KEK連携コロキウム
Empirical approaches to study aesthetic
experiences-an introduction to neuroaestheticsTomohiro Ishizu
Dep. Psychology, Kansai University

Tomohiro Ishizu
Department of Psychology, Kansai University
BMK Centre, Hiroshima University
Neuroaesthetics, cognitive science of art
t.ishizu@kansai-u.ac.jp
https://researchmap.jp/tishizu

UCL
Dep. Biosicence2009〜20162018〜2020

University ofVienna
Dep. Psychology
2016〜2018

Kansai University
Dep. Psychology
2020.4〜Choshu fiveTodayʼs topics• What is neuroaesthetics?

• Definision, research areas, research objectives• Why beauty matters?

• Beauty (positive beauty) and its brain system• Empirical studies on negative beauty

What is neuroaesthetics? by definition
Studying workings of mind and brain with artistic activities
and various aesthetic experience by using cognitive
neuroscience methods

Empirical
aesthetics

Psychophysiology

Brain imaging
Brainstimulation

Machinelearning
Deep learning

What is neuroaesthetics?

Appreciation, creativity, critique etc.

Studying workings of mind and brain with artistic activities
and various aesthetic experience by using cognitive
neuroscience methods

Empirical
aesthetics

PsychophysiologyBrain imaging
Brainstimulation

Machinelearning
Deep learning

What is neuroaesthetics?

Beauty, ugliness, subliime, nostalgy, moving, etc.

Appreciation, creativity, critique etc.

Studying workings of mind and brain with artistic activities
and various aesthetic experience by using cognitive
neuroscience methods

Empirical
aesthetics

Psychophysiology

Brain imaging
Brainstimulation

Machinelearning
Deep learning

What is neuroaesthetics?

Beauty, ugliness, subliime, nostalgy, moving, etc.

Appreciation, creativity, critique etc.

Studying workings of mind and brain with artistic activitiesand various aesthetic experience by using cognitive
neuroscience methods

Cognitive model, brain systems, psychological effects etc.

Empirical
aesthetics

Psychophysiology

Brain imaging
Brainstimulation

Machinelearning
Deep learning

What is neuroaesthetics?

Beauty, ugliness, subliime, nostalgy, moving, etc.

Appreciation, creativity, critique etc.

Studying workings of mind and brain with artistic activities
and various aesthetic experience by using cognitive
neuroscience methods

Cognitive model, brain systems, psychological effects etc.

Empirical
aesthetics

Psychophysiology

Brain imaging
Brainstimulation

Machinelearning
Deep learning

What is neuroaesthetics? by research areas
Studying workings of mind and brain with artistic activities andvarious aesthetic experience by using cognitive neuroscience methods

Cognitive
Neuroscience of
Aesthetics

Cognitive
Neuroscience of Art

Studies on aesthetics

Studies on art/artworks

Cognitive processes andbrain functions of aesthetic
experiences

Perception on artworks
Artistic creativity
Art, wellness, disease

Cognitive
Neuroscience ofBeauty

What is neuroaesthetics? by objectives“ How beautiful!! ”

Aesthetics from below
Aesthetics from withinAesthetics from above

Three levels in aesthetic judgements
Credit: Icons from Adioma.com; thenounproject.com (Soundwave by Maxim Kulikov; Art by Justicon; Human by Dmitry Mamaev)

Aesthetics from above

Aesthetics from within

Aesthetics from below“ How beautiful!! ”

Psychological features
Perception, cognition,emotion
17 1 2316415
514
613
7
128
11 10 90.3

sublimenon sublime

PC2

Neural profiles
Brain response
Physiological response

0-0.25

PC10sublime
non sublime

Credit: Icons from Adioma.com; thenounproject.com (Soundwave by Maxim Kulikov; Art by Justicon; Human by Dmitry Mamaev)

Physical features
Visual features
Acoustic features

Aesthetics from above

Aesthetics from within

Aesthetics from below“ How beautiful!! ”物

Psychological features
Perception, cognition,emotion
17 1 2

316
4
15
5
14
6
13
7
128
11 10 90.3？

non sublime

0-0.25

Physical features
Visual features
Acoustic featuressublimePC2

Neural profiles
Brain response
Physiological response

PC10sublime
non sublime

Credit: Icons from Adioma.com; thenounproject.com (Soundwave by Maxim Kulikov; Art by Justicon; Human by Dmitry Mamaev)

Todayʼs topics• What is neuroaesthetics?

• Definision, research areas, research objectives• Why beauty matters?

• Beauty (positive beauty) and its brain system• Empirical studies on negative beauty

Studies on beauty
Studying workings of mind and brain with artistic activities andvarious aesthetic experience by using cognitive neuroscience methods

Cognitive
Neuroscience ofAesthetics

Cognitive
Neuroscience of Art

Studies on aesthetics

Studies on art/artworks

Cognitive processes andbrain functions of aesthetic
Cognitive
Neuroscience
experiences

Perception on artworks
Artistic creativity
Art, wellness, diseaseof Beauty

Why beauty matters?
17(from Shutterstock)£28bn6m

Doubleeconomyvisitors

success rate(from Shutterstock)“Beauty is not skin deep”

Goodness

Mathematical truth

Truth, goodness, beauty(from adobe stock)rooted in the very foundations of humanity

“My work has always tried to unite theTrue with the Beautiful and when I had tochoose one or the other, I usually chosethe Beautiful.”Beauty isnot ‘luxury’ but ‘necessity’
嗜好・贅沢

必需・必須

leading to a deeper understandingof human nature(Ishizu, Srirangarajan, Daikoku, accepted)

Todayʼs topics• What is neuroaesthetics?

• Definision, research areas, research objectives• Why beauty matters?

• Beauty (positive beauty) and its brainsystem• Empirical studies on negative beauty

Research question

What brain response(s) do theexperience of beauty derived fromdifferent sources have in common?

visual beauty

musical beauty(from Shutterstock)visual beauty

醜いmusical beauty

美しい(from Shutterstock)Visual beauty

Musical beauty

Is there common neural activity ?
26

Painting viewing
Music listening

CommonVisualMusicalbeauty
beautyregionVISUALMUSICALCOMMON(Ishizu & Zeki, 2011)28

Common response for experience of beauty(at least for visual and auditory beauty)(Ishizu & Zeki, 2011; 2013)Medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC/vmPFC)

visual beauty(Tsukiura & Cabeza, 2010; Zeki et al., 2015)

musical beauty(from Shutterstock)visual beauty(Tsukiura & Cabeza, 2010; Zeki et al., 2015)

musical beauty

invisible beauty(from Shutterstock)Intellectual, knowledge

MathMusic

MoralityArt

Abstract

Figurative

Face/people

Scenery

ColourMotionPrimary reward, biological(e.g. Tsukiura & Cabeza, 2010; Ishizu & Zeki, 2011; 2013a; 2013b; 2014; Ikeda et al., 2014; Wang et al., 2015)32

60 math equitions(e.g. Euler’s identity, Pythagoreantheorem, Gauss-Bonnet theorem,
Cauchy's residue theorem, Taylor
expansion of an analytic function,
Ramanujan's infinite series andRiemann's functional equation)

Aesthetic evaluations(Degree of feltbeauty/understanding)Intellectual, knowledge

MathMusic

MoralityArt

Abstract

Figurative

Face/people

Scenery

ColourMotionPrimary reward, biological(e.g. Tsukiura & Cabeza, 2010; Ishizu & Zeki, 2011; 2013a; 2013b; 2014; Ikeda et al., 2014; Wang et al., 2015)34

Multi-variate analysis

Voxel patterns of beauty/
ugliness judgments

ClassifiersClassify voxel patterns
Predict aesthetic judgment(Pegors et al., 2015; Ishizu et al., in prep)• Predicting individualsʼ aesthetic evaluations by decoding brain
information• The medial orbitofrontal cortex encodes (some) information
about beauty

One of neuroaesthetics findings：•mOFC may play an important role in aesthetic evaluation•Independent of the media(supra-modal manner)•Common currency

One of neuroaesthetics findings：•

mOFC may play an important role in aesthetic evaluation•

Independent of the media(supra-modal manner)•Common currency

Beauty with negatively valanced emotion

Todayʼs topics• What is neuroaesthetics?

• Definision, research areas, research objectives• Why beauty matters?

• Beauty (positive beauty) and its brain system• Empirical studies on negative beauty

What isnegatively valenced aesthetic experience？

“Parting is such sweet sorrow that I shallsay goodnight till it be morrow”
Romeo and Juliet

ROH, Dave Morgan

ShutterstockShutterstockPositive valence ＋
Positive aesthetic experience

Negative valence ＋
Positive aesthetic experience
Shutterstock• Enjoyment of sad music and tragic stage play• Morality, altruism, self-sacrifice= involved in the foundations of humanity
43(e.g. Leder et al., 2014; Hanich et al., 2014; Ishizu & Zeki, 2014; Sachs et al., 2015; Menninghaus et al., 2017)

He discussed why we can enjoy tragedy
in stage plays...

“The pathetic (*sorrow) is an artificial
misfortune. The artificial misfortune of thepathetic… finds us in full armament, and…
it is merely imagined”
Über das PathetischeFriedrich von Schiller• Artificial (imaginary) misfortune (F. Schiller, 18c)
• The fourth wall (D. Diderot, 18c)
• “The spectator is not sad but he believes he is sad” (P. Kivy, 1999)＝Not real emotion but “imaginary emotion”
Is negatively valenced emotion in art/aesthetics
imaginary emotion?
Intriguing question in the humanities↔ hard to be tested by philosophical methodology

sadness + beauty

joy + beauty

Shutterstock(aesthetic rating＋emotion valence rating)・How the brain responds to sad beauty・Comparison to pos. beauty ・Amygdala and ACC activity?
46

Joy + beautySadness + beauty

conjunction(p < 0.05 corr. SVC)

Both types of beauty activate the mOFC
mOFC: important for judgment of beauty
Ishizu & Zeki, 201747

MCC/SMArMPFC

Functional connectivity

MCC／SMA, DLPFC•
Empathy for pain/sadness (Lamm et al., 2011)•Interpretation of others’ intentions (Fan et al., 2011)•No amygdala and ACC activity (ROI)48

Felt emotions invideo viewing

c2: beauty +other components?

(Original data derived fromCowen & Keltner, 2017)

Dimensionality reduction with PCA
Joy

Sadness

JoyfulbeautyAesthetic
Sorrowful
beautyc1: valence

PCA on each primal
emotion andaesthetic experience・Joy・Sadness
・Aesthetic
・Joy + aesthetic
・Sadness + aes
Evaluating 366
videos using 34
emotions
How JA and SA aremapped in PCA(Daikoku & Ishizu, under review)

Felt emotions invideo viewing

c2: beauty +other components?

(Original data derived fromCowen & Keltner, 2017)

Dimensionality reduction with PCA
Joy

Sadness

JoyfulbeautyAesthetic
Sorrowful
beautyc1: valenceThe sad emotionof sad beauty may
not be sadness
with negative
emotional valence
Sad beauty may, inthe end, have apleasant experience(i.e. positiveemotional valence)
Answering to thephilosophicalquestion fromquantitative method

Todayʼs topics• What is neuroaesthetics?

• Definision, research areas, research objectives• Why beauty matters?

• Beauty (positive beauty) and its brain system• Empirical studies on negative beauty

Findings so far• Beauty (visual, musical, morality, math, poetry)mOFC

Findings so far• Beauty (visual, musical, morality, math, poetry)• Ugliness, aesthetic uglinessAmygdala

Motor cortex

Findings so far• Beauty (visual, musical, morality, math, poetry)• Ugliness, aesthetic ugliness• Sublime, aweFindings so far• Beauty (visual, musical, morality, math, poetry)• Ugliness, aesthetic ugliness• Sublime, awe• Aesthetic sadness (beauty in sorrow and pain)

Findings so far• Beauty (visual, musical, morality, math, poetry)• Ugliness, aesthetic ugliness• Sublime, awe• Aesthetic sadness (beauty in sorrow and pain)
MCC• How artistic values are socially shared

ACCOFCFindings so far• Beauty (visual, musical, morality, math, poetry)• Ugliness, aesthetic ugliness• Sublime, awe• Aesthetic sadness (beauty in sorrow and pain)• How artistic values are socially shared• Applications to social problems (well-being, prosociality)

Book & reading list

58

Book & reading list59

• About neuroaesthetics• Studies on beauty with pos. emotions• Negatively valenced aesthetic experience

The sublime, awe
The sublime: a sense of awe (fear) andoverwhelm that one feels when confronted withsomething larger than oneself
Mixed emotion with pleasure and fear

61

(from Shutterstock)

62

Sublime experience enhances pro-social behaviours

63

•
•
•

Increasing sense of belonging to the group one belongs
Increasing cooperative behaviours
Increasing altruistic acts

e.g. Piff et a., 2015

「崇高惹起課題」”Enhancing spontaneous social activities of residents andcaretakers through 'sublime spaces and sounds' in homes for theelderly” project.

⼼理的因⼦の特定

物理的特徴の抽出

崇⾼の主な17 1 2 3
16
構成情動415(3) 審美性(7) 恐怖(9) 覚醒度

51413
12

11 108

崇⾼な⾳

崇⾼な画像

周波数スペクトル

679

崇⾼の感情マップ

各周波数帯域パワー
倍⾳構造など各周波数帯域パワー
コントラストなど