symmetry S S Article Anticipatory Defocusing of Attention and Contextual Response Priming but No Role of Aesthetic Appreciation in Simple Symmetry Judgments when Switching between Tasks Svantje T. Kähler 1, * , Thomas Jacobsen 1 , Stina Klein 1 and Mike Wendt 2 1 Experimental Psychology Unit, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Helmut Schmidt University/University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg, 22043 Hamburg, Germany; jacobsen@hsu.hh.de (T.J.); kleins@hsu-hh.de (S.K.) 2 Faculty of Human Sciences, Medical School Hamburg, 20457 Hamburg, Germany; mike.wendt@medicalschool-hamburg.de * Correspondence: kaehler@hsu-hh.de Received: 29 February 2020; Accepted: 25 March 2020; Published: 6 April 2020   Abstract: Visual attention can be adjusted to task requirements. We asked participants to switch between judging the symmetry of vertically presented three-letter strings and identifying the central stimulus (i.e., Eriksen task) to investigate anticipatory adjustment of attention. Our experiments provide evidence for anticipatory adjustment of visual attention, depending on the cued task (i.e., focusing and defocusing of attention after the Eriksen task cue and after the symmetry task cue, respectively). Although, symmetry judgments were, overall, considerably slower than the identification of the central letter, the effects of response congruency between tasks were comparable in the two tasks, which suggested strong response priming from concurrent symmetry judgment in Eriksen task trials. Symmetry judgment performance was best for homogeneous letter strings (e.g., HHH), worst for strings that were symmetrical and inhomogeneous (e.g., XHX), and intermediate for asymmetrical strings (e.g., HHX). The difficulty of categorizing symmetrical-inhomogeneous items markedly deviated from the aesthetic ratings of the stimuli, displaying a pronounced preference for symmetrical strings, but only little difference among the symmetrical items, and might be accounted by conflict with response priming based on inhomogeneity detection. Although our study provides little evidence for an effect of aesthetic appreciation in simple symmetry judgments, it demonstrates the strong role of contextual dependencies. Keywords: symmetry; attention; task switching; instruction 1. Introduction Aesthetic appreciation constitutes a form of perceptual categorization applicable to a huge variety of stimuli and events, ranging from simple shapes [1,2] to judgments of acts of revenge in work contexts [3]. Its empirical investigation started as early as the 1870s by Fechner [4,5], who founded the discipline Empirical Aesthetics. Fechner already pointed to a symbiosis regarding symmetry and the aesthetic perception and its appearance in creative work such as paintings [4]. The subsequent research shows that symmetry might be a fundamental characteristic of aesthetic appreciation one cannot miss and the in-between positive association: Symmetrical faces are perceived as being more beautiful than asymmetrical faces [6–8], amplifying those findings when adding symmetrical decorations [9]. The same holds for human bodies [10]. Artificial, graphical patterns are rated as being more beautiful if they are symmetrical when compared to asymmetrical patterns [11–15]. Symmetry 2020, 12, 577; doi:10.3390/sym12040577 www.mdpi.com/journal/symmetry