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Olena completed her Masters in Landscape Architecture at the University of Oregon.

Detecting and Characterizing Ecological Aesthetic Experiences            by Olena Christine Turula Submitted in partial fulfillment for the Master of Landscape Architecture Department of Landscape Architecture University of Oregon Winter 2005 Committee: Rob Ribe, Chair David Hulse Justine Lovinger

Thank you to...            To my committee, Rob Ribe, David Hulse and Justine Lovinger, for their guidance and feedback throughout this process. To Rob, my committee chair for inspiration, and encouragement. To my parents for their love and support. To the faculty and all my classmates. To those who have been here for me through every step of this program, even when they couldn't be here, especially Kitty Davis, Kristena McAlister, Ingrid Hallin and of course Boogie. To Diana and Hunter Mandel for their hospitality in letting me stay with them every weekend while I conducted the interviews for this project in Portland.

Abstract            This project explores aesthetic experiences of ecology and investigates the role of the cognitive aesthetic.  A method is developed and used to detect and characterize aesthetic responses people have while walking on nature trails and what in the landscape stimulates those experiences.  Curiosity, association with prior knowledge, and focused attention on small scale landscape elements, are shown to be important in stimulating cognitive-ecological aesthetic experiences.  The relationship between cognitive-ecological aesthetic experiences and learned or innate cultural and biological associations are also explored.

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