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Updated: Jun 12, 2025

Using Electroencephalography Measurements and High-quality Video Recording for Analyzing Visual Perception of Media Content
Published on: May 26, 2018
Distinct neural bases of visual art- and music-induced aesthetic experiences
Youjing Luo1, Qianqian Yu2, Shuyi Wu3
1School of Psychology, Center for Brain Disorders and Cognitive Science, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China; Department of Psychology, New York University, New York 10003, NY, USA; Department of Psychology, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Abstract:
Aesthetic experiences are characterized by a conscious, emotionally and hedonically rewarding perceptions of a stimulus's aesthetic qualities and are thought to arise from a unique combination of cognitive and affective processes. To pinpoint neural correlates of aesthetic experiences, in the present study, we performed a series of meta-analyses based on the existing functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) studies of art appreciation in visual art (34 experiments, 692 participants) and music (34 experiments, 718 participants). The Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) analyses showed that the frontal pole (FP), ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) were commonly activated in visual-art-induced aesthetic experiences, whilst bilateral superior temporal gyrus (STG) and striatal areas were commonly activated in music appreciation. Additionally, task-independent Resting-state Functional Connectivity (RSFC), task-dependent Meta-analytical Connectivity Modelling (MACM) analyses, as well as Activation Network Modeling (ANM) further showed that visual art and music engaged quite distinct brain networks. Our findings support the domain-specific view of aesthetic appreciation and challenge the notion that there is a general "common neural currency" for aesthetic experiences across domains.
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