Art, Aesthetics, and the Brain

by Joseph P. Huston, Marcos Nadal, Francisco Mora, Luigi F. Agnati, Camilo Jose Cela Conde

Overview

Humans have engaged in artistic and aesthetic activities since the appearance of our species. Our ancestors have decorated their bodies, tools, and utensils for over 100,000 years. The expression of meaning using color, line, sound, rhythm, or movement, among other means, constitutes a fundamental aspect of our species' biological and cultural heritage. Art and aesthetics, therefore, contribute to our species identity and distinguish it from its living and extinct relatives.

Science is faced with the challenge of explaining the natural foundations of such a unique trait, and the way cultural processes nurture it into magnificent expressions, historically and ethnically unique. How does the human brain bring about these sorts of behaviors? What neural processes underlie the appreciation of painting, music, and dance? How does training modulate these processes? How are they impaired by brain lesions and neurodegenerative diseases? How did such neural underpinnings evolve? Are humans the only species capable of aesthetic appreciation, or are other species endowed with the rudiments of this capacity?

This volume brings together the work on such questions by leading experts in genetics, psychology, neuroimaging, neuropsychology, art history, and philosophy. It sets the stage for a cognitive neuroscience of art and aesthetics, understood in the broadest possible terms. With sections on visual art, dance, music, neuropsychology, and evolution, the breadth of this volume's scope reflects the richness and variety of topics and methods currently used today by scientists to understand the way our brain endows us with the faculty to produce and appreciate art and aesthetics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198825234
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	12/04/2018
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	568
Sales rank:	717,508
Product dimensions:	9.60(w) x 6.70(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Joseph P. Huston is Professor of Physiological Psychology at the University of Düsseldorf, Germany. Joseph has published more than 400 books and scientific articles in areas of behavioral neurosciences with a focus on brain mechanisms of addiction, memory, and reward. He is chief editor of the journals Behavioural Brain Research and Reviews in the Neurosciences, and the book series Handbook of Behavioral Neuroscience.

Marcos Nadal is Assistant Professor at the Department of Psychology of the University of the Balearic Islands, Spain. His main research focuses on the evolution, neural correlates, and function of cognitive and affective processes involved in aesthetic preference and art appreciation, as well as moral judgment and metaphoric language.

Francisco Mora is Professor of Human Physiology at the Faculty of Medicine, University Complutense of Madrid, Spain. He has written numerous articles for scientific journals including Science and Nature and several books, among them The Hot Brain and Neurocultura.

Luigi F. Agnati is Professor of Human Physiology at the University of Modena, Italy, and Adjunct Professor at the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, where he received the Honoris Causa Degree in Medicine. He has published more than 620 papers in refereed international journals and seven textbooks.

Camilo J. Cela-Conde is Emeritus Professor of the University of the Balearic Islands, Spain. His publications include On Genes, Gods and Tyrants, Human Evolution: Trails from the Past (with Francisco J. Ayala) and Processes in Human Evolution: The Journey from Early Hominins to Neandertals and Modern Humans (with Francisco J. Ayala).

Table of Contents

Section One: Foundational Issues1. Neuroculture: A new cultural revolution?, Francisco Mora2. Art, meaning, and aesthetics: the case for a cognitive neuroscience of art, William P. Seeley3. States, People, and Contexts: Three Psychological Challenges for the Neuroscience of Aesthetics, Kirill Fayn and Paul J. Silvia4. Aesthetic appreciation - convergence from experimental aesthetics and physiology, Helmut Leder, Gernot Gerger and David Brieber5. The Moving Eye of the Beholder. Eye-Tracking and the Perception of Paintings, Christoph Klein and Raphael RosenbergSection Two: Cognitive Neuroscience of Visual Aesthetics and Art6. Neural Mechanisms for Evaluating the Attractiveness of Faces, Spas Getov and Joel S. Winston7. Indeterminate Art Works and the Human Brain, Robert Pepperell and Alumit Ishai8. Contextual bias and insulation against bias during esthetic rating: the implication of VMPFC and DLPFC in neural valuation, Ulrich Kirk and David Freedberg9. Neuroimaging Studies of Making Aesthetic Products, Oshin VartanianSection Three: Cognitive Neuroscience of Dance10. Beautiful embodiment: The shaping of aesthetic preference by personal experience, Emily S. Cross11. Sensorimotor aesthetics: Neural correlates of aesthetic perception of dance, Beatriz Calvo-Merino12. Moving towards ecological validity in empirical aesthetics, Julia F. Christensen and Corinne JolaSection Four: Cognitive Neuroscience of Music13. Liking music: Genres, contextual factors, and individual differences, Kathleen A. Corrigall and E. Glenn Schellenberg14. Tension-resolution patterns as a key element of aesthetic experience: psychological principles and underlying brain mechanisms, Moritz Lehne and Stefan Koelsch15. From Pleasure to Liking and Back: Bottom-up and Top-down Neural Routes to the Aesthetic Enjoyment of Music, Elvira Brattico16. Effects of expertise on the cognitive and neural processes involved in musical appreciation, Marcus T. PearceSection Five: Neuropsychology of Art and Aesthetics17. The Neuropsychology of Visual Art, Anjan Chatterjee18. The Creation of Art in the Setting of Dementia, Indre Viskontas and Suzee Lee19. Hemispheric Specialization, Art, and Aesthetics, Dahlia W. ZaidelSection Six: The Evolution of Art, Aesthetics, and the Brain20. Towards a comparative approach to empirical aesthetics, Gesche Westphal-Fitch and W. Tecumseh Fitch21. Art and Brain Coevolution, Camilo J. Cela-Conde and Francisco Ayala22. Art as a human "instinct-like " behaviour emerging from the exaptation of the communication processes, Luigi F. Agnati, Diego Guidolin, and Kjell FuxeSection Seven: Integrative Approaches23. Neurobiological foundations of art and aesthetics, Edmund T. Rolls24. Aesthetic evaluation of art: a formal approach, Alexander J. Huston and Joseph P. Huston25. Tempos of Eternity: Music, Volition, and Playing with Time, Barbara G. Goodrich

Editorial Reviews

"Humans are the only species to create art objects and manipulate their physical surroundings in order to elicit aesthetics experiences. Why is this the case? How do we do it? What kind of psychological and neurobiological mechanisms are responsible for this unique behavior? A growing number of psychologists, neurobiologists, and evolutionary biologists have, in recent years, begun unearthing answers to these tantalizing questions. This superbly curated book, which collects state of the art chapters on this research, will give the reader the best currently available introduction to our understanding of why Homo sapiens is the aesthetic species."

— Martin Skov, Copenhagen Business School and Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre, Denmark

"Art, Aesthetics, and the Brain takes readers to the provocative quest where art and science interlace to unravel the human mind. This book is a fascinating convergence of recent research findings in art, humanities, psychology, and neurobiology that is also a pleasure to read."

— Tomohiro Ishizu, Research Fellow, University College London, UK

"This book is unmatched in its range of coverage, with multichapter sections on visual art, dance, and musicreaders looking for comprehensive contemporary coverage of topics in individual chapters will not be disappointed."

— Aaron Kozbelt, Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture

"Written by the leading researchers in the fields of psychology, neurophysiology, neuroimaging, aesthetics, and philosophy, this book would serve the needs of anyone from graduate students to well-informed and practicing researchers in various disciplines. It is indeed a real tribute to editors and contributors in bringing neuroscience terminology closer to a wider audience."

— Jasmina Stevanov, Perception

"An interesting, timely, and provocative book"

— Choice

From the Publisher