Martindale, C., Moore, K., & West, A. (1988). Relationship of preference judgments to typicality, novelty, and mere exposure. Empirical Studies of the Arts, 6(1), 79-96.

Authors review two theories of aesthetic preference. Berlyne’s psychobiological theory states that the variables of novelty and complexity mostly determine aesthetic preference in an inverted-U graph. Martindale’s cognitive theory states that prototypicality or meaningfulness is the main determinant of aesthetic preference, and they are related in a monotonic or U-shaped fashion. The authors reported three experiments which revealed that typicality was much stronger determinant of preference in comparison with mere exposure, short-term novelty, or long-term novelty. Their relations with preferences are described by monotonic or U-shaped functions.