The Aesthetics and Multimodality of Style

Martin Siefkes teaches at the University of Technology Chemnitz. His research focuses on the theory and applications of multimodal linguistics as well as museum studies in the context of digital humanities.

Emanuele Arielli teaches aesthetics at the IUAV University in Venice, Italy. His research interests include the connection between aesthetics, communication and media theory, both from a philosophical and a psychological point of view.

Style research has a long and venerable tradition, but its results are highly fragmented. Style exists in language and literature, art and architecture - but every discipline has its own theories. New approaches in empirical aesthetics and multimodality call for broader perspectives. This book offers an overview of experimental research on style, and proposes a common theoretical basis. How do we perceive styles? How do styles change - and why? What is multimodal style? Are style and personality really connected? How is style related to aesthetic experiences? Which cognitive mechanisms are relevant for the creation and perception of styles? Are there neural correlates for style use? The book discusses these and further questions, providing researchers with a valuable source of new ideas.

The book outlines experimental style research in aesthetics and multimodality research. It focuses on human cognitive and perceptual processes connected with style. On this basis, a common theoretical basis for style in literature, art, architecture, and design is proposed. - neuroaesthetics; stylistics; linguistics; cognition; art; design

Style - Neuroaesthetics - Stylistics - Linguistics - Cognition - Art - Design - Rhetorics - Experimental aesthetics - Gustav Theodor Fechner - Cognitive psychology - Theories of perception - Cognition - Linguistics - Genre - Multimodality - Multimodal text - Semiotics - Hermeneutics - Interpretation.