Cognitive and Neural Mechanisms of Aesthetic Sensitivity with regard to Product Form

Architects and designers consistently aim to develop products that consumers perceive as attractive based on their experience and intuition. To design a product form that is aesthetically appealing to consumers, it is necessary to understand the mechanisms by which human process information relating to aesthetic sensitivity, including intuitive processes. The present study aimed to investigate the cognitive processes underlying aesthetic sensitivity vis-a-vis product form, using subjective evaluation and analysis of neural function. In Experiment 1, participants evaluated the subjective impressions of a product form (the front mask of a car), using a variety of evaluation terms. Also, in Experiment 2, Electroencephalography data were monitored, while the participants were directed to fixate on an image of a product and aesthetically evaluate the product form with regard to three concepts (cool, cute, or beautiful). We showed that the information processing differed with regard to each of the three concepts during aesthetic evaluation of the product form. Activity was observed in the prefrontal region immediately after image presentation; this suggests that participants crosschecked the product form against their own evaluation criteria at an early stage of processing. The findings of our study have shown the possibility that design elements of an attractive product form may be understood from cognitive and neural processes.