Part III: Affect Signatures

Affect Signatures of Aesthetic Forms

Introduction

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Affect Signatures of Aesthetic Forms

Different aesthetic forms have characteristic affect signatures:

Form	Constitutive Structure
Tragedy	$\valence{-}$ , $\intinfo{\uparrow\uparrow}$ , $\effrank{\downarrow}$ , $\mathcal{CF}{\uparrow}$ (suffering structure made beautiful through integration)
Comedy	$\valence{+}$ , $\arousal{\uparrow}$ , $\effrank{\uparrow}$ (release, expansion, lightness)
Lyric poetry	$\mathcal{CF}{\uparrow}$ , $\mathcal{SM}{\uparrow}$ , $\intinfo{\uparrow}$ (self-reflection made resonant)
Abstract art	$\intinfo{\uparrow}$ , $\effrank{\uparrow\uparrow}$ , $\mathcal{SM}{\downarrow}$ (pure structure, self-forgetting)
Horror	$\valence{-}$ , $\arousal{\uparrow\uparrow}$ , $\mathcal{CF}{\uparrow\uparrow}$ , $\mathcal{SM}{\uparrow\uparrow}$ (fear structure in controlled context)

Software Implementation

AffectSpace: Immersive Validation Platform

A software system to validate the affect framework by comparing predicted structural signatures with self-report:

Architecture:

Stimulus Library: Curated collection of affect-inducing stimuli
Real-time Self-Report Interface
Physiological Integration (optional)
Prediction Engine

Validation Metrics:

Per-dimension correlation for predicted dimensions
Clustering accuracy: do induced affects cluster by their predicted structure?
Dimensionality validation: does each affect require its predicted number of dimensions?

If predicted dimensions do not predict self-report better than others, or if clustering requires different dimensions than predicted, the motif characterizations are wrong.