Sensory Processing of Art as a Unique Window into Cognitive Mechanisms: Evidence from Behavioral Experiments and fMRI Studies

Artworks provide sets of sensory stimuli that allow special insights into cognitive processes complementing results obtained with other experimental paradigms. Examples are given from visual art and music using behavioral measures and neuroimaging technology (fMRI). The following topics are addressed: creation and maintenance of personal identity, difference or equivalence of aesthetic and moral judgments, appreciation of Eastern and Western visual art, differences in sensory processing of naturalistic and surrealistic art, importance and traps of mental frames and prejudices, effect of emotional priming on the central representation of sensory stimuli, value of single case studies, personality characteristics as predictors, and usefulness of “controlled introspection” in analyzing contents of episodic memory, in particular with respect to aesthetic and health-promoting appreciation of environments. Furthermore, the necessary distinction between anthropological universals and cultural or individual specifics is stressed in sensory processing of artworks.