Neuroaesthetics: A Coming of Age Story

Chatterjee, Anjan

doi:10.1162/jocn.2010.21457

Cited by 300 publications

(243 citation statements)

References 96 publications

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“…This all causes pleasurable chills (value assignation and pleasure; A-system). The discipline 'neuroaesthetics' studies these low-level perceptual processes and how they relate to aesthetic preferences [115][116][117]. In this endeavour, neural structures of reward and pleasure have been found to be engaged during aesthetic experiences [107,111,[118][119][120].…”

Section: The Arts Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 99%

Pleasure junkies all around! Why it matters and why ‘the arts’ might be the answer: a biopsychological perspective

Christensen

2017

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Today's society is pleasure seeking. We expect to obtain pleasurable experiences fast and easily. We are used to hyper-palatable foods and drinks, and we can get pornography, games and gadgets whenever we want them. The problem: with this type of pleasure-maximizing choice behaviour we may be turning ourselves into mindless pleasure junkies, handing over our free will for the next dopamine shoot. Pleasure-only activities are fun. In excess, however, such activities might have negative effects on our biopsychological health: they provoke a change in the neural mechanisms underlying choice behaviour. Choice behaviour becomes biased towards short-term pleasure-maximizing goals, just as in the addicted brain (modulated by the amygdala, posterior ventromedial prefrontal cortex' (VMPFC), striatum, nucleus accumbens; ‘A-system’) and away from long-term prosperity and general well-being maximizing objectives (normally ensured by the insula, anterior VMPFC, hippocampus, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC); ‘I-system‘). This paper outlines, first, what ‘pleasure’ is and what ‘pleasure-only’ activities are (e.g. social media engagement, hyper-palatable eating). Second, an account is given of the type of action that might aid to maintain the neural systems underlying choice behaviour balanced. Finally, it is proposed that engagement with the arts might be an activity with the potential to foster healthy choice behaviour—and not be just for pleasure. The evidence in this rather new field of research is still piecemeal and inconclusive. This review aims to motivate targeted research in this domain.

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Section: The Arts Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 99%

Pleasure junkies all around! Why it matters and why ‘the arts’ might be the answer: a biopsychological perspective

Christensen

2017

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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“…Over the past decade, an ever-increasing number of scientific works are providing us a new and privileged point of view of how art perception influences the brain (see (Chatterjee 2011;Di Dio and Gallese 2009). Equally importantly, the cross-fertilization between science and art has fueled an interest to study other forms of human artistic expression beyond painting and sculpture, including dance (Calvo-Merino et al 2008Di Dio and Gallese 2009;Hagendoorn 2004; It is very beautiful, but I cannot do it: The relationship between aesthetic evaluation and action experience in sensorimotor cortices, manuscript in preparation).…”

Section: Part Ii: Neuroaesthetics: a Neuroscientific Portrait Of Artmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neuroaesthetics and beyond: new horizons in applying the science of the brain to the art of dance

Cross

Ticini

2011

Phenom Cogn Sci

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Throughout history, dance has maintained a critical presence across all human cultures, defying barriers of class, race, and status. How dance has synergistically co-evolved with humans has fueled a rich debate on the function of art and the essence of aesthetic experience, engaging numerous artists, historians, philosophers, and scientists. While dance shares many features with other art forms, one attribute unique to dance is that it is most commonly expressed with the human body. Because of this, social scientists and neuroscientists are turning to dance and dancers to help answer questions of how the brain coordinates the body to perform complex, precise, and beautiful movements. In the present paper, we discuss how recent advances in neuroscientific methods provide the tools to advance our understanding of not only the cerebral phenomena associated with dance learning and observation but also the neural underpinnings of aesthetic appreciation associated with watching dance. We suggest that future work within the fields of dance neuroscience and neuroaesthetics have the potential to provide mutual benefits to both the scientific and artistic communities.

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“…It has been viewed as an "exceptional state of mind" (Marković, 2012, p. 2), although the extent of its uniqueness and difference from experience evoked by everyday situations is disputed (Chatterjee, 2011). Intense aesthetic experiences can include a variety of emotional reactions such as shivers, losing track of time, Trait mindfulness predicts frequency of aesthetic experiences 4 losing awareness of one's surroundings, and feelings of awe.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Observing Facet of Trait Mindfulness Predicts Frequency of Aesthetic Experiences Evoked by the Arts

Harrison

Clark

2016

Mindfulness

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Conflict of interest:Neil R. Harrison declares that he has no conflict of interest.Dan P.A. Clark declares that he has no conflict of interest.Trait mindfulness predicts frequency of aesthetic experiences 2 Abstract Mindfulness can foster an enhanced sensitivity to internal and external impressions, which could result in heightened subjective responses to works of art. So far though, very little is known about the connection between mindfulness and aesthetic responses to the arts, therefore the current study aimed to investigate whether there was an association between trait mindfulness and how often people report aesthetic experiences. We hypothesized that the Observing facet of mindfulness would positively predict the self-reported frequency of aesthetic experiences (aesthetic chills, feeling touched, and absorption). Participants in an online study (N = 207) completed the Five Factor Mindfulness Questionnaire, an Aesthetic Experiences scale in relation to the area of the arts a participant encountered most frequently in their daily life, and a measure of aesthetic expertise. Controlling for aesthetic expertise and sex, linear regression revealed that the Observing facet of mindfulness was positively associated with aesthetic experience, as predicted. Non-reactivity positively predicted aesthetic experience, while Non-judging was negatively associated with aesthetic experience. Potential explanations for the association between these three facets of trait mindfulness and aesthetic responses are discussed in relation to information-processing models of aesthetic experience. The findings provide preliminary support for the premise that levels of dispositional mindfulness are associated with the frequency of intense emotional responses to the arts, and recommendations for further research studies are outlined.Trait mindfulness predicts frequency of aesthetic experiences 3

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Neuroaesthetics: A Coming of Age Story

Cited by 300 publications

References 96 publications

Pleasure junkies all around! Why it matters and why ‘the arts’ might be the answer: a biopsychological perspective

Pleasure junkies all around! Why it matters and why ‘the arts’ might be the answer: a biopsychological perspective

Neuroaesthetics and beyond: new horizons in applying the science of the brain to the art of dance

The Observing Facet of Trait Mindfulness Predicts Frequency of Aesthetic Experiences Evoked by the Arts

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