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Art, Aesthetics, and the Brain

Joseph P. Huston, Marcos Nadal, Francisco Mora, Luigi F. Agnati, and Camilo José Cela Conde

Abstract

Humans have engaged in artistic and aesthetic activities since the appearance of our species. The expression of meaning using color, line, sound, rhythm, or movement constitutes a fundamental aspect of our species’ biological and cultural heritage. All known human societies have developed aesthetic systems that use diverse forms of visual representation, body art, music, literature, or performance to convey culturally important meaning. Art and aesthetics are, therefore, inherent constituents of the human mind, and contribute to our species’ identity, distinguishing it from its living and exti ... More

Keywords: art, aesthetics, brain, neuroscience, neuropsychology, evolution, neuroaesthetics, visual art, dance, music

Bibliographic Information

Print publication date: 2015 Print ISBN-13: 9780199670000
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: August 2015 DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199670000.001.0001

Authors

Affiliations are at time of print publication.

Joseph P. Huston, editor
Institute of Experimental Psychology, University of Düsseldorf, Germany

Marcos Nadal, editor
Postdoc University Assistant, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Austria

Francisco Mora, editor
Professor of Human Physiology, Departamento de Fisiología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Complutense, Spain

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Contents

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Front Matter

Title Pages

Preface

Contributors

Abbreviations

Section 1 Foundational issues

Chapter 1 Neuroculture: A new cultural revolution?

Francisco Mora

Chapter 2 Art, meaning, and aesthetics: The case for a cognitive neuroscience of art

William P. Seeley

Chapter 3 States, people, and contexts: Three psychological challenges for the neuroscience of aesthetics

Kirill Fayn and Paul J. Silvia

Chapter 4 Aesthetic appreciation: Convergence from experimental aesthetics and physiology

Helmut Leder, Gernot Gerger, and David Brieber

Chapter 5 The moving eye of the beholder: Eye tracking and the perception of paintings

Raphael Rosenberg and Christoph Klein

Section 2 Cognitive neuroscience of visual aesthetics and art

Chapter 6 Neural mechanisms for evaluating the attractiveness of faces

Spas Getov and Joel S. Winston

Chapter 7 Indeterminate artworks and the human brain

Robert C. Pepperell and Alumit Ishai

Chapter 8 Contextual bias and insulation against bias during aesthetic rating: The roles of VMPFC and DLPFC in neural valuation

Ulrich Kirk and David Freedberg

Chapter 9 Neuroimaging studies of making aesthetic products

Oshin A. Vartanian

Section 3 Cognitive neuroscience of dance

Chapter 10 Beautiful embodiment: The shaping of aesthetic preference by personal experience

Emily S. Cross

Chapter 11 Sensorimotor aesthetics: Neural correlates of aesthetic perception of dance

Beatriz Calvo-Merino

Chapter 12 Moving towards ecological validity in empirical aesthetics of dance

Julia F. Christensen and Corinne Jola, both authors contributed to the chapter equally.

Section 4 Cognitive neuroscience of music

Chapter 13 Liking music: Genres, contextual factors, and individual differences

Kathleen A. Corrigall and E. Glenn Schellenberg

Chapter 14 Tension–resolution patterns as a key element of aesthetic experience: Psychological principles and underlying brain mechanisms

Moritz Lehne and Stefan Koelsch

Chapter 15 From pleasure to liking and back: Bottom-up and top-down neural routes to the aesthetic enjoyment of music

Elvira Brattico

Chapter 16 Effects of Expertise on the Cognitive and Neural Processes Involved in Musical Appreciation

Marcus T. Pearce

Section 5 Neuropsychology of Art and Aesthetics

Chapter 17 The Neuropsychology of Visual Art

Anjan Chatterjee

Chapter 18 The Creation of Art in the Setting of Dementia

Indre V. Viskontas and Suzee E. Lee

Chapter 19 Hemispheric Specialization, Art, and Aesthetics

Dahlia W. Zaidel

Section 6 The evolution of art, aesthetics, and the brain

Chapter 20 Towards a Comparative Approach to Empirical Aesthetics

Gesche Westphal-Fitch and W. Tecumseh Fitch

Chapter 21 Art and Brain Co-Evolution

Camilo J. Cela-Conde and Francisco J. Ayala

Chapter 22 Art as a Human “Instinct-Like” behavior Emerging from the Exaptation of the Communication Processes

Luigi F. Agnati, Diego Guidolin, and Kjell Fuxe

Section 7 Integrative approaches

Chapter 23 Neurobiological Foundations of Art and Aesthetics

Edmund T. Rolls

Chapter 24 Aesthetic Evaluation of Art: A Formal Approach

Alexander J. Huston and Joseph P. Huston

Chapter 25 Tempos of Eternity: Music, Volition, and Playing with Time

Barbara G. Goodrich

End Matter

Index