 50 100 Direct* Averted % Position Shift Maximum Inward Shift Maximum Outward Shift *Signs defined by the corresponding averted images p < .001 mechanical turk beta N=240 single trial Individual Responses Group Data This is driven by perceived gaze direction per se Individual Responses Group Data Control for Geometric Factors Chen, Y. -C., Colombatto, C., & Scholl, B. J. (2018). Looking into the future: An inward bias in aesthetic experience driven only by gaze cues. Cognition, 176, 209-214. VISION SCIENCES LABORATORY 2018 VSS Experiment 1 Dependent Measure position shift maximum shift x 100 % Inward (+) Outward (-) Experiment 2 M averted M direct Question An Adaptive Feature? Manipulate perceived gaze direction -100 -50 0 50 100 Direct Averted Facing inward Facing outward Conclusions We prefer viewpoints that will let us see predicted future events unfold A v e r t e d - G a z e T r i a l s D i r e c t - G a z e T r i a l s Color Intact Color Inverted p < .001 p = .008 % Position Shift Maximum Inward Shift Maximum Outward Shift Reprint?