The concept of aesthetics is about beauty. Neuroaesthetics is a discipline within cognitive neuroscience that is concerned with understanding the biological bases of aesthetic experiences. This means researchers in the field of neuroaethetics want to find out how the experience of art is processed in our brain. The term “neuroaesthetics” was introduced In 1999 by Semir Zeki, bringing together different scientific fields, such as psychology, neuroscience and human evolution [1]. Most of the research done within the past twenty years consists of functional imaging studies of the brain. These studies showed that visual works of art activate specific brain regions that are important for emotions and reward-related processes [2]. This might be an explanation why we can perceive art as beautiful. Neuroaesthetics is a growing discipline and broadens up. New approaches explore specific forms of art, like music, but some researchers are also interested in changes in aesthetic experience in disorders such as dementia [3].
The Association of Neuroaesthetics
The association of neuroaesthetics (AoN) is a platform aiming to cultivate the interdisciplinary efforts in the field of neuroaesthetics and to encourage a cooperation between arts and cognitive sciences. The AoN e.V. is a non-profit organization founded in 2008 in Berlin by neurosurgeon Alexander Abbushi in collaboration with the Charité and a group of leading international neuroscientists and curators from Paris, Munich and London. The association has organized a number of symposia and talk series, inviting both artists and neuroscientists for an interdisciplinary crosstalk. More information can be found on their website: http://aon.neurobureau.org.
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The Science Part: Semir Zeki
Semir Zeki is Professor of Neuroaesthetics at UCL London and introduced the term “neuroaesthetics” as a neurobiological definition of art. His research focuses on the study of the visual brain, its organization and its functioning in health and in disease [4]. Within the last thirty years, he made many important findings for our understanding of the visual pathway [5,6]. More recently, he showed interest in the impact of visual arts on our brain. As we need our eyes to perceive the visual arts, his own groundwork may lead to a more profound understanding of aesthetic experience. Zeki started to investigate the experience of beauty derived from different emotions, such as sorrow and joy [7].
The Art Part: Mark Stephen Smith
Mark Stephen Smith is Associate Professor at Austin College in Sherman, Texas, but probably better known for his art. He is one example of a growing number of contemporary artists who create a convergence of science and paintings. His works explore fundamental visual analogies between neural functions and self-expression in abstract art. He tries to merge his interest in scientific processes with his dedication to abstract paintings. Smith describes his paintings as a “amalgamation of science, technology and my own hand”. Smith's work has been exhibited at many museums, including the Dallas Museum of Art and Grace Borgnicht Gallery in New York. His recent series of works is called “Quantum States” and is inspired by theoretical physics [8].
Criticism on Neuroaesthetics
Neuroaesthetics emerged to its own research field in the neurosciences. But critics say that the discipline of neuroscience, which looks at events in the brain of individual people and cannot do more than describe and analyze them, may be the wrong empirical science for understanding art [9]. A fundamental question occurs when studying the aesthetic experience of art and how it is processed in our brain. How to define art and beauty? Beauty is not a scientific concept and a universal accepted definition is missing. Aesthetic experience is partly a question of culture and circumstance, and not a fundamental quality of the brain [10]. Researchers in the field of neuroaesthetics try to answer the question of how we perceive art and its beauty. We will see if they overcome the critics and find the explanations.
by Nina Stöberl, MSc Student, MedNeuro
This article originally appeared March 2018 in Vol 11, Issue 01, "Beauty and the Brain"
[1] Bundgaard, Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 2015
[2] O’Doherty, Curr Opin Neurobiol, 2014
[3] Silveri et al., J Alzheimers Dis, 2015
[4] http://bit.ly/2oQly4J
[5] Zeki, Nature, 1978
[6] Zeki, Nature, 1980
[7] Ishizu and Zeki, Hum Brain Mapp, 2017
[8] http://bit.ly/2I3fKxj
[9] Conway and Rehding, PLoS Biology, 2013
[10] http://go.nature.com/2Fg4xYs
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