The Aesthetic Triad

2021 ◽  
pp. 27-30
Author(s):  
Oshin Vartanian ◽  
Anjan Chatterjee

Following the rapid growth of neuroaesthetics, there was a need to systematize and organize the findings into a coherent and testable framework. With the “aesthetic triad,” the authors presented a model according to which aesthetic experience was viewed as the emergent property of the interaction of three large-scale systems in the brain: sensory-motor, emotion-valuation, and knowledge-meaning. Features that distinguished this model from others was that it was meant to apply to all aesthetic episodes (e.g., art, faces, architecture, etc.) and it acknowledged explicitly that a large variety of aesthetic experiences can emerge as a function of the specific ways in which these systems interact in the course of their emergence. To probe the model, the contribution of the knowledge-meaning system is likely of greatest interest, at least in part because that system encapsulates a large breadth of factors ranging from the personal to the cultural.

2019 ◽  
pp. 272-290
Author(s):  
Max Paddison

Chapter 17 argues for an experiential concept of temporality that takes Kantian subjectivity as its point of reference. Drawing on Bachelard’s phenomenology of duration, it makes a case for temporal experience as fundamentally subjective and exploratory, but historically contingent. Placing the aesthetic experience of music in this context, it argues for a large-scale notion of “rhythmicized duration” as form that affords extended scope for the aesthetic experience of temporality. Finally, the author argues that aesthetic concepts of temporality, duration, and rhythm are subject to change, development, and displacement, and as a result have functioned both normatively and metaphorically in different historical periods. It suggests that there are distinctly different aesthetic experiences of time, and that this is reflected in the fact that historical paradigms of temporal experience in music shift, which in turn serves to shape our experience of rhythm as structured duration.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Semir Zeki ◽  
Oliver Y. Chén ◽  
John Paul Romaya

AbstractThrough our past studies of the neurobiology of beauty, we have come to divide aesthetic experiences into two broad categories: biological and artifactual. The aesthetic experience of biological beauty is dictated by inherited brain concepts, which are resistant to change even in spite of extensive experience. The experience of artifactual beauty on the other hand is determined by post-natally acquired concepts, which are modifiable throughout life by exposure to different experiences (Zeki, 2009). Hence, in terms of aesthetic rating, biological beauty (in which we include the experience of beautiful faces or human bodies) is characterized by less variability between individuals belonging to different ethnic origins and cultural backgrounds or the same individual at different times. Artifactual beauty (in which we include the aesthetic experience of human artifacts such as buildings and cars) is characterized by greater variability between individuals belonging to different ethnic and cultural groupings and by the same individual at different times. In this paper, we present results to show that the experience of mathematical beauty (Zeki et al 2014), even though it constitutes an extreme example of beauty that is dependent upon (mathematical) culture and learning, belongs to the biological category and obeys one of its characteristics, namely a lesser variability in terms of the aesthetic ratings given to mathematical formulae experienced as beautiful.


1978 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-321 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vernon L. Allen ◽  
David B. Greenberger

An aesthetic theory of vandalism is proposed. The theory posits that the variables accounting for the enjoyment associated with socially acceptable aesthetic experiences are similarly responsible for the pleasure associated with acts of destruction. Previous theory and research in aesthetics have identified many important factors, such as complexity, expectation, novelty, intensity, and patterning, which are responsible for the pleasure that accompanies an aesthetic experience. These same psychological processes are involved in the destruction of an object. Furthermore, aesthetic variables implicated in an object's initial appearance and in its appearance after being vandalized may serve as eliciting or discriminative stimuli for destructive behavior. Several studies provide support for hypotheses derived from the aesthetic theory of vandalism. In conclusion, we examine the theory's practical implications for reducing vandalism in the schools.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Specker ◽  
Eiko I. Fried ◽  
Raphael Rosenberg ◽  
Helmut Leder

In recent years, understanding psychological constructs as network processes has gained considerable traction in the social sciences. In this paper, we propose the aesthetic effects network (AEN) as a novel way to conceptualize aesthetic experience. The AEN represents an associative process where having one association leads to the next association, generating an overall aesthetic experience. In art theory, associations of this kind are referred to as aesthetic effects. The AEN provides an explicit account of a specific cognitive process involved in aesthetic experience. We first outline the AEN and discuss empirical results (Study 1, N=255) to explore what can be gained from this approach. Second, in Study 2 (N=133, pre-registered) we follow calls in the literature to substantiate network theories by using an experimental manipulation, and found evidence in favor of the AEN over other alternatives. The AEN provides a basis for future studies that can apply a network perspective to different aesthetic experiences and processes. This perspective takes a process-based approach to aesthetic experience, where aesthetic experience is represented as an active interaction between viewer and artwork. If we want to understand how people experience art, it is central to know why people have different experiences with the same artworks, and, also, why people have similar experiences when looking at different artworks. Our proposed network perspective offers a new way to approach and potentially answer these questions.


Author(s):  
Oshin Vartanian

There is considerable evidence to suggest that aesthetic experiences engage a distributed set of structures in the brain, and likely emerge from the interactions of multiple neural systems. In addition, aside from an external (i.e., object-focused) orientation, aesthetic experiences also involve an internal (i.e., person-focused) orientation. This internal orientation appears to have two dissociable neural components: one component involves the processing of visceral feeling states (i.e., interoception) and primarily engages the insula, whereas the other involves the processing of self-referential, autobiographical, and narrative information, and is represented by activation in the default mode network. Evidence supporting this neural dissociation has provided insights into processes that can lead to deep and moving aesthetic experiences.


Author(s):  
Crispin Sartwell

‘Everyday aesthetics’ refers to the possibility of aesthetic experience of non-art objects and events, as well as to a current movement within the field of philosophy of art which rejects or puts into question distinctions such as those between fine and popular art, art and craft, and aesthetic and non-aesthetic experiences. The movement may be said to begin properly with Dewey's Art as Experience (1934), though it also has roots in continental philosophers such as Heidegger. The possibility of everyday aesthetics originates in two undoubted facts: firstly, that art emerges from a range of non-art activities and experiences, and, secondly, that the realm of the aesthetic extends well beyond the realm of what are commonly conceived to be the fine arts.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Skov ◽  
Marcos Nadal

Alexis Makin argued in a recent paper that Empirical Aesthetics is unable to properly advance our understanding of the mechanisms involved in aesthetic experience. The reason for this predicament, he claims, is an inability of current research methods to capture the psychological properties that truly characterize aesthetic experience, especially the unique perceptual and emotional processes involved in the aesthetic experience. We show that Makin’s argument rests on assumptions that are at odds with scientific knowledge of the neurobiological mechanisms involved in the appreciation of sensory objects. We thereafter show that such mechanisms are rooted in shared neurobiological systems, and operate according to computational principles that are common to many domains of experience. This casts doubt on the notion that aesthetic experiences constitute a distinct kind of experiences that can be defined according to a set of special and unique qualities. Finally, we discuss how attributing this specialness to “aesthetic” experiences leads Empirical Aesthetics astray from mainstream psychology and neuroscience.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 212-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna K. Pałęga

Abstract In recent years the concept of aesthetics has become broader and more focused on the aesthetic experience resulting from the interaction between the person and the environment. A lot has been written about the way people experience settings that are explicitly designed as sites for aesthetic engagement, such as museums and art galleries, but very little attention has been given to ordinary people and how they make sense of such experiences in their everyday lives. This research study explores the everyday aesthetic experiences that lay people find meaningful in their daily encounters through a phenomenological approach. The findings indicate that everyday aesthetic experiences result from being open to creatively engage, are a blend of serendipitous events and planned encounters and a significant dimension of lived experience.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanna Lehtinen

AbstractThe role and function of public art is currently undergoing some large-scale changes. Many new artworks which are situated within the already existing urban sphere, seem to be changing the definition of public art, each in their own way. Simultaneously, there exists a trend that endorses more traditional forms of public art. Juxtaposing and comparing the aesthetic implications of different types of artworks, it is possible to see how they contribute to the contemporary understanding of the urban sphere. In this paper, I take a look at the explicit and implicit aesthetic values that these simultaneously existing contemporary forms of public art are based on. The cases selected for closer look are examples of prominent and recent works of public art from downtown Helsinki: He who Brings the Light (unveiled in 2017) by Pekka Kauhanen and Running Man (performed in 2016-17) by Nestori Syrjala. What space and what kind of position is subscribed to the perceiver by these very different types of yet equally established artworks? What kind of experiences and possibilities of participation do these works entail? The focus is on the undergoing redefinition of public art that revolves around these questions.


2008 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 297-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeanne Marie Iorio

Arts are an expectation in early childhood classrooms — traditionally, visual art, music, drama, and movement. The variety of understandings of art and aesthetic experiences shape approaches to arts education, particularly with young children. Attempts to define the aesthetic experience refer to the presence of an object, most commonly a work of art. The object becomes central to the human response within the aesthetic experience. Through the analysis of data documenting conversations between a child and an adult, the author have previously proposed child — adult conversations as aesthetic experiences. In this article, she re-examines excerpts from child—adult conversations from her research, negotiating the possibility of naming child—adult conversation as art, in order to recognise child—adult conversation as an aesthetic experience. This article continues the conversation around thinking of conversation as art, and the art of conversation — an integral component of pedagogy with young children.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document