Contemplative neuroaesthetics and architecture: A sensorimotor exploration

A theoretical framework for contemplative neuroaesthetics is proposed, grounded in sensorimotor dynamics. The authors argue that the capacity of arts and architecture to induce contemplative phenomenological states has been largely overlooked. They operationalize how attunement to architecture can lead to such states, contrasting externally-induced methods with internally-induced ones. Architecture may spontaneously elicit contemplative states as built features naturally resonate with the sensorimotor system. Becoming sensible of this resonance creates an occasion for an externally-induced contemplative state. Neuroscientific studies of architecture are reviewed, brain regions involved in aesthetic contemplative responses are elaborated, and contributions to evidence-based design are pointed at.

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Abstract

This paper takes initial steps towards developing a theoretical framework of contemplative neuroaesthetics through sensorimotor dynamics. We first argue that this new area has been largely omitted from the contemporary research agenda in neuroaesthetics and thus remains a domain of untapped potential. We seek to define this domain to foster a clear and focused investigation of the capacity of the arts and architecture to induce phenomenological states of a contemplative kind. By proposing a sensorimotor account of the experience of architecture, we operationalize how being attuned to architecture can lead to contemplative states. In contrasting the externally-induced methods with internally-induced methods for eliciting a contemplative state of mind, we argue that architecture may spontaneously and effortlessly lead to such states as certain built features naturally resonate with our sensorimotor system. We suggest that becoming sensible of the resonance and attunement process between internal and external states is what creates an occasion for an externally-induced contemplative state. Finally, we review neuroscientific studies of architecture, elaborate on the brain regions involved in such aesthetic contemplative responses, provide architectural examples, and point at the contributions that this new area of inquiry may have in fields such as the evidence-based design movement in architecture.