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Neville V, Mendl M, Paul ES, Seriès P, Dayan P. A primer on the use of computational modelling to investigate affective states, affective disorders and animal welfare in non-human animals. COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2024; 24:370-383. [PMID: 38036937 PMCID: PMC11039423 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-023-01137-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/30/2023] [Indexed: 12/02/2023]
Abstract
Objective measures of animal emotion-like and mood-like states are essential for preclinical studies of affective disorders and for assessing the welfare of laboratory and other animals. However, the development and validation of measures of these affective states poses a challenge partly because the relationships between affect and its behavioural, physiological and cognitive signatures are complex. Here, we suggest that the crisp characterisations offered by computational modelling of the underlying, but unobservable, processes that mediate these signatures should provide better insights. Although this computational psychiatry approach has been widely used in human research in both health and disease, translational computational psychiatry studies remain few and far between. We explain how building computational models with data from animal studies could play a pivotal role in furthering our understanding of the aetiology of affective disorders, associated affective states and the likely underlying cognitive processes involved. We end by outlining the basic steps involved in a simple computational analysis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vikki Neville
- Bristol Veterinary School, University of Bristol, Langford, UK.
| | - Michael Mendl
- Bristol Veterinary School, University of Bristol, Langford, UK
| | | | - Peggy Seriès
- Institute for Adaptive and Neural Computation, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Peter Dayan
- Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics & University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
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2
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Polanía R, Burdakov D, Hare TA. Rationality, preferences, and emotions with biological constraints: it all starts from our senses. Trends Cogn Sci 2024; 28:264-277. [PMID: 38341322 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2024.01.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2022] [Revised: 01/10/2024] [Accepted: 01/11/2024] [Indexed: 02/12/2024]
Abstract
Is the role of our sensory systems to represent the physical world as accurately as possible? If so, are our preferences and emotions, often deemed irrational, decoupled from these 'ground-truth' sensory experiences? We show why the answer to both questions is 'no'. Brain function is metabolically costly, and the brain loses some fraction of the information that it encodes and transmits. Therefore, if brains maximize objective functions that increase the fitness of their species, they should adapt to the objective-maximizing rules of the environment at the earliest stages of sensory processing. Consequently, observed 'irrationalities', preferences, and emotions stem from the necessity for our early sensory systems to adapt and process information while considering the metabolic costs and internal states of the organism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rafael Polanía
- Decision Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH, Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Denis Burdakov
- Neurobehavioral Dynamics Laboratory, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Todd A Hare
- Zurich Center for Neuroeconomics, Department of Economics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
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3
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Brielmann AA, Berentelg M, Dayan P. Modelling individual aesthetic judgements over time. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2024; 379:20220414. [PMID: 38104603 PMCID: PMC10725758 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0414] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2023] [Accepted: 11/17/2023] [Indexed: 12/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Listening to music, watching a sunset-many sensory experiences are valuable to us, to a degree that differs significantly between individuals, and within an individual over time. We have theorized (Brielmann & Dayan 2022 Psychol. Rev. 129, 1319-1337 (doi:10.1037/rev0000337))) that these idiosyncratic values derive from the task of using experiences to tune the sensory-cognitive system to current and likely future input. We tested the theory using participants' (n = 59) ratings of a set of dog images (n = 55) created using the NeuralCrossbreed morphing algorithm. A full realization of our model that uses feature representations extracted from image-recognizing deep neural nets (e.g. VGG-16) is able to capture liking judgements on a trial-by-trial basis (median r = 0.65), outperforming predictions based on population averages (median r = 0.01). Furthermore, the model's learning component allows it to explain image sequence dependent rating changes, capturing on average 17% more variance in the ratings for the true trial order than for simulated random trial orders. This validation of our theory is the first step towards a comprehensive treatment of individual differences in evaluation. This article is part of the theme issue 'Art, aesthetics and predictive processing: theoretical and empirical perspectives'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aenne A. Brielmann
- Department of Computational Neuroscience, Max-Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, 72076, Germany
- Hector Research Institute of Education Sciences and Psychology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, 72074, Germany
| | - Max Berentelg
- Department of Computational Neuroscience, Max-Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, 72076, Germany
| | - Peter Dayan
- Department of Computational Neuroscience, Max-Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, 72076, Germany
- Department of Psychology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, 72074, Germany
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4
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Barbieri P, Sarasso P, Lodico F, Aliverti A, Murayama K, Sacco K, Ronga I. The aesthetic valve: how aesthetic appreciation may switch emotional states from anxiety to curiosity. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2024; 379:20220413. [PMID: 38104608 PMCID: PMC10725764 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0413] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2023] [Accepted: 11/02/2023] [Indexed: 12/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Pursuing new knowledge in the entropic environment is pivotal for survival. However, dealing with uncertainty is a costly challenge for the agent surrounded by the stochastic sensory world, giving rise to different epistemic emotions, such as curiosity and anxiety. We recently proposed that aesthetic appreciation may have the role of associating pleasant feedback with the update of predictive representations. According to this idea, aesthetic appreciation and its associated rewarding feeling could drive people to seek new knowledge over anxiety. However, the relationship between aesthetic appreciation, curiosity, and anxiety has been still under-examined in the literature. Here, we explore the relationship between these epistemic emotions in a series of three experiments. In study 1, we examined whether music-induced aesthetic appreciation would influence curiosity in a gambling task. In studies 2a and 2b, we explore the relationship between music-induced aesthetic appreciation and anxiety state. Overall, aesthetic appreciation promoted curiosity-driven behaviour while it was negatively associated with anxiety. These results were consistent with the idea that aesthetic appreciation could act as a 'valve', prompting the individual to perceive curiosity (i.e. to consider novelty as a valuable opportunity to acquire new knowledge) rather than anxiety (i.e. to consider novelty as a risk to be avoided). This article is part of the theme issue 'Art, aesthetics and predictive processing: theoretical and empirical perspectives'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paolo Barbieri
- BIP (BraIn Plasticity and Behaviour Changes) Research Group, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Piemonte 10124, Italy
| | - Pietro Sarasso
- BIP (BraIn Plasticity and Behaviour Changes) Research Group, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Piemonte 10124, Italy
| | - Fabio Lodico
- BIP (BraIn Plasticity and Behaviour Changes) Research Group, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Piemonte 10124, Italy
| | - Alice Aliverti
- BIP (BraIn Plasticity and Behaviour Changes) Research Group, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Piemonte 10124, Italy
| | - Kou Murayama
- Hector Research Institute of Education Sciences and Psychology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, 72074, Germany
| | - Katiuscia Sacco
- BIP (BraIn Plasticity and Behaviour Changes) Research Group, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Piemonte 10124, Italy
| | - Irene Ronga
- BIP (BraIn Plasticity and Behaviour Changes) Research Group, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Piemonte 10124, Italy
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5
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Frascaroli J, Leder H, Brattico E, Van de Cruys S. Aesthetics and predictive processing: grounds and prospects of a fruitful encounter. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2024; 379:20220410. [PMID: 38104599 PMCID: PMC10725766 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0410] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2023] [Accepted: 12/01/2023] [Indexed: 12/19/2023] Open
Abstract
In the last few years, a remarkable convergence of interests and results has emerged between scholars interested in the arts and aesthetics from a variety of perspectives and cognitive scientists studying the mind and brain within the predictive processing (PP) framework. This convergence has so far proven fruitful for both sides: while PP is increasingly adopted as a framework for understanding aesthetic phenomena, the arts and aesthetics, examined under the lens of PP, are starting to be seen as important windows into our mental functioning. The result is a vast and fast-growing research programme that promises to deliver important insights into our aesthetic encounters as well as a wide range of psychological phenomena of general interest. Here, we present this developing research programme, describing its grounds and highlighting its prospects. We start by clarifying how the study of the arts and aesthetics encounters the PP picture of mental functioning (§1). We then go on to outline the prospects of this encounter for the fields involved: philosophy and history of art (§2), psychology of aesthetics and neuroaesthetics (§3) and psychology and neuroscience more generally (§4). The upshot is an ambitious but well-defined framework within which aesthetics and cognitive science can partner up to illuminate crucial aspects of the human mind. This article is part of the theme issue 'Art, aesthetics and predictive processing: theoretical and empirical perspectives'.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Helmut Leder
- Faculty of Psychology and Cognitive Science Research Hub, University of Vienna, 1010 Vienna, Austria
| | - Elvira Brattico
- Center for Music in the Brain, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, and Royal Academy of Music Aarhus/Aalborg, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark
- Department of Education, Psychology, Communication, University of Bari Aldo Moro, 70121 Bari, Italy
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Yoo J, Jasko K, Winkielman P. Fluency, prediction and motivation: how processing dynamics, expectations and epistemic goals shape aesthetic judgements. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2024; 379:20230326. [PMID: 38104614 PMCID: PMC10725759 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2023.0326] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2023] [Accepted: 11/21/2023] [Indexed: 12/19/2023] Open
Abstract
What psychological mechanisms underlie aesthetic judgements? An influential account known as the Hedonic Marking of Fluency, later developed into a Processing Fluency Theory of Aesthetic Pleasure, posits that ease of processing elicits positive feelings and thus enhances stimulus evaluations. However, the theory faces empirical and conceptual challenges. In this paper, we extend it by integrating insights from predictive processing frameworks (PPF) and the epistemic motivation model (EMM). We propose four extensions. First, fluency of a stimulus depends on perceivers' expectations-their internal model of the world. Second, perceivers also form expectations about fluency itself and thus can experience surprising fluency. These expectations can come from the individual's history, their current task and their environment. Third, perceivers can value fluency but also disfluency, reflecting their non-directional epistemic goals. Fourth, perceivers also have directional epistemic goals, preferring specific conclusions or belief content. Consequently, affective reactions depend on whether the stimulus satisfies those goals. These directional epistemic goals may override concerns about fluency or change the value of fluency associated with specific content. We review supporting evidence and introduce novel predictions. By integrating insights from PPF and EMM, our framework can better capture established fluency effects and highlights their limitations and extensions. This article is part of the theme issue 'Art, aesthetics and predictive processing: theoretical and empirical perspectives'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jenny Yoo
- Department of Psychology, University of California, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0109, USA
| | - Katarzyna Jasko
- Jagiellonian University, Institute of Psychology, Ingardena 6, 30-060 Krakow, Poland
| | - Piotr Winkielman
- Department of Psychology, University of California, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0109, USA
- SWPS University, Chodakowska 19/31, 03-815 Warsaw, Poland
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7
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Cao E, Chong KM, Pan L, Ning L, Pan F(D, Li K(K. Oh I remember the beauty and aesthetics of guilin!: Exploring the implications of memorability on tourist loyalty through a two-wave panel data. Heliyon 2024; 10:e23365. [PMID: 38169803 PMCID: PMC10758774 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e23365] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2023] [Revised: 11/29/2023] [Accepted: 12/01/2023] [Indexed: 01/05/2024] Open
Abstract
The travel and tourism industry is among most severely impacted by natural disasters, terrorism, financial crises, and pandemics. Scholars are currently paying attention to how to revive tourism and establish tourist loyalty in the post-pandemic era. Aesthetics is a fundamental component of the tourist experience, and significantly affects tourist loyalty, intention, and behavior. However, research on destination aesthetics is limited, with most studies neglecting the role of memorability in the outcomes of aesthetics, particularly after the pandemic. Therefore, this study explores the mediating role of memorability in the effects of the aesthetic experiential qualities (scenery, cleanliness, harmony, art/architecture, and genuineness) of a nature-based tourism destination on tourist loyalty. Based on a two-wave panel data approach, 509 survey responses were collected and analyzed using Smarts. The findings indicate that the aesthetic experiential qualities positively affect tourists' memorability. Although three of the five aesthetic qualities (scenery, harmony, art/architecture) demonstrated no direct impact on loyalty, all the qualities had significant indirect effects on loyalty through the mediation of memorability. This study provides insights and new perspectives for promoting tourist loyalty in the context of post-pandemic tourism recovery.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Lei Pan
- Hainan Medical University, Malaysia
| | - Luo Ning
- Director of the Department of Tourism Management, Guangxi Normal University, China
| | - Fang (Diana) Pan
- Vice dean of the Teachers College for Vocational Education, Guangxi Normal University, China
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8
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Bignardi G, Smit DJA, Vessel EA, Trupp MD, Ticini LF, Fisher SE, Polderman TJC. Genetic effects on variability in visual aesthetic evaluations are partially shared across visual domains. Commun Biol 2024; 7:55. [PMID: 38184755 PMCID: PMC10771521 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-023-05710-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2023] [Accepted: 12/14/2023] [Indexed: 01/08/2024] Open
Abstract
The aesthetic values that individuals place on visual images are formed and shaped over a lifetime. However, whether the formation of visual aesthetic value is solely influenced by environmental exposure is still a matter of debate. Here, we considered differences in aesthetic value emerging across three visual domains: abstract images, scenes, and faces. We examined variability in two major dimensions of ordinary aesthetic experiences: taste-typicality and evaluation-bias. We build on two samples from the Australian Twin Registry where 1547 and 1231 monozygotic and dizygotic twins originally rated visual images belonging to the three domains. Genetic influences explained 26% to 41% of the variance in taste-typicality and evaluation-bias. Multivariate analyses showed that genetic effects were partially shared across visual domains. Results indicate that the heritability of major dimensions of aesthetic evaluations is comparable to that of other complex social traits, albeit lower than for other complex cognitive traits. The exception was taste-typicality for abstract images, for which we found only shared and unique environmental influences. Our study reveals that diverse sources of genetic and environmental variation influence the formation of aesthetic value across distinct visual domains and provides improved metrics to assess inter-individual differences in aesthetic value.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giacomo Bignardi
- Language and Genetics Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
- Max Planck School of Cognition, Stephanstrasse 1a, Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Dirk J A Smit
- Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Edward A Vessel
- Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt, Germany
- Department of Psychology, City College, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA
| | - MacKenzie D Trupp
- Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Luca F Ticini
- Department of Psychology, Webster Vienna Private University, Vienna, Austria
| | - Simon E Fisher
- Language and Genetics Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Tinca J C Polderman
- Clinical Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- VKC Psyche, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychosocial Care, Amsterdam UMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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9
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Brouillet D, Friston K. Relative fluency (unfelt vs felt) in active inference. Conscious Cogn 2023; 115:103579. [PMID: 37776599 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2023.103579] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2023] [Revised: 09/07/2023] [Accepted: 09/16/2023] [Indexed: 10/02/2023]
Abstract
For a growing number of researchers, it is now accepted that the brain is a predictive organ that predicts the content of the sensorium and crucially the precision of-or confidence in-its own predictions. In order to predict the precision of its predictions, the brain has to infer the reliability of its own beliefs. This means that our brains have to recognise the precision of their predictions or, at least, their accuracy. In this paper, we argue that fluency is product of this recognition process. In short, to recognise fluency is to infer that we have a precise 'grip' on the unfolding processes that generate our sensations. More specifically, we propose that it is changes in fluency - from unfelt to felt - that are both recognised and realised when updating predictions about precision. Unfelt fluency orients attention to unpredicted sensations, while felt fluency supervenes on-and contextualises-unfelt fluency; thereby rendering certain attentional processes, phenomenologically opaque. As such, fluency underwrites the precision we place in our predictions and therefore acts upon our perceptual inferences. Hence, the causes of conscious subjective inference have unconscious perceptual precursors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Denis Brouillet
- University Paul Valéry-Montpellier-France, EPSYLON, France; University Paris Nanterre, LICAE, France.
| | - Karl Friston
- Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College, London, United Kingdom; Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, London, United Kingdom
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Matthews TE, Stupacher J, Vuust P. The Pleasurable Urge to Move to Music Through the Lens of Learning Progress. J Cogn 2023; 6:55. [PMID: 37720891 PMCID: PMC10503533 DOI: 10.5334/joc.320] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2022] [Accepted: 08/17/2023] [Indexed: 09/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Interacting with music is a uniquely pleasurable activity that is ubiquitous across human cultures. Current theories suggest that a prominent driver of musical pleasure responses is the violation and confirmation of temporal predictions. For example, the pleasurable urge to move to music (PLUMM), which is associated with the broader concept of groove, is higher for moderately complex rhythms compared to simple and complex rhythms. This inverted U-shaped relation between PLUMM and rhythmic complexity is thought to result from a balance between predictability and uncertainty. That is, moderately complex rhythms lead to strongly weighted prediction errors which elicit an urge to move to reinforce the predictive model (i.e., the meter). However, the details of these processes and how they bring about positive affective responses are currently underspecified. We propose that the intrinsic motivation for learning progress drives PLUMM and informs the music humans choose to listen to, dance to, and create. Here, learning progress reflects the rate of prediction error minimization over time. Accordingly, reducible prediction errors signal the potential for learning progress, producing a pleasurable, curious state characterized by the mobilization of attentional and memory resources. We discuss this hypothesis in the context of current psychological and neuroscientific research on musical pleasure and PLUMM. We propose a theoretical neuroscientific model focusing on the roles of dopamine and norepinephrine within a feedback loop linking prediction-based learning, curiosity, and memory. This perspective provides testable predictions that will motivate future research to further illuminate the fundamental relation between predictions, movement, and reward.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tomas E. Matthews
- Center for Music in the Brain, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University Hospital, Nørrebrogade 44, Building 1A, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
- Royal Academy of Music, Skovgaardsgade 2C, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Jan Stupacher
- Center for Music in the Brain, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University Hospital, Nørrebrogade 44, Building 1A, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
- Royal Academy of Music, Skovgaardsgade 2C, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Peter Vuust
- Center for Music in the Brain, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University Hospital, Nørrebrogade 44, Building 1A, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
- Royal Academy of Music, Skovgaardsgade 2C, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
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11
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Blain B, Pinhorn I, Sharot T. Sensitivity to intrinsic rewards is domain general and related to mental health. NATURE MENTAL HEALTH 2023; 1:679-691. [PMID: 38665692 PMCID: PMC11041740 DOI: 10.1038/s44220-023-00116-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2022] [Accepted: 07/31/2023] [Indexed: 04/28/2024]
Abstract
Humans frequently engage in intrinsically rewarding activities (for example, consuming art, reading). Despite such activities seeming diverse, we show that sensitivity to intrinsic rewards is domain general and associated with mental health. In this cross-sectional study, participants online (N = 483) were presented with putative visual, cognitive and social intrinsic rewards as well as monetary rewards and neutral stimuli. All rewards elicited positive feelings (were 'liked'), generated consummatory behaviour (were 'wanted') and increased the likelihood of the action leading to them (were 'reinforcing'). Factor analysis revealed that ~40% of response variance across stimuli was explained by a general sensitivity to all rewards, but not to neutral stimuli. Affective aspects of mental health were associated with sensitivity to intrinsic, but not monetary, rewards. These results may help explain thriving and suffering: individuals with high reward sensitivity will engage in a variety of intrinsically rewarding activities, eventually finding those they excel at, whereas low sensitivity individuals will not.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bastien Blain
- Affective Brain Lab, Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, London, UK
- Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, University College London, London, UK
- Centre d’Economie de la Sorbonne, Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris, France
| | - India Pinhorn
- Affective Brain Lab, Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, London, UK
- Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, University College London, London, UK
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA USA
| | - Tali Sharot
- Affective Brain Lab, Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, London, UK
- Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, University College London, London, UK
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA USA
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12
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Starr GG. Aesthetic experience models human learning. Front Hum Neurosci 2023; 17:1146083. [PMID: 37200953 PMCID: PMC10185790 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2023.1146083] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2023] [Accepted: 04/11/2023] [Indexed: 05/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Aesthetic experiences have the potential to promote learning and creativity by enhancing the ability to understand complexity and to integrate novel or disparate information. Offering a theoretical framework for understanding the cognitive benefits of aesthetic experiences, this paper argues they are the necessary outcome of human learning, in which natural objects or artworks are evaluated in a multi-dimensional preference space shaped by Bayesian prediction. In addition, it contends that the brain-states underlying aesthetic experiences harness configurations of the apex three transmodal neural systems-the default mode network, the central executive network, and the salience network-that may offer information-processing advantages by recruiting the brain's high-power communication hubs, thus enhancing potential for learning gain.
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Affiliation(s)
- G. Gabrielle Starr
- Department of Neuroscience and English, Pomona College, Claremont, CA, United States
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Kenett YN, Humphries S, Chatterjee A. A Thirst for Knowledge: Grounding Curiosity, Creativity, and Aesthetics in Memory and Reward Neural Systems. CREATIVITY RESEARCH JOURNAL 2023. [DOI: 10.1080/10400419.2023.2165748] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/28/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Yoed N. Kenett
- Technion - Faculty of Data and Decision Sciences, Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
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Safavi S, Dayan P. Multistability, perceptual value, and internal foraging. Neuron 2022; 110:3076-3090. [PMID: 36041434 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2022.07.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2022] [Revised: 07/03/2022] [Accepted: 07/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Substantial experimental, theoretical, and computational insights into sensory processing have been derived from the phenomena of perceptual multistability-when two or more percepts alternate or switch in response to a single sensory input. Here, we review a range of findings suggesting that alternations can be seen as internal choices by the brain responding to values. We discuss how elements of external, experimenter-controlled values and internal, uncertainty- and aesthetics-dependent values influence multistability. We then consider the implications for the involvement in switching of regions, such as the anterior cingulate cortex, which are more conventionally tied to value-dependent operations such as cognitive control and foraging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shervin Safavi
- University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany; Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany.
| | - Peter Dayan
- University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany; Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany
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