aesthetics + your brain Andrew Carnie

key terms neuroaesthetics: A relatively new branch of neuroscience. The exploration of the neural processes underlying aesthetic experience and judgment. aesthetics: “our ability to perceive, feel and sense objects in the world and assign them positive or negative values along a continuum between beauty and ugliness.” Santiago Ramon y Cajal

Two opposing theories as to why some things are considered ugly and some are considered beautiful 1: beauty exists in the mind that contemplates things (“subjectivist” - depends on personal preference/experience/taste/….) OR 2: there exist perfect and universal forms of beauty (“objectivist” – depending on universal qualities like symmetry/balance/…)

In one fMRI study, subjects viewed a painting (portrait, landscape, still life, or abstract composition) and classified it as beautiful, neutral, or ugly. Beautiful paintings showed increased activity in the orbito-frontal cortex, an area involved in emotion and reward processing.

In contrast, paintings deemed ugly showed increased activity in the motor cortex, as if the brain is preparing the body to escape (!). SO… there is a clear link between aesthetic preference and our reward systems.

In another fMRI study, subjects viewed classical and renaissance sculptures in their original proportions and then in modified, more life-like proportions.

Based on results of this study (which are in the article, but really wordy and hard to understand), it is speculated that the insula (perception, mediates pleasure) is involved in objective observation (immediate response to stimuli, no beautiful/ugly judgment) while the amygdala (memory and emotional reactions) may be involved in subjective beauty experience (“I think this is beautiful because…”).

insulaamygdala

Aesthetic experience also has sensorimotor components (ex: music sending shivers down your spine, increased heart rate, etc). Exposure to artistic stimuli may profoundly influence the viewer’s bodily state via neural activations similar to other sensorimotor states. In other words, perceiving the ineffable properties of art objects may lead to changes in bodily feelings and in one’s own sense of self.

Paintings of Giorgio de Chirico

essentially….. Aesthetic experience is linked to our brain’s orbito- frontal cortex, in charge of emotional and reward processing. Aesthetic experience can affect our sensorimotor system, eliciting physiological changes to our body. The objective aspect of aesthetic experience is linked to our insula (mediates pleasure, perception). The subjective aspect of aesthetic experience is linked to our amygdala (emotions and memory).

so what? In your opinion, is neuroaesthetics a valuable topic to explore in our classrooms? Should we as art educators be aware of/care about this kind of information?

Lucky for us, Semir Zeki, a pioneer in the field, the very man who coined the term “neuroaesthetics,” did a TED talk on it. 0RP4

Will having some (albeit minimal) understanding of what’s going on in your brain during aesthetic experience change how you look at a work of art next time?

“It’s a bit like someone having a great love of the night sky, but having no interest at all in astronomy. It’s crazy. It expands your wonder at it. Your experience is expanded, not reduced. To think that you could just look at something and say ‘oh, that’s rather nice’ and not be desperately curious as to why …!” – Garry Kennard, “The Beautiful Brain” podcast Santiago Ramon y Cajal