The Psychology of Art And the Evolution of the Conscious Brain

by Solso, Robert L.

• ISBN13: 9780262693325
• ISBN10: 0262693321
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-09-01
• Publisher: Bradford Books

Summary

How did the human brain evolve so that consciousness of art could develop? In The Psychology of Art and the Evolution of the Conscious Brain, Robert Solso describes how a consciousness that evolved for other purposes perceives and creates art. Drawing on his earlier book Cognition and the Visual Artsand ten years of new findings in cognitive research (as well as new ideas in anthropology and art history), Solso shows that consciousness developed gradually, with distinct components that evolved over time. One of these components is an adaptive consciousness that includes the ability to imagine objects that are not present--an ability that allows us to create (and perceive) visual art. Solso describes the neurological, perceptual, and cognitive sequence that occurs when we view art, and the often inexpressible effect that a work of art has on us. He shows that there are two aspects to viewing art: nativistic perception--the synchronicity of eye and brain that transforms electromagnetic energy into neuro-chemical codes--which is "hard-wired" into the sensory-cognitive system; and directed perception, which incorporates personal history and knowledge--the entire set of our expectations and past experiences. Both forms of perception are part of the appreciation of art, and both are products of the evolution of the conscious brain over hundreds of thousands of years. Solso also investigates the related issues of neurological and artistic perception of the human face, the effects of visual illusions, and the use of perspective. The many works of art used as examples are drawn from a wide range of artistic traditions, from ancient Egypt to Africa and India and the European Renaissance.

Author Biography

Robert L. Solso is Professor and Head of the Cognitive Laboratory at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Table of Contents

Series Foreword	xi
Preface	xiii
Introduction: Art . . . a Tutorial	1	(1)
Nativistic Perception and Directed Perception	2	(2)
Nativistic Perception Applied to the Raft	4	(1)
Directed Perception Applied to the Raft	5	(3)
Nude Descending a Staircase No. 2	8	(2)
Rebound	10	(3)
Art Meets Science	13	(2)
Art and the Rise of Consciousness	15	(24)
Changes in Science, Changes in Art	18	(1)
Traditional Ways of Understanding Art: Psychophysical Dualism	19	(2)
Art and Mind: A Unitary View	21	(3)
The Evolution of Art and Consciousness	24	(1)
The Rise of Consciousness as a Scientific Topic	25	(1)
AWAR Eness: The Five Facets of Consciousness	26	(10)
From Nucleotides to Newton	36	(3)
Art and Evolution	39	(34)
The ``New and Improved'' Brain and Technology, Art, Language, and Culture	41	(5)
Neanderthals, Cro-Magnons, and Dogs That Can't Hunt	46	(5)
The Cognitive ``Big Bang''	51	(7)
The Cognitive Blueprint	58	(4)
Environmental and Dietary Changes	62	(4)
Brains and Adaptation	66	(3)
The Evolution of the Brain	69	(4)
Art and Vision	73	(34)
Visual AWAREness	73	(3)
Seeing with Brain and Eye: The Dynamic Properties of Vision	76	(6)
The Eye	82	(10)
Beautiful Colors	92	(5)
From the Eye to the Brain	97	(2)
The Visual System and the Perception of Art	99	(8)
Art and the Brain	107	(26)
The Evolution of the Consciously AWARE Brain	108	(5)
The Cognitive Big Bang and the Emergence of Art	113	(4)
What Brains Do	117	(12)
``Raphael's Brain''	129	(4)
About Face	133	(36)
Faces Are Special in Art	140	(1)
Domain Specificity and Faces	141	(8)
What the Portrait Artist's Brain ``Sees''	149	(14)
The Face as a Reflection of the ``Inner Person''	163	(6)
Illusions: Sensory, Cognitive, and Artistic	169	(28)
Sensory Illusions: Truth or Fiction?	170	(2)
Cognitive Illusions: Twisting Truth	172	(6)
Visual Illusions	178	(6)
Artistic Illusions	184	(10)
First-Order Isomorphism and Proto-Isomorphism	194	(3)
Perspective: The Art of Illusion	197	(26)
Seeing a 3D World with a 2D Eye	197	(4)
Principles of Depth Perception: Where Is It?	201	(14)
Recumbent Figures: Why They Are So Hard to Draw	215	(8)
Art and Schemata	223	(38)
Schemata	223	(12)
Visual Dissonance	235	(5)
Canonic Representations	240	(8)
Representational Art---Abstract Art	248	(6)
A Cognitive Neuroscience Theory of Aesthetics	254	(7)
Notes	261	(4)
References	265	(8)
Index	273