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Berlyne's theory of aesthetic response was investigated in two naturalistic music listening situations. Fifty participants in an aerobic exercise class, and 50 participants in a yogic relaxation class were presented with five three‐minute musical excerpts representing a range of complexity. Participants rated these excerpts on scales of either liking or complexity and appropriateness. The relationship between ratings of liking and complexity was broadly consistent with the prediction of an inverted‐U function, although not significantly so in the data obtained from the aerobics group. The prediction that a positive monotonic relationship should exist between ratings of liking and appropriateness was also confirmed.
North et al. (Fri,) studied this question.