The Empathic Body in Experimental Aesthetics – Embodied Simulation and Art

Abstract

The present chapter suggests why and how cognitive neuroscience should investigate our relationship with art and aesthetics, framing this empirical approach as "experimental aesthetics." Experimental aesthetics is discussed in relation with current neuroscientific approaches to art and aesthetics, usually referred to as "neuroaesthetics." By exploiting the neurocognitive approach, viewed as a sort of "cognitive archeology," we can empirically investigate the neurophysiological brain mechanisms that make our interactions with the world possible, detect possible functional antecedents of our cognitive skills and measure the sociocultural influence exerted by human cultural evolution onto the very same cognitive skills. In so doing we can deconstruct some of the concepts we normally use when referring to intersubjectivity or to aesthetics and art, as well as when referring to the experiences we have of them. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved)