Symbolic Meanings of Computer-Generated Abstract Forms

In experiment 1, symbolic meanings of 32 computer-generated abstract figures were rated by 27 subjects (undergraduates) on eleven semantic differential scales. The stimuli were basically generated by sine waves on a circular line. Random fluctuation was added to half of the stimuli. The stimuli varied in five physical parameters: sine-wave frequency, amplitude, linearity, regularity, and the height/width ratio of the whole figure. A factor analysis on the results of ratings on the semantic differential scales revealed four factors: evaluation, activity, lightness, and sharpness, which correlated with the physical parameters of the stimulus forms as follows: evaluation with regularity (r = 0.830), activity with frequency (r = 0.806), lightness with regularity (r = 0.631), and sharpness with linearity (r = 0.782). In experiment 2, another group (54 subjects) had to match ten abstract words: happiness, anger, surprise, fear, anxiety, creativeness, destruction, time, eternity, and loneliness, with sixteen abstract forms [half of the stimuli from experiment 1, with constant height/width ratio (1.00)]. These abstract words were also rated by a third group of 26 subjects on the semantic differential scales. The results indicated that forms and words that were matched with each other were rated similarly on the semantic differential scales, and indicated the validity of the symbolic meanings of the forms measured in experiment 1.