Designing a wheel-based assessment tool to measure visual aesthetic emotions

Measuring emotions in a comprehensive and meaningful way has been a constant challenge for emotion researchers in behavioral sciences. There is much debate surrounding affect and emotion conveyed in artwork as these elements are subjective higher-level semantics that are difficult to measure objectively. This paper introduces the Visual Aesthetic Wheel of Emotion (VAWE), a domain-specific device for measuring visual aesthetic emotions, which was structurally inspired by the Geneva Emotion Wheel (GEW). The development of the emotion terms used in this device were based on an extensive literature review on emotions induced by visual art and music, as well as various assessment tools. A set of emotions representing different categories were compiled and a field study was conducted to select the most appropriate terms for the wheel. VAWE contains twenty emotion terms that reflect emotional responses to a perceived aesthetic emotion from artwork stimuli. GEW’s adaptation procedure and analysis was used to determine the placement of the terms around the wheel, including a self-reporting test was developed and implemented with sixty participants. The twenty aesthetic emotion terms are organized on a wheel-like format with points on the spokes of the wheel representing the intensity users feel, along with a neutral option in the center. The device differs from instruments that require respondents to rate their feelings on a list of emotions terms as it organizes the terms to be rated on a theoretically justified two-dimensional system of valence and arousal.