In the Light of Evolution Volume VII: The Human Mental Machinery (2014) / Chapter Skim
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16 Dynamics of Brain Networks in the Aesthetic Appreciation--Camilo J. Cela-Conde, Juan Garca-Prieto, Jos J. Ramasco, Claudio R. Mirasso, Ricardo Bajo, Enric Munar, Albert Flexas, Francisco del-Pozo, and Fernando Maest
16 Dynamics of Brain Networks in the Aesthetic Appreciation--Camilo J. Cela-Conde, Juan Garca-Prieto, Jos J. Ramasco, Claudio R. Mirasso, Ricardo Bajo, Enric Munar, Albert Flexas, Francisco del-Pozo, and Fernando Maest
Pages 283-304
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From page 283... ...
Analyzing the functional connectivity dynamics along three temporal windows and two conditions, beautiful and not beautiful stimuli, here we report experimental support for the hypothesis that aesthetic apprecia tion relies on the activation of two different networks, an initial aesthetic network and a delayed aesthetic network, engaged within distinct time frames. Activation of the DMN might correspond mainly to the delayed aesthetic network.
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. Despite this variability, resting-state studies using different subjects, different methods, and different types of acquisition protocols have consistently reported that the DMN consists at least of the precuneus, medial frontal, inferior parietal, and medial temporal areas (van den Heuvel and Hulshoff Pol, 2010)
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proposed the existence in moral judgments of a quick, unconscious, and automatic evaluation (moral intuition) , followed by a posterior reasoning process in which subjects search for justification of their intuitive judgment (moral reasoning)
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Particular appraisals of detailed aspects of beauty, such as gauging the extent to which the stimulus is moving, whether it is interesting or original, how to rate it, the reasons for considering it attractive, and so forth, are performed later. We call these detailed processes "aesthetic appreciation sensu lato." Putative networks formed by the neural correlates of such detailed aspects might be reduced to just one: the "delayed aesthetic network." To which network would the DMN correspond: initial, delayed, both, or none?
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. In turn, MEG signals corresponding to the participants' stimuli appreciation were grouped, constituting the beautiful and not beautiful conditions.
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Moreover, in the not beautiful condition it extends from the occipital and parietal to the orbitofrontal region (Fig. 16.3, Upper Right)
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(Left) Under the beautiful condition (brain regions more connected before stimuli qualified as beautiful by participants)
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conditions. TABLE 16.2 Number of Sensors and Links More Synchronized in the Intercondition Comparisons at P < 0.05 Beautiful > Not Beautiful Not Beautiful > Beautiful Windows Sensors Links Sensors Links TW0 6 3 0 0 TW1 2 1 0 0 TW2 19 10 0 0
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(Left) Higher synchronization for the beautiful condition.
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This means that distinct brain networks will be activated in each case, leading to strong differences in connectivity. In turn, interconditions analyses refer, in the same time window, to the process of appreciation of beauty.
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Initial Aesthetic Network Comparisons between TW0 and TW1 reflect, under both conditions of beauty, that the brain connectivity present in the resting state is substituted during aesthetic appreciation sensu stricto by a network that mainly connects occipital regions: the initial aesthetic network. The task of identifying cognitive processes related to these network dynamics is not easy.
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beautiful condition must, then, be grounded on a curtailing during TW2. We can state that the aesthetic appreciation sensu stricto (that one corresponding to TW1)
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These results support our second hypothesis of existence of a delayed aesthetic network that is active only during the aesthetic appreciation sensu lato of beautiful stimuli.
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. On the basis of the combined interconditions and interwindows analyses, it seems that, despite the moderate spatial accuracy of MEG signals at the sensors level, the delayed aesthetic network matches frontal, parietal, and temporal medial parts belonging to the DMN (Figs.
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. These kinds of tasks, also engaged in aesthetic appreciation, would be responsible for the activation of a putative reorienting network during TW2, shared by both beautiful and not beautiful conditions (Fig.
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The latter seems to be quicker, not having any justificatory purpose. In actual fact, to decide to what point brain networks active during moral reasoning and aesthetic appreciation sensu lato are equivalent we would need to get both brain connectivity and its dynamics in moral judgment processes.
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681) posited that the function of the first region of the DMN, formed by the posterior cingulate cortex and adjacent precuneus, was to "continuously gather information about the world around, and possibly within us." Regarding the second region of the DMN, the medial prefrontal cortex would reflect "a dynamic interplay between ongoing cognitive processes and the emotional state of the subject [playing a role]
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Mind wandering is a general, extended process of perception neither guided by any goal nor directed to any particular aspect. A close-to-mindwandering capacity for assigning beauty or ugliness to visual stimuli could thus lead to continuous and fast processes of aesthetic appreciation.
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Ranking the beauty of each stimulus, comparing them all, rating them, and reporting their response form part of aesthetic appreciation sensu lato and are realized in a stable manner over time. The capacity for appreciating beauty despite the impairment of DMN components
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However, this might be a result of the time-windows distribution. Because we have considered TW0, TW1, and TW2 to be separated by 250-ms time spans, an eventual gradual transition from the aesthetic appreciation sensu stricto to the aesthetic appreciation sensu lato would be hidden by the lack of information corresponding to the temporal borders.
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From page 303... ...
This point has been only partly solved, thus far. It seems that the structure of the quale, consisting of a description of mental processes, can be accessed by means of scientific procedures regarding brain connectivity and its flow along time.
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