Mehl, Gugliano, and Belfi investigated visual and acoustic aesthetics via an online study. They report that “To better understand how aesthetic experiences may be similar (or different) across modalities, we sought to directly compare the features that contribute to aesthetic judgments of three categories of art: poetry, music, and paintings. Online participants either rated poems . . . musical excerpts . . . or images of paintings . . . on four variables: vividness of evoked imagery, emotional arousal, emotional valence [positive or negative], and aesthetic appeal. . . . vividness was the most significant predictor of the aesthetic appeal of poetry, while emotional valence was a stronger predictor for music than the other two categories. . . . music was less likely to be rated as highly arousing and also negatively valanced than the other two categories. Thus, while overall, vividness, valence, and arousal contribute to aesthetic appeal of poetry, music, and visual art, there are subtle differences between the three types of stimuli.”
Kendra Mehl, Maria Gugliano, and Amy Belfi. “The Role of Imagery and Emotion in the Aesthetic Appeal of Music, Poetry, and Paintings.” Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, in press, https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000623