Neuroaesthetics

• The scientific study of the neural processes that underlie aesthetic (human art) behavior

• Concerned with the psychological processes evoked in the creator or the viewer of the work of art during the course of interacting with it

Zaidel (2005)

“The association between art and brain… has proven difficult because its components are elusive. What abilities of Michelangelo’s mind went into painting the Sistine Chapel or sculpting Moses or the Pieta? What in Monet’s mind controlled his water lily paintings, or, in Gauguin’s his Ancestors of Tehamana painting, or, in ancient artists, the cave walls at Lascaux and Altamira?” (p. 1)

Skov (2009)

• What neural processes make us experience and appreciate art?

• How do we distinguish a Monet from a Gauguin?• Why does Mona Lisa’s smile seem so enigmatic?• Why do some artworks please and others do not?• Why do some people like Monet and hate Gauguin,

but others show the reverse?

Artistic Devices

• Many artists choose to focus only on certain perceptual and cognitive features of their painting, which target selected brain mechanisms, e.g., portraits (face processing), abstracts (geometrics or color), ready-mades (concepts)

• Some works are more perceptual and stimulus-driven (bottom-up processing)

• Some works are more conceptual and knowledge/memory-driven (top-down processing)

• Artists consciously or unconsciously use many devices to induce various effects into the viewer, such as:– Perspective– Disturbing proportions– Changing color– Juxtaposing unrelated items– Framing elements in unusual ways

Balthus (1933) “La Rue”

10 Standard Devices used by Great Artists

(Ramachandran & Hirstein, 1999)

Peak Shift

• An object is distorted by reducing its elements to its “essence”, e.g., caricatures

• Brain responses are actually greater to the reduced image

Grouping

• We prefer elements of visual art that can be grouped together into a pattern

Chardin (1766) “The Attributes of the Arts”

Balance

• The use of the entire representational space of an artwork

Contrast

• Brain prefers sharp contrasts

Isolation

• A reduction to essential features amplifies the sensory signals we normally must search for

Matisse (1905) “Portrait of Madame Matisse (Green Stripe)”

Perceptual Problem Solving

• Abstract constructions that require conscious problem-solving

Symmetry

• Symmetrical objects, including human faces, are found more attractive

Repetition, Rhythm, Orderliness

• Brain also prefers order

Generic Perspective

• We prefer objects that can be viewed from multiple viewpoints – they contain more information, makes it easier for the brain to process

Cezanne (1887) “Still Life”

Metaphor

• Two or more unrelated objects are compared, producing a new idea (e.g., bull, horse, light bulb)

Picasso (1937) “Guernica”

Mental Representation of Art

Braque (1908) Houses at L'Estaque

• Much art consists of original and unique forms, or novel organization of familiar forms

• One critical part of the art experience is the ability of the brain to extract the perceptual features of these forms and make sense out of them

Leder et al. (2004)

Brain Mechanisms for Processing Visual Art

• Extraction of perceptual features – LGN, primary visual cortex (occipital lobe)

• Classification and integration of features; relation to other stored knowledge – temporal and parietal lobes

• Incorporation of integrated information into the “behavioral program” of the organism (prefrontal cortex)

Example: Botticelli (1490) “Lamentation of Christ”

• Nalbantian’s (2008) functional neural stages:• Dorsal and ventral visual pathways process the basic visual

features• Temporal/parietal lobe processing results in identification of

objects, faces, colors• Large-scale memory cortical areas are engaged as LTM

information is integrated with STM information• Prefrontal cortex integrates affective information from limbic

system with personal memories and cultural background to produce an aesthetic experience and judgment

Do Different Styles of Art Engage Different Cortical Systems?

• Zeki (1999) – “Different modes of painting make use of different cerebral systems”

• Nalbantian (2008) – “Our analysis further suggests that different types of memory processing can be detected in different painting styles”

Abstract vs. Representational Art

• Lengger et al. 2007• Higher activation for representational (semi-abstract) art

compared to abstract art in both temporal lobes, left frontal lobe, parietal lobe, and limbic system

• However, when information was presented along with abstract paintings, the cortical activation differences due to styles was reduced

• Suggests that more familiar, more easily processed artworks more readily engage cortical areas related to memory and associations

The Processing of Emotional Response to Art

• Mechanisms of emotional response to art are poorly understood compared to cognition

• Many works of art provoke basic emotions, which may be the primary purpose of a work of art

• Emotional system may also play a role in how much the viewer likes or dislikes the work, thus factoring into gauging the “aesthetic value” of the work

Emotion and Impressionism

Morisot (1894) “Woman Leaning on her Elbows”

• Brain areas responsible for facial recognition respond most strongly to sharp photos of faces

• However, the amygdala responds more strongly to blurry photos of faces

• Impressionist works may connect more directly to emotional centers of the brain

Aesthetics, Emotion, and Cortical Areas

• Orbitofrontal area associated with brain reward systems

• Anterior cingulate and left parietal areas

Kawabata & Zeki (2004)

• fMRI study• Presented “ugly” “neutral” and “beautiful” paintings to Ps in

categories of abstract, still life, landscape, and portrait• Portraits activated a facial processing area (fusiform face area

or FFA) and amygdala• Landscapes activated the para-hippocampal place area (PPA)• Still lives activated V3 in occipital visual area• Orbitofrontal, anterior cingulate, left parietal cortex activated

for “beautiful” paintings• Motor cortex activated for “ugly” paintings

• They concluded that these areas are involved in judgments of aesthetic beauty

• Orbitofrontal – involved in the perception of rewarding (pleasant) stimuli

• Anterior cingulate and left parietal – involved in emotional states, pleasurable responses to stimuli

• Motor – is activated by emotionally charged stimuli• General Conclusion: Frontal and prefrontal cortical areas

involved in aesthetic judgments

Case Studies: Brain and Artist

Effects of Brain Damage/Trauma

• Anton Räderscheidt (1892-1970)• Realist painter; after 1950 style affected by

abstract expressionism

• LH stroke at age 75; style changed radically• Deformed objects, brighter colors, larger variety of colors

used; emotional content became highly charged

• Otto Dix (1891-1969)• Naturalistic style; overcharacterized figures

• RH stroke at age 76; had to re-learn drawing

• Lovis Corinth (1858-1925)• Realist; known for meticulous detail and precise

brushwork

• RH stroke at age 53; re-learned painting with other hand

• Turned to landscapes for rest of career

Effects of Brain Damage/Trauma

• Immediate reaction of artists is depression, despair• However, the majority of artists resume artistic

production although disability had to be overcome• Visuospatial neglect, facial distortions, disturbed

spatial organization can occur, mostly with RH lesions

• Dream-like optical sensations sometimes reported and reflected in the art

Hemispheric Effects on Art

• RH is the primary locus of art abilities• RH damage causes disturbances in the perceptual

integration of scenes• Creative artists tend to have more activity in RH

regions• LH tends to “tamp down” RH artistic tendency, thus,

when LH damaged, some disinhibition can occur• LH lesions tends to affect complexity, but doesn’t

have major effects on art

Paradoxical Facilitation of Art due to Brain Damage/Trauma

• Fronto-temporal dementia (FTD) – presents in one’s 50s

• Some with FTD develop a propensity for producing art for the very first time

• Miller et al. (1998) – such art tends to be realistic, not abstract or symbolic

• Tends to be highly detailed• Artistic output appears to reflect an acquired

obsessive-compulsive change of personality

• Dr. Anne Adams (1940-2007)• Biologist at U. British Columbia; in 2002 diagnosed

with FTD• Worked on art 40 hours per week; repetitive patterns

Mendez (2004) on FTD

• FTD with loss of function in left temporal lobe have increased artistic activity

• FTD with loss of function in right temporal lobe shift in terms of extracting essential aspects of art

• Patients with left temporal FTD exhibit impaired naming, word comprehension, and semantics

• Patients with right temporal FTD exhibit social ineptness, loss of empathy

Alzheimer’s Disease

• De Kooning – art lost its coherence and became simplified versions of more complex works

• William Utermohlen – purposefully painted self-portraits as he descended further into Alzheimer’s

Encephalitic Disease

• Franco Magnani (1934-present) as described by Sacks (1995)

• At age 31, struck by the disease; began painting obsessively, with his home town of Pontito, Italy, the subject

• All paintings were from memory, he left the town at age 18

• Almost all conversation and thoughts were about Pontito• Sacks speculated he was suffering from temporal lobe

seizures which can be associated with development of OCD personality

Migraine

• Ignatius Brennan (1949-present)

• Suffered from migraines since age 11; visual aura type with zigzag cloud patterns obscuring vision, triangles, hallucinations with cloudy shapes, tunnel vision, moving round forms, loss of 3-D

• During attacks, faces and objects sometimes seen as distorted, deformed, asymmetrical

“I started with pictures of my migraine experiences unconsciously rather than deliberately, when I was in art school… I also used zigzag shapes in my drawings… but I don’t think that I was then aware of their origin in my visual migraine experiences… Clouds, zigzags and other imagery are part of my own personal visual vocabulary, but which certainly has come out of migraine experiences. I’m absolutely sure… I make use of some of these images in difference ways, or in combination with others, depending on the subject.”

Summary

• Much still to learn about neural underpinnings of the expression and processing of visual art

• Some areas appear to be involved in aesthetic judgment and the emotional effect of art on a person

• Much of art ability is lateralized to the RH