Abstract
Fractal geometry can be used to describe structures once considered too irregular to be described mathematically. As such, fractals can approximate the visual properties of elements found in the natural world like plants, terrain, and clouds. Previous work has demonstrated that human subjects show aesthetic preference for static fractal patterns of low-to-moderate fractal dimension (fD), analogous to the level of complexity in a natural scene viewed at a distance. But natural scenes are dynamic; animated by features like water and wind. While the aesthetic judgement of static fractals has been studied extensively, there has been little research on the perception of dynamic fractals. Here, we have developed novel dynamic fractal stimuli, to test whether dynamic fractals induce different phenomenological assessments than do static fractals of similar fD. Further, we analyze how animation speed may influence these assessments. Participants were asked to rate dynamic and static stimuli on a continuous scale between 0-1 across 5 judgement categories: complexity, relaxingness, naturalness, appealingness, and interestingness. We find that ratings for all categories besides complexity tended to decrease with increasing fD. Further, within these categories we find that dynamic stimuli tended to receive higher ratings at low fD, while static stimuli received higher ratings at high fD, indicating that dynamism increases the degree of perceived complexity in fractal patterns.