Distance to major topographic features was found to be highly predictive of perceived scenic beauty of natural scenes. In addition, the hypothesis of a nonmonotonic functional relationship was supported. The implications of nonmonotonicity were addressed, including such things as the implied presence of maximal and minimal levels of impact. These implications were contrasted with Buhyoff and Wellman's (1980) suggestion of a monotonic logarithmic function and were compared with similar findings in experimental aesthetics (Berlyne 1974).
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