ASEBL Journal – Volume 11 Issue 1, January 2015
to symmetrical faces (Quinn, et al., 2008; Jones, et al., 2007), show aesthetic preference in facial attractiveness (Samuels, 1994), and demonstrate intentional understanding (action prediction) in adult movement (Hernik, et al., 2014). Quinn, et al. found
that infants’ attention is drawn to certain “entities (attractive faces) more than others
(unattractive faces) because of a family of preferred perceptual features that includes
but may not be limited to particular features such as large eyes…and the complex geometric attributes that characterize the spatial relations among the features such as
their location (e.g. height) and arrangement (e.g. symmetry, top-heaviness) within the
whole.” What is being shown, albeit briefly, is a prelinguistic tendency in infants toward aesthetic considerations. This kind of ‘appreciation’ is not singular to our species.
If visual pattern recognition is a fundamental part of the species’ evolutionary heritage, it stands to reason that it would figure heavily in artistic representati