ABSTRACT
When was the last time you skipped a song on your playlist or scrolled over an image on your Instagram feed? Why did you do it? We wager that boredom drove your choice to pass over content in order to find something more worthwhile. We refer to the boredom caused by currently available sensory input as aesthetic boredom, and present a concept for it based on a computational theory of aesthetic value. The theory suggests that sensory experiences are valuable to the extent that they help the sensory system to process the environment more efficiently, both now and in the future. This form of value underpins absolute and relative forms of boredom. Absolute boredom arises in response to a single sensory experience without need for comparison to another when: (a) its continued experience leads to a decrease in expected long-term processing efficiency for other likely experiences; which (b) outweighs short-term increasing processing efficiency for itself. Relative boredom for a sensory experience arises when other immediately—or potentially—available experiences apparently have sufficiently higher values. Boredom thus serves as a signal for observers that dwelling longer in their current sensory environment is either detrimental or insufficiently advantageous in the long run. Boredom motivates them to seek out new sensory stimulation and thus helps ensure the continued improvement of long-term processing efficiency.
