The Inner Componets Of The Aesthetic Experience

Background:Aesthetic judgment is biased by context and emotional content(1). We investigated the relationship between the internal features of aesthetic experiences (e.g., attention, emotion, understanding) and the aesthetic judgment. Method:23 art-naives participants performed an affective misattribution task (2). They judged pleasantness of a neutral stimulus preceded by artistic and non-artistic pictures. Pictures were manipulated according to their emotional content (positive, negative, neutral). Participants were administered with the Aesthetic Experience Questionnaire (AEQ)(3).T1-3D images were acquired for ten participants through a 3T-MRI scanner. Results:Positive pictures liked more, irrespective of artistic context. Positive bias towards negative artistic pictures was associated with the attentional dimension of the aesthetic experience. Imaging analysis revealed negative correlation between surface gyrification and empathetic dimension of AEQ in the right middle temporal gyrus, SMA and paracentral lobule. Discussion:Enjoying sadness in visual art depends on the attentional dimension of the aesthetic experience. Moreover, the aesthetic experience seemed to be mediated by the cortical complexity: a less complexity of attentional areas was related to an empathic approach of the artwork.