What is happening in our brains when we perceive and appreciate the arts? What are the neural substrates of artistic sensations, feelings and emotions? How do diverse arts affect the brain? How different? How similar?
Neuroaesthetics is an emerging field that strives to understand the biological basis of aesthetic experiences. It is a subdiscipline of cognitive neuroscience, which investigates how our minds are implemented in the brain. Aesthetic experiences involve the valuation of people, places, and things. Because aesthetic encounters occur commonly in everyday life, exploring their biological bases deepens our understanding of human behavior in important areas such as the selection of partners, choices made by consumers, forms of communication, and encounters with art.ā€Æā€Æ
ā€ÆAesthetic experiences emerge from an aesthetic triad. This triad refers to the interaction between sensory-motor, emotion-valuation, and knowledge-meaning neural systems. Each component of the triad contributes to our engagement with art, as illustrated in this exhibition. Vivid colors in a painting, for example, activate parts of our visual cortex that process color. When we react with pleasure to intense beauty in a painting, our reward circuitry deep within the frontal lobes is active. For most art, especially conceptual art, our memories and meaning-making systems within temporal lobes are engaged. Each component can be weighed differently for any encounter; aesthetic experiences arise from an orchestration of neural activity within and across these systems and regions of the brain.ā€Æ
Shanna is an Entrepreneur, Creative Director, Artist, and Producer who has worked with brands ranging from Nike to Madonna. Her work has been featured in People Magazine, Modern Luxury, ESPN, and ABC.
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