Predicting instabilities: an embodied perspective on unstable experiences with art and design.

Summary

People sometimes seek out art that challenges their ability to make sense of what they perceive, a state called Semantic Instability. This paper argues that such experiences differ from problem-solving because viewers do not aim to resolve contradictions; instead, the instability itself can generate pleasure and interest. The authors update an earlier account of Semantic Instability by drawing on embodied and situated views of perception and cognition, and discuss how predictive processing theory might explain why organisms that normally strive for predictability nevertheless engage with art that disrupts sense-making.

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Abstract

Predictive Processing (PP) provides a theoretical framework that describes perception as a process attempting to increase the predictability of stimulations by updating predictions or exploring new sensations. Moreover, perception and action are assumed to be closely linked within this process. While organisms seem to strive for predictability, we sometimes expose ourselves to objects and situations that challenge sense-making-such conditions often break perceptual habits or offer multiple possible meanings. This paper updates a previous qualification of these experiences of 'Semantic Instability' (SeIns) by following an embodied and situated understanding of perception and cognition. We suggest that art perception essentially differs from problem-solving as in engaging with art, we typically integrate contradictory elements dynamically and without the ultimate goal of resolving the contradictions-on the contrary, SeIns itself can generate aesthetic hedonics and interest. We discuss how current embodied accounts of PP might help understand what motivates such unstable yet insightful and pleasurable nonlinear sense-making processes. This article is part of the theme issue 'Art, aesthetics and predictive processing: theoretical and empirical perspectives'.

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