Corrigendum: Aesthetic experience models human learning.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2023.1146083.].

Aesthetic experience models human learning.

Aesthetic experiences have the potential to promote learning and creativity by enhancing the ability to understand complexity and to integrate novel or disparate information. Offering a theoretical framework for understanding the cognitive benefits of aesthetic experiences, this paper argues they are the necessary outcome of human learning, in which natural objects or artworks are evaluated in a multi-dimensional preference space shaped by Bayesian prediction. In addition, it contends that the brain-states underlying aesthetic experiences harness configurations of the apex three transmodal neural systems-the default mode network, the central executive network, and the salience network-that may offer information-processing advantages by recruiting the brain's high-power communication hubs, thus enhancing potential for learning gain.

Progress and Promise in Neuroaesthetics.

We review progress and highlight open questions in neuroaesthetics. We argue that computational methods can provide mechanistic insight into how aesthetic judgments are formed, while advocating for deeper collaboration between neuroscientists studying aesthetics and those in the arts and humanities.

The default-mode network represents aesthetic appeal that generalizes across visual domains.

Visual aesthetic evaluations, which impact decision-making and well-being, recruit the ventral visual pathway, subcortical reward circuitry, and parts of the medial prefrontal cortex overlapping with the default-mode network (DMN). However, it is unknown whether these networks represent aesthetic appeal in a domain-general fashion, independent of domain-specific representations of stimulus content (artworks versus architecture or natural landscapes). Using a classification approach, we tested whether the DMN or ventral occipitotemporal cortex (VOT) contains a domain-general representation of aesthetic appeal. Classifiers were trained on multivoxel functional MRI response patterns collected while observers made aesthetic judgments about images from one aesthetic domain. Classifier performance (high vs. low aesthetic appeal) was then tested on response patterns from held-out trials from the same domain to derive a measure of domain-specific coding, or from a different domain to derive a measure of domain-general coding. Activity patterns in category-selective VOT contained a degree of domain-specific information about aesthetic appeal, but did not generalize across domains. Activity patterns from the DMN, however, were predictive of aesthetic appeal across domains. Importantly, the ability to predict aesthetic appeal varied systematically; predictions were better for observers who gave more extreme ratings to images subsequently labeled as "high" or "low." These findings support a model of aesthetic appreciation whereby domain-specific representations of the content of visual experiences in VOT feed in to a "core" domain-general representation of visual aesthetic appeal in the DMN. Whole-brain "searchlight" analyses identified additional prefrontal regions containing information relevant for appreciation of cultural artifacts (artwork and architecture) but not landscapes.

Dynamics of aesthetic experience are reflected in the default-mode network.

Neuroaesthetics is a rapidly developing interdisciplinary field of research that aims to understand the neural substrates of aesthetic experience: While understanding aesthetic experience has been an objective of philosophers for centuries, it has only more recently been embraced by neuroscientists. Recent work in neuroaesthetics has revealed that aesthetic experience with static visual art engages visual, reward and default-mode networks. Very little is known about the temporal dynamics of these networks during aesthetic appreciation. Previous behavioral and brain imaging research suggests that critical aspects of aesthetic experience have slow dynamics, taking more than a few seconds, making them amenable to study with fMRI. Here, we identified key aspects of the dynamics of aesthetic experience while viewing art for various durations. In the first few seconds following image onset, activity in the DMN (and high-level visual and reward regions) was greater for very pleasing images; in the DMN this activity counteracted a suppressive effect that grew longer and deeper with increasing image duration. In addition, for very pleasing art, the DMN response returned to baseline in a manner time-locked to image offset. Conversely, for non-pleasing art, the timing of this return to baseline was inconsistent. This differential response in the DMN may therefore reflect the internal dynamics of the participant's state: The participant disengages from art-related processing and returns to stimulus-independent thought. These dynamics suggest that the DMN tracks the internal state of a participant during aesthetic experience.

Rapid timing of musical aesthetic judgments.

In recent years, psychological models of perception have undergone reevaluation due to a broadening of focus toward understanding not only how observers perceive stimuli but also how they subjectively evaluate stimuli. Here, we investigated the time course of such aesthetic evaluations using a gating paradigm. In a series of experiments, participants heard excerpts of classical, jazz, and electronica music. Excerpts were of different durations (250 ms, 500 ms, 750 ms, 1,000 ms, 2,000 ms, 10,000 ms) or note values (eighth note, quarter note, half note, dotted-half note, whole note, and entire 10,000 ms excerpt). After each excerpt, participants rated how much they liked the excerpt on a 9-point Likert scale. In Experiment 1, listeners made accurate aesthetic judgments within 750 ms for classical and jazz pieces, while electronic pieces were judged within 500 ms. When translated into note values (Experiment 2), electronica and jazz clips were judged more quickly than classical. In Experiment 3, we manipulated the familiarity of the musical excerpts. Unfamiliar clips were judged more quickly (500 ms) than familiar clips (750 ms), but there was overall higher accuracy for familiar pieces. Finally, we investigated listeners' aesthetic judgments continuously over the time course of more naturalistic (60 s) excerpts: Within 3 s, listeners' judgments differed between most- and least-liked pieces. We suggest that such rapid aesthetic judgments represent initial gut-level decisions that are made quickly, but that even these initial judgments are influenced by characteristics such as genre and familiarity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Stronger shared taste for natural aesthetic domains than for artifacts of human culture.

Individuals can be aesthetically engaged by a diverse array of visual experiences (paintings, mountain vistas, etc.), yet the processes that support this fundamental mode of interaction with the world are poorly understood. We tested whether there are systematic differences in the degree of shared taste across visual aesthetic domains. In Experiment 1, preferences were measured for five different visual aesthetic domains using a between-subjects design. The degree of agreement amongst participants differed by domain, with preferences for images of faces and landscapes containing a high proportion of shared taste, while preferences for images of exterior architecture, interior architecture and artworks reflected strong individual differences. Experiment 2 used a more powerful within-subjects design to compare the two most well matched domains-natural landscapes and exterior architecture. Agreement across individuals was significantly higher for natural landscapes than exterior architecture, with no differences in reliability. These results show that the degree of shared versus individual aesthetic preference differs systematically across visual domains, even for photographic images of real-world content. The findings suggest that the distinction between naturally occurring domains (e.g. faces and landscape) versus artifacts of human culture (e.g. architecture and artwork) is a general organizational principle governing the presence of shared aesthetic taste. We suggest that the behavioral relevance of naturally occurring domains results in information processing, and hence aesthetic experience, that is highly conserved across individuals; artifacts of human culture, which lack uniform behavioral relevance for most individuals, require the use of more individual aesthetic sensibilities that reflect varying experiences and different sources of information.

Variation of volatile compounds among wheat varieties and landraces.

Analysis of volatile compounds was performed on 81 wheat varieties and landraces, grown under controlled greenhouse conditions, in order to investigate the possibility of differentiating wheat varieties according to their volatile compound profiles. Volatile compounds from wheat samples were extracted by dynamic headspace extraction and analysed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Seventy-two volatile compounds were identified in the wheat samples. Multivariate analysis of the data showed a large diversity in volatile profiles between samples. Differences occurred between samples from Austria compared to British, French and Danish varieties. Landraces were distinguishable from modern varieties and they were characterised by higher averaged peak areas for esters, alcohols, and some furans. Modern varieties were characterised by higher averaged peak areas for terpenes, pyrazines and straight-chained aldehydes. Differences in volatile profiles are demonstrated between wheat samples for the first time, based on variety. These results are significant to plant breeders and commercial users of wheat.

Art reaches within: aesthetic experience, the self and the default mode network.

In a task of rating images of artworks in an fMRI scanner, regions in the medial prefrontal cortex that are known to be part of the default mode network (DMN) were positively activated on the highest-rated trials. This is surprising given the DMN's original characterization as the set of brain regions that show greater fMRI activity during rest periods than during performance of tasks requiring focus on external stimuli. But further research showed that DMN regions could be positively activated also in structured tasks, if those tasks involved self-referential thought or self-relevant information. How may our findings be understood in this context? Although our task had no explicit self-referential aspect and the stimuli had no a priori self-relevance to the observers, the experimental design we employed emphasized the personal aspects of aesthetic experience. Observers were told that we were interested in their individual tastes, and asked to base their ratings on how much each artwork "moved" them. Moreover, we used little-known artworks that covered a wide range of styles, which led to high individual variability: each artwork was rated highly by some observers and poorly by others. This means that rating-specific neural responses cannot be attributed to the features of any particular artworks, but rather to the aesthetic experience itself. The DMN activity therefore suggests that certain artworks, albeit unfamiliar, may be so well-matched to an individual's unique makeup that they obtain access to the neural substrates concerned with the self-access which other external stimuli normally do not get. This mediates a sense of being "moved," or "touched from within." This account is consistent with the modern notion that individuals' taste in art is linked with their sense of identity, and suggests that DMN activity may serve to signal "self-relevance" in a broader sense than has been thought so far.

Measured and modelled leaf and stand-scale productivity across a soil moisture gradient and a severe drought.

Environmental controls on carbon dynamics operate at a range of interacting scales from the leaf to landscape. The key questions of this study addressed the influence of water and nitrogen (N) availability on Pinus palustris (Mill.) physiology and primary productivity across leaf and canopy scales, linking the soil-plant-atmosphere (SPA) model to leaf and stand-scale flux and leaf trait/canopy data. We present previously unreported ecophysiological parameters (e.g. V(cmax) and J(max)) for P. palustris and the first modelled estimates of its annual gross primary productivity (GPP) across xeric and mesic sites and under extreme drought. Annual mesic site P. palustris GPP was ∼23% greater than at the xeric site. However, at the leaf level, xeric trees had higher net photosynthetic rates, and water and light use efficiency. At the canopy scale, GPP was limited by light interception (canopy level), but co-limited by nitrogen and water at the leaf level. Contrary to expectations, the impacts of an intense growing season drought were greater at the mesic site. Modelling indicated a 10% greater decrease in mesic GPP compared with the xeric site. Xeric P. palustris trees exhibited drought-tolerant behaviour that contrasted with mesic trees' drought-avoidance behaviour.

The brain on art: intense aesthetic experience activates the default mode network.

Aesthetic responses to visual art comprise multiple types of experiences, from sensation and perception to emotion and self-reflection. Moreover, aesthetic experience is highly individual, with observers varying significantly in their responses to the same artwork. Combining fMRI and behavioral analysis of individual differences in aesthetic response, we identify two distinct patterns of neural activity exhibited by different sub-networks. Activity increased linearly with observers' ratings (4-level scale) in sensory (occipito-temporal) regions. Activity in the striatum (STR) also varied linearly with ratings, with below-baseline activations for low-rated artworks. In contrast, a network of frontal regions showed a step-like increase only for the most moving artworks ("4" ratings) and non-differential activity for all others. This included several regions belonging to the "default mode network" (DMN) previously associated with self-referential mentation. Our results suggest that aesthetic experience involves the integration of sensory and emotional reactions in a manner linked with their personal relevance.

Predicting vegetative bud break in two arctic deciduous shrub species, Salix pulchra and Betula nana.

The factors controlling bud break in two arctic deciduous shrub species, Salix pulchra and Betula nana, were investigated using field observations and growth-chamber studies. A bud-break model was calibrated using a subset of the experimental observations and was used to predict bud break under current and potential future climate regimes. The two species responded similarly in terms of bud break timing and response to air temperature in both field and controlled environments. In the field, the timing of bud break was strongly influenced by air temperatures once snowmelt had occurred. Growth chamber studies showed that a period of chilling is required before buds break in response to warming. Model simulations indicate that under current conditions, the chilling requirement is easily met during winter and that even with substantial winter warming, chilling will be sufficient. In contrast, warm spring temperatures determine the timing of bud break. This limitation by spring temperatures means that in a warmer climate bud break will occur earlier than under current temperature regimes. Such changes in bud break timing of the deciduous shrubs will likely have important consequences for the relative abundance of shrubs in future communities and consequently ecosystem processes.

Reliability of self-reported behavioural health risk factors in a South Australian telephone survey.

OBJECTIVE: To test the reliability of telephone health survey questions. METHOD: A telephone survey on mental health of South Australians in 1997 was re-administered to a random sub-sample of 102 respondents between 32 and 79 days after the original survey. RESULTS: Demographic questions (age, gender, number of adults and children in the household) showed the highest reproducibility and were almost perfect. Questions regarding health risk factors, such as smoking and drinking behaviour, showed substantial to almost perfect agreement. Co-morbidity variables were substantially reproducible where prevalence estimates were not close to zero. CONCLUSIONS: The results were comparable to findings from similar studies associated with the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) in the United States. The study suggests that the telephone health survey instrument used in South Australia is reliable for estimating health conditions and behaviours in the population.

Random digit dialling and Electronic White Pages samples compared: demographic profiles and health estimates.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the methodologies of and health estimates derived from two telephone household survey methods. In particular, to establish if White Pages telephone listings provide a relatively unbiased sampling frame for population health surveys. METHOD: In South Australia in 1998, a health survey questionnaire was administered by telephone to two randomly selected population samples. The first method used EWP (Electronic White Pages, n = 6,012), which contains all listed residential telephone numbers as the sampling frame. The results were compared to a RDD (random digit dialling, n = 3,080) sample where all listed and unlisted telephone numbers were included in the sampling frame. Demographic variables and health estimates were compared between the surveys, and then compared to a 'gold standard' door-to-door household survey conducted concurrently. RESULTS: The response rate for EWP (83.8%) exceeded that of RDD (65.4%). More than four times as many calls were required per completed interview in RDD. Demographic profiles and health estimates were substantially similar. CONCLUSIONS: EWP requires fewer telephone calls and enables approach letters establishing the bona fides of the survey to be sent to each selected address before calling, increasing the response rate. RDD is a more inclusive sampling frame but also includes non-connected and business numbers, and offers no significant advantages in providing health estimates. IMPLICATIONS: There are substantial methodological and cost advantages in using EWP over RDD as the sampling, frame for population health surveys, without introducing significant bias into health estimates.

Interference effects in short-term memory for timbre.

Four experiments investigated memory for timbre using the interpolated-tone paradigm [Deutsch, Science 168, 1604-1605 (1970)], in which participants discriminate pairs of tones (standard and comparison) separated by intervening (interpolated) tones. Interpolated tones varied from the standard tone in spectral similarity (within-dimensional variation), fundamental frequency (cross-dimensional variation), and repetition frequency. While the latter two variables had negligible effects on timbre memory, interference with timbre memory increased with the spectral similarity of the interpolated tones to the standard tone. The findings closely parallel those found for pitch memory, and suggest that memory interference depends on perceptual similarity in both cases.

A comparison of the efficacy of pyloromyotomy and pyloroplasty in patients with gastroesophageal reflux and delayed gastric emptying.

PURPOSE: Delayed gastric emptying (DGE) in children with gastroesophageal reflux (GER) is often treated with a gastric emptying procedure. Although pyloroplasty is the most common gastric emptying procedure performed, pyloromyotomy is easier to perform and is associated with less morbidity. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of pyloromyotomy and pyloroplasty in children with DGE and GER undergoing a fundoplication. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We reviewed the charts of 54 patients with DGE who underwent pyloromyotomy (n = 29), or pyloroplasty (n = 25) along with a fundoplication. A technetium 99-labeled sulfur colloid liquid-phase gastric emptying study (GES) was performed in the pre- and early postoperative period (within 6 months after operation). Normal stomach emptying was defined as greater than 40% at 1 hour. Comparisons were made with regard to postoperative complication rate, incidence of redo fundoplication, length of postoperative hospital stay, and pre- and postoperative GES. RESULTS: The pyloroplasty and pyloromyotomy group were comparable in terms of age, sex, operative indications, and neurological status. There was no significant difference in the GES between the two groups preoperatively. There was a trend toward a decreased incidence of early postoperative complications including gas bloat, wound infection, pneumonia, dysphagia, bowel obstruction and dumping syndrome in the pyloromyotomy (8, 28%) when compared with the pyloroplasty group (12, 48%, P = .10). The mean postoperative hospital stay was 10.6 +/- 1.4 days for the pyloroplasty group and 7.6 +/- 1.0 days for the pyloromyotomy group (P + .08). The incidence of a redo fundoplication was 8% in the pyloroplasty and 7% in the pyloromyotomy group. Postoperative gastric emptying increased significantly in both groups (pyloroplasty group, from 18.1 +/- 3.1 to 49.5 +/- 7.9%, P = .0005; pyloromyotomy group, from 19.3 +/- 2.1 to 41.2 +/- 3.7%, P = .0001). There was no significant difference in the postoperative GES between the two groups (P = .289). CONCLUSION: Both pyloroplasty and pyloromyotomy performed in conjunction with a fundoplication resulted in a significant increase in early postoperative gastric emptying. There was no advantage of pyloroplasty over pyloromyotomy during this follow-up period. These data suggest that pyloromyotomy is an effective gastric emptying procedure in children with GER and DGE.

Image-directed percutaneous biopsy with large-core needles. Comparison of cytologic and histologic findings.

Large biopsy needles (18 and 19 gauge) have been reported to yield high-quality tissue cores for reliable histologic diagnosis. In our institution, image-directed percutaneous biopsy specimens obtained with these needles are processed routinely for simultaneous cytologic and histologic analysis. For the present study, we reviewed our experience with 82 such biopsies of the thoracoabdominal region. We examined the value of cytologic analysis as a supplement to histologic analysis of such biopsies in terms of diagnostic yield and sensitivity for detecting malignancy. Among the 82 specimens, material was adequate for histologic diagnoses in 70 (85%) and for cytologic diagnosis in 63 (77%). Combining the histologic and cytologic results increased the diagnostic yield to 93% (76 of 82 specimens). Forty-eight lesions were diagnosed as malignant by either one or both means of analysis. While histologic analysis produced 44 of the 48 positive results (92%), cytologic analysis produced 33 (66%) (P < .05, McNemar's test). Because tissue fragments were selected preferentially for histologic processing, histologic evaluation was more valuable than cytologic evaluation in achieving definitive diagnoses of malignancy. In spite of this bias in preparation technique, malignancy was diagnosed by cytologic analysis alone in 4 of the 48 positive cases (8%). We conclude that the combined approach of histologic and cytologic examination of large-gauge core needle biopsy specimens maximizes the diagnostic yield and sensitivity for detecting malignancy.

Gastric emptying and small intestinal transit in the piebald mouse model for Hirschsprung's disease.

Gastric emptying and small intestinal transit were investigated in the piebald mouse model for Hirschsprung's disease. These mice exhibited aganglionosis of the terminal segment of the large intestine. This condition was accompanied by fecal stasis and megacolon. Gastric emptying of saline or milk meals was slower in the mice with aganglionic or induced megacolon than in the normal mice, but the rate of emptying was faster than after administration of morphine (10 mg/kg). In the small intestine, the distribution of the radiolabeled marker and the advancing edge of the marker profile were abnormal in the mice with megacolon. There were small differences between the megacolonic and normal mice in the distance traversed by the advancing edge of the intraluminal profile of the marker. These results are evidence for disturbances of gastric and small intestinal motor function that occur in mice secondary to development of megacolon.

Epidemiologic clues to the cause of melanoma.

An intensive search found that 146 cases of cutaneous or ocular melanoma had occurred among residents of Lane County, Oregon, from 1958 through 1972. Of these cases, 35 led to death. Countywide, increasing incidence rates were corroborated by increasing death rates for both sexes. Risk of disease was highest in a moist, flat residential area near the intersection of two rivers in the county's urban portion and in its agricultural area. The incidence pattern strongly suggested local cycles in subcounty units. Although overall melanoma risk was higher in urban areas, an apparent widespread rural epidemic was identified, beginning abruptly in 1965 and lasting several years. If similar geographic and temporal characteristics can be identified in other localities, the search for an etiologic agent could focus on a smaller range of possibilities.