Oshin Vartanian
Biographic Data
| ID | 2750497 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Oshin Vartanian |
| GIVEN NAMES | Oshin |
| FAMILY NAME | Vartanian |
| SIGNATURE | VARTANIAN O |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Toronto |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4777-2513 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 19 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 12 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2005 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
The Oxford Handbook of Empirical Aesthetics
Humans have engaged in artistic and aesthetic activities since the appearance of our species. Our ancestors have decorated their bodies, tools, and utensils for over 100,000 years. The expression of meaning using color, line, sound, rhythm, or movement, among other means, constitutes a fundamental aspect of our species’ biological and cultural heritage. Art and aesthetics, therefore, contribute to our species’ identity and distinguish it from its…
Visual preference for abstract curvature and for interior spaces
Smoothly curved objects elicit feelings of pleasantness, and tend to be preferred over angular objects. Furthermore, individual differences (i.e., art expertise, openness to experience, holistic thinking), and the complexity of the stimuli are known to moderate the effect. We extended the study of individual differences to two theoretically-relevant groups. Study 1 compared liking for curvature in individuals with autism and a matched neurotypica…
The role of expertise in the aesthetic evaluation of mathematical equations
There is a notion that mathematical equations can be considered aesthetic objects. However, whereas some aesthetic experiences are triggered primarily by the sensory properties of objects, for mathematical equations aesthetic judgments extend beyond their sensory qualities and are also informed by semantics and knowledge. Therefore, to the extent that expertise in mathematics represents the accumulation of domain knowledge, it should influence ae…
Oxford Handbook of Empirical Aesthetics
The role of working memory capacity in evaluative judgments of liking and beauty
Judgments of liking and beauty appear to be expressions of a common hedonic state, but they differ in how they engage cognitive processes. We hypothesised that beauty judgments place greater demands on limited executive resources than judgments of liking. We tested this hypothesis by asking two groups of participants to judge works of visual art for their beauty or liking while having to remember the location of 1, 3, or 5 dots in a 4 by 4 matrix…
Neuroaesthetics
The field of neuroaesthetics has gained in popularity in recent years but also attracted criticism from the perspectives both of the humanities and the sciences. In an effort to consolidate research in the field, we characterize neuroaesthetics as the cognitive neuroscience of aesthetic experience, drawing on long traditions of research in empirical aesthetics on the one hand and cognitive neuroscience on the other. We clarify the aims and scope …
Neuroaesthetics
Dissociable neural systems for analogy and metaphor
Two recent reviews of the neuroimaging literature on creativity have pointed to inconsistent findings across studies, calling into question the usefulness of the theoretical constructs motivating the search for its neural bases. However, it is argued that consistent patterns of neural activation do emerge when the cognitive process and the neuroimaging method are kept uniform across studies. To demonstrate this empirically, the activation likelih…
Public but not private ego threat triggers aggression in narcissists
One line of research indicates that people are more aggressive when they are insulted publicly rather than privately, whereas another indicates that subclinical narcissism predicts aggression. Drawing on these lines of research, we predicted that aggression would be increased among participants who scored higher on narcissism (as opposed to lower), received negative (as opposed to positive) self‐relevant feedback, and did so in public (as opposed…
Colin Martindale (1943–2008)
Obituary
Taboo or tragic
The link between composition and balance in masterworks vs. paintings of lower artistic quality
In painting, composition is commonly defined as the two‐dimensional arrangement of elements within the canvas. Each element is considered to have a perceptual weight. The arrangement of these weighted elements determines how balanced a painting is. It has been suggested that due to superior composition, masterworks may be more balanced than works of lower artistic quality. We tested this hypothesis by instructing our participants to rate masterwo…
Neuroaesthetics
The field of neuroaesthetics has gained in popularity in recent years but also attracted criticism from the perspectives both of the humanities and the sciences. In an effort to consolidate research in the field, we characterize neuroaesthetics as the cognitive neuroscience of aesthetic experience, drawing on long traditions of research in empirical aesthetics on the one hand and cognitive neuroscience on the other. We clarify the aims and scope …
Taboo or tragic
Public but not private ego threat triggers aggression in narcissists
One line of research indicates that people are more aggressive when they are insulted publicly rather than privately, whereas another indicates that subclinical narcissism predicts aggression. Drawing on these lines of research, we predicted that aggression would be increased among participants who scored higher on narcissism (as opposed to lower), received negative (as opposed to positive) self‐relevant feedback, and did so in public (as opposed…
Dissociable neural systems for analogy and metaphor
Two recent reviews of the neuroimaging literature on creativity have pointed to inconsistent findings across studies, calling into question the usefulness of the theoretical constructs motivating the search for its neural bases. However, it is argued that consistent patterns of neural activation do emerge when the cognitive process and the neuroimaging method are kept uniform across studies. To demonstrate this empirically, the activation likelih…
The link between composition and balance in masterworks vs. paintings of lower artistic quality
In painting, composition is commonly defined as the two‐dimensional arrangement of elements within the canvas. Each element is considered to have a perceptual weight. The arrangement of these weighted elements determines how balanced a painting is. It has been suggested that due to superior composition, masterworks may be more balanced than works of lower artistic quality. We tested this hypothesis by instructing our participants to rate masterwo…
Taboo or tragic
Obituary
Colin Martindale (1943–2008)
Public but not private ego threat triggers aggression in narcissists
One line of research indicates that people are more aggressive when they are insulted publicly rather than privately, whereas another indicates that subclinical narcissism predicts aggression. Drawing on these lines of research, we predicted that aggression would be increased among participants who scored higher on narcissism (as opposed to lower), received negative (as opposed to positive) self‐relevant feedback, and did so in public (as opposed…
Dissociable neural systems for analogy and metaphor
Two recent reviews of the neuroimaging literature on creativity have pointed to inconsistent findings across studies, calling into question the usefulness of the theoretical constructs motivating the search for its neural bases. However, it is argued that consistent patterns of neural activation do emerge when the cognitive process and the neuroimaging method are kept uniform across studies. To demonstrate this empirically, the activation likelih…
Neuroaesthetics
Neuroaesthetics
The field of neuroaesthetics has gained in popularity in recent years but also attracted criticism from the perspectives both of the humanities and the sciences. In an effort to consolidate research in the field, we characterize neuroaesthetics as the cognitive neuroscience of aesthetic experience, drawing on long traditions of research in empirical aesthetics on the one hand and cognitive neuroscience on the other. We clarify the aims and scope …
The role of working memory capacity in evaluative judgments of liking and beauty
Judgments of liking and beauty appear to be expressions of a common hedonic state, but they differ in how they engage cognitive processes. We hypothesised that beauty judgments place greater demands on limited executive resources than judgments of liking. We tested this hypothesis by asking two groups of participants to judge works of visual art for their beauty or liking while having to remember the location of 1, 3, or 5 dots in a 4 by 4 matrix…
The Oxford Handbook of Empirical Aesthetics
Humans have engaged in artistic and aesthetic activities since the appearance of our species. Our ancestors have decorated their bodies, tools, and utensils for over 100,000 years. The expression of meaning using color, line, sound, rhythm, or movement, among other means, constitutes a fundamental aspect of our species’ biological and cultural heritage. Art and aesthetics, therefore, contribute to our species’ identity and distinguish it from its…
Visual preference for abstract curvature and for interior spaces
Smoothly curved objects elicit feelings of pleasantness, and tend to be preferred over angular objects. Furthermore, individual differences (i.e., art expertise, openness to experience, holistic thinking), and the complexity of the stimuli are known to moderate the effect. We extended the study of individual differences to two theoretically-relevant groups. Study 1 compared liking for curvature in individuals with autism and a matched neurotypica…
The role of expertise in the aesthetic evaluation of mathematical equations
There is a notion that mathematical equations can be considered aesthetic objects. However, whereas some aesthetic experiences are triggered primarily by the sensory properties of objects, for mathematical equations aesthetic judgments extend beyond their sensory qualities and are also informed by semantics and knowledge. Therefore, to the extent that expertise in mathematics represents the accumulation of domain knowledge, it should influence ae…
Oxford Handbook of Empirical Aesthetics
Psychology (11 works) · Aesthetic Perception and Analysis (7 works) · Cognitive psychology (5 works) · Creativity in Education and Neuroscience (5 works) · Color perception and design (4 works) · Epistemology (4 works) · Social Psychology (4 works) · Aesthetics (3 works) · Cognition (3 works) · Cognitive science (3 works)