Eye Pupillary Measurement of Aesthetic Responses to Forest Scenes

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Abstract
The relationship between eye pupillary responses and aesthetic reactions to forest scenes was explored. The objective was to find an improved method for revealing the direction and degree of emotional response in landscape aesthetics research. It was predicted from Hess's affect hypothesis that campers dilate more to landscapes than do non-campers and that females dilate more than males. Analyses of variance of 32 subjects' responses to 25 landscape slides revealed reliable differences between campers and non-campers, though the direction of the differences was opposite to predictions. On the basis of the findings, the authors speculate that an information-processing hypothesis may account for observed pupillary responses better than Hess's affect hypothesis. It was concluded that pupillary measures are useful in exploring new facets of aesthetic responses, but that another autonomic measure might be as useful without having as many inherent technical and physiological problems.