Question 23- Describe And Discuss The Role Of The Amygdala In Aesthetic Perception

Question 1

Overview of amygdala

Answer 1

-Often associated with negative emotions and emotional responses but also encompasses the processing of other emotions

-Part of the limbic system
•Involved in memory, survival instincts and emotions

Question 2

Fusar-Poli et al (2009)

Answer 2

-Conducted a meta-analysis

•Higher amygdala activation in emotional tasks compared to others

Question 3

Khalfa et al (2005)

Brattico et al (2011)

Answer 3

-Looked at neural correlates of listening to happy and sad music
•More activity in amygdala when listening to sad music compared to happy

Question 4

Jacobs et al (2016b)

Answer 4

-Amygdala became more active when beauty judgements were required to be made compared to other judgements

Question 5

Jacobs et al (2017)

Answer 5

-Suggests that the amygdala plays a role in aesthetic perception of visual materials by guiding attention to visual features that are relevant for making decisions and judgements about the object

-Makes sense as if we find an object more aesthetically pleasing we are more inclined to approach it and regard it as safe
•If an object is deemed as unaesthetically pleasing we are more likely to avoid it for our safety

Question 6

Deemed as acceptable argument for Vartanian et al (2013)

Answer 6

-PPs preferred round objects
•Amygdala could have played a role in the aesthetic judgement by focusing on the edges
•Rounder objects = safer objects = liked more and more approachable

Question 7

Gosselin et al (2007)

Answer 7

• A patient with bilateral amygdala damage showed different musical preferences to those of control patients, and showed impairment in recognising scary and sad music but not happy music
• Further suggests amygdala plays a role in aesthetic judgement, especially that of negative judgements and preferences