AROUSAL INCREMENT AND DEGREE OF COMPLEXITY AS INCENTIVE
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Abstract
In Expt. I subjects were required by means of a key‐press to view checkerboard patterns of either medium (36 bits) or low (four bits), medium or high (900 bits), or low or high complexity. Normally aroused subjects key‐pressed more often to view slides of intermediate rather than low or high complexity. In Expt. II EEG desynchronization was found to be an inverted U‐shaped function of complexity. In Expt. III subjective complexity (SC), based on the number of names of objects that the patterns reminded the subjects of and an estimate of the strength of each association, was found to be a U‐shaped function of pattern complexity. These results were interpreted using Berlyne's notions regarding arousal, conflict and preference for complexity.