A Totally Subjective Perception of Art: How Could Neuroscience Make Sense
of it?
Sergei Kruk
*
Department of Communication Studies, Riga Stradins University, Riga, Latvia
*
Corresponding author: Sergei Kruk, Department of Communication Studies, Riga Stradins University, Riga, Latvia; E-mail: sergei.kruk@gmail.com
Received: 02-Aug-2024, Manuscript No. IPJNN-24-15101; Editor assigned: 05-Aug-2024, PreQC No. IPJNN-24-15101 (PQ); Reviewed: 19-Aug-2024,
QC No. IPJNN-24-15101; Revised: 26-Aug-2024, Manuscript No. IPJNN-24-15101 (R); Published: 02-Sep-2024, DOI: 10.4172/2171-6625.15.S10.002
Citation: Kruk S (2024) A Totally Subjective Perception of Art: How Could Neuroscience Make Sense of it? J Neurol Neurosci Vol.15 No.S10:002.
About the Study
Cognitivist philosophy of art recognises only those interpretations
of dance that can be verbalised in analytical language and agreed
upon intersubjective. However, there are times when
balletomanes remain indifferent to the strong feelings reported
by their fellows. Phenomenology-inspired dance theorists also
have great pains to describe and explain what they see and feel
and why their feelings should have been accepted as the
meaning of the ballet. Sometimes we cannot explain even for
myself what the exact reason of the feeling is and whether it is
worth interpreting as a sign communicated by the dancer.
Probably in this case, we are dealing with moods rather than
emotions. Emotions represent intense, short-lived and conscious
affective states; typically, they have a salient cause and cognitive
content, that is, information about antecedents, expectations
and behavioural plans. Moods are low-intensity, diffuse and
enduring affective states with no salient cause and cognitive
content. In other words, we do not know what the mood is
about. It is not easy to share the personal impressions with
fellow spectators and to reach an intersubjective agreement on
interpretation of the characters and the plot.
The first option is the activation of autobiographical memory
by visual stimuli: A random gesture of the dancer calls to mind a
subjectively important event engendering the associated
pleasing or displeasing feeling. Autobiographical memory is a
subtype of episodic memory formed by the hippocampus. The
formation of episodic memory is an associative process that
binds some elements of an event into a cohesive memory
episode or pattern. The function is performed by a CA3
hippocampal region. During retrieval, CA3 can treat a newly
perceived stimulus as part of the existing pattern and use it as a
cue to retrieve an associated element, thus completing the
entire pattern of the remembered event. Associations can be
formed between elements of a given event, different events, or
a given event and its context [1]. In other words, cues that
partially match the existing pattern help retrieve the
remembered event. The CA3 may treat an arbitrary gesture of
the dancer as an iconic cue bridging the dance with an event
experienced by the spectator in a similar context. The
hippocampus is connected to the amygdala that evaluates the
emotional significance of the retrieved event [2-5]. A normal
function of emotion is to enhance memory, to improve the recall
of experiences that are important or relevant to our lives. Since
episodic memory overlaps partly with autobiographical memory,
gesture can induce associations with the viewer’s idiosyncratic
experience, giving rise to introspective reflections that the
spectator projects on the scenic character. Peirce’s definition of
sign makes such a subjective semiosis possible. ‘A sign, or
representamen, is something which stands to somebody for
something in some respect or capacity. It addresses somebody,
that is, creates in the mind of that person an equivalent sign or
perhaps a more developed sign. That sign which it creates we
call the interpretant of the first sign. The sign stands for
something, its object. It stands for that object, not in all
respects, but in reference to a sort of idea, which I have
sometimes called the ground of the representamen. It is not
necessarily that other balletomanes understand the ground in a
similar way; therefore, someone’s introspection cannot be
accepted as a reasonable interpretation of the scenic character.
Beyond that, the spectator’s rapid affective response suggests
only the subjective significance of a random gesture, but it is not
necessarily that the past event will be recalled without delay on
a conscious level [6-9].
Since memories consolidated by the hippocampus are explicit,
sooner or later the event in question can be retrieved from
episodic memory and integrated into a subjective interpretation
of the performance. In early childhood, the hippocampus is
undergoing a continuous development process and cannot
record the events that occur at this age. The relationship with
parents that unfolds as struggles for love, safety, and survival is
stored in the amygdala as emotional imprints that resist
verbalisation [10-13]. In psychotherapy, transference explicates
these memories as the client redirects her unconscious feelings
and desires for another person to a different person. Dancers
expressing emotions overtly are good targets for transference.
The spectator can go through the events of early childhood while
remaining ignorant of the cause and true meaning of the
experienced affective state [14]. Most of the properties of
classical ballet librettos come from myths, legends and fairy tales
that address the problems of establishing primary relationships
with significant others. Scenic action can resonate with the
Opinion Article
IT Medical Team
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Team.com
Journal of Neurology and Neuroscience
ISSN 2171-6625
Vol.15 No.S10:002
2024
© Copyright iMedPub | This article is available from: https://www.itmedicalteam.pl/neurology-and-neuroscience.html
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