Pattern Complexity and Affective Arousal

A method for quantifying the complexity of a class of patterns is presented which is based on considerations of (1) the proportional areas of the parts of the pattern, (2) the number of different parts, and (3) the number of symmetrical axes in the pattern. An attempt was made to relate pattern complexity as so defined to judgments of the pleasantness of the patterns. The obtained relationship required the assumption that (1) pleasantness decreases as the absolute magnitude of stimulus complexity increases and (2) pleasantness increases and then decreases as complexity becomes increasingly different from the adaptation level complexity of all patterns being judged.