The role of concepts in the perceptual learning of aesthetic properties
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4396/2025SFL06Parole chiave:
perceptual learning, cognitive permeation, labeling, aesthetic experience, evaluative propertiesAbstract
This paper explores the role played by concepts in the perceptual learning of aesthetic properties. After introducing the phenomenon of perceptual learning, I suggest that some aesthetic properties count as perceptual properties we learn to detect, and that conceptual feedback involved in learning processes can account for the evaluative nature of the resulting experiences. I then examine how labeling shapes perceptual categorization in infants to suggest that, although both top-down and bottom-up explanations can account for aesthetic experiences that involve perception, the latter can shed light on a gray area of aesthetic learning that, while involving concepts, does yield fully reasons-responsive experiences.
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