Introduction

Art and the brain: From pleasure to well-being

Julia F. Christensen*,1,2, Antoni Gomila†,3

*BIAS Team (Prof. Manos Tsakiris), The Warburg Institute, School of Advanced Study,
University of London, London, United Kingdom
†
Ed. Beatriu de Pinós, University of the Balearic Islands, Palma, Spain
1
Corresponding author: e-mail address: Julia.Christensen.1@city.ac.uk

Abstract
Empirical aesthetics in general, and neuroaesthetics in particular, have been very much influ-
enced by Berlyne’s psychobiological program. For him, aesthetic appreciation involved the
brain’s reward and aversion systems. From this point of view, art constitutes a set of potentially
rewarding stimuli. Research has certainly made great advances in understanding how the pro-
cess of artistic valuation takes places, and which brain circuits are involved in generating the
pleasure we obtain from artistic practices, performances, and works. But it also suggests that
pleasure is not the only effect of the arts. The evidence rather suggests that the arts have other
cognitive and emotional effects which are closely related to human psychobiological health
and well-being. These are: (1) attentional focus and flow, (2) affective experience, (3) emotion
through imagery, (4) interpersonal communication, (5) self-intimation, and (6) social bonding.
These effects are beneficial and contribute to the individual’s biopsychological health and
well-being. The fact that artistic practice has these effects helps explain why the arts are so
important to human life, and why they developed in the first place, i.e., as ways to foster these
effects. Therefore, a biopsychological science of the arts is emerging, according to which the
arts can be conceptualized as an important system of external self-regulation, as a set of activities
that contribute to our homeostasis and well-being.

Keywords
Emotion, The arts, Self-regulation, Homeostasis, Well-being, Pleasure

2
Department of Psychology, City, University of London, School of Arts and Social Science, St John
Street, London EC1V 0HB, United Kingdom.
3
Department of Psychology, University of the Balearic Islands, Carretera de Valldemossa, km 7.5.,
07122 Palma, Spain.

xxvii
xxviii Introduction

“Ei blot til lyst” [Not just for pleasure]

Inscription over the stage of the Royal Opera House in Copenhagen, Denmark

Empirical aesthetics in general, and neuroaesthetics in particular, have been very

much influenced by Berlyne’s psychobiological program (Berlyne, 1970, 1971).
His theory purported to explain aesthetic preferences in terms of the pleasure we
obtain from art perception. At bottom, it is the brain’s reward and aversion system
that is responsible for our aesthetic preferences. He also proposed that those stimuli
that elicit a mild arousal would be preferred, and suggested a set of properties that
seem to be more salient and pleasurable. Years of research have very much advanced
this program, firmly establishing the fact that art induces pleasure (Blood and
Zatorre, 2001; Blood et al., 1999; Lacey et al., 2011; Salimpoor et al., 2009;
Skov, 2010; Vartanian, 2009). The brain circuits of pleasure involved in the aesthetic
experience are pretty much well known, regardless of the diversity of artforms and
the different brain areas that each of them may engage.
In this paper, we want to propose that it is time for a step forward. It is time to move
beyond this pleasure-centered view of the link between art and brain. A review of cur-
rent literature, from different areas, supports a more sophisticated view. Research in
many different areas has uncovered several other important beneficial effects of art
(Fancourt et al., 2014; Thaut, 2008; Thoma et al., 2013). Art therapy is a full area
of research in its own, uncovering many contexts in which artistic practice may have
health effects (Gussak and Rosal, 2016; Malchiodi, 2011). In the next section, we will
review the evidence that shows that this beneficial effects include at least: (1) atten-
tional focus and flow, (2) higher affective sensitivity, (3) emotion elicitation through
imagery, (4) interpersonal communication, (5) self-intimation, and (6) social bonding.
Each of these effects triggers important psychoneuroendocrine processes implied in
human psychobiological health and well-being (Ader et al., 1995).
Of course, these effects are not incompatible with deriving pleasure from art; on
the contrary, it may well be that the pleasure of art is the hook that makes possible to
satisfy these biological needs (Berridge and Kringelbach, 2013; Kringelbach and
Rolls, 2004; O’Doherty et al., 2001). Importantly, though, these are systemic effects
that contribute to the self-regulation and well-being of the individual. So, it may be
said that there is a trend toward a biology of art that takes into account its psycho-
neuroendocrine dimension, the ways in which brain processes link with the body, in
addition to its psychophysiological and neurocognitive ones.
An important dimension of this approach is that attention is paid to art as a human
activity, instead of focusing on its reception by an audience. This does not exclude
the study of art perception, but to rather focus on active perception, on engagement
with, and enjoyment of, artworks, in addition to the performative and creative sides
of artistic practices, as the way art becomes meaningful (Kuhn, 2002). From this
standpoint, artistic activities are institutional, culturally mediated, ways of external
self-regulation, whose enjoyment contributes to our homeostasis and well-being
(Clift, 2012; Stuckey and Nobel, 2010).
In a previous paper, we outlined the evidence for these six effects for dance
(Christensen et al., 2017). Now we will review the literature that at least invites
to the contention that they can be generalized to all the arts, even if this claim is
 Introduction xxix

necessarily programmatic and provisional at this point. The underlying idea here is
that, in spite of the diversity of artforms, art developed and occupies such a central
place in human life at least in part because of these effects. We also submit that the
arts are unique in generating these beneficial effects. These artistic modalities devel-
oped at least in part because of their contribution as behavioral ways of bodily self-
regulation: self-activation or deactivation, according to homeostatic needs. We con-
clude discussing the questions these new approach makes prominent.

1 ART PRACTICE FOCUSES ATTENTION, INDUCES FLOW

One effect of the arts is to provide a means to focus the mind when the environment
does not naturally provide states of absorption and flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 2008;
Jackson and Marsh, 1996; Keeler et al., 2015). Both artists and lay people experience
strong moments of flow during meaningful art episodes (Baker and MacDonald, 2013;
MacDonald et al., 2006; Silverman et al., 2016). There is also evidence to suggest that
humans have sought flow and trance-like states ever since by means of dance rituals
(Gore, 1997; Lex, 1979; Vitebsky, 1995; Walsh, 1989). Yoga meditation seems to sim-
ilarly induce flow with beneficial effects (Moore et al., 2012). We suggest that art prac-
tice is an alternative way to reach flow (Christensen, 2017).
Flow moments are important because of everyday life’s sensorial overstimulation
(Georgiadis and Kringelbach, 2012; Kringelbach et al., 2012) and overavailability of
pleasure-only activities (Alavi et al., 2012; Grant et al., 2010). These activities might
well involve the experience of absorption. However, they induce chaotic inner states,
e.g., addiction and craving (Berczik et al., 2012; Boecker et al., 2008; Freimuth et al.,
2011; Weinstein and Weinstein, 2014), restlessness (Ragonesi and Antick, 2008), and
feelings of loneliness (Mar et al., 2012). The pleasures of art, on the contrary, are never
addictive.
Becoming absorbed seems to have important consequences for bodily homeostasis,
through the way it affects other relevant brain systems (hypothalamus, insula, amyg-
dala, and other limbic structures) and action preparation networks (motor systems of
the brain and temporal lobe memory systems). Thus, when the mind is focused, as in
meditation, there are consequences for the autonomous system, as indicated by heat
rate (Peressutti et al., 2012). Certain aspects of art enjoyment trigger idiosyncratic day-
dreaming, which is also a type of flow experience (Christensen et al., 2016a,b). While
ruminative daydreaming (depressive, aggressive, obsessive) has negative psycholog-
ical consequences, creative mind wandering and daydreaming are related to increased
creativity in problem solving and insight (Baird et al., 2012). This is reflected as DMN
activation during meaningful aesthetic episodes (Vessel et al., 2012, 2013).

2 ART PRACTICE ACTIVATES OUR AFFECTIVE SENSITIVITY

A second effect of the arts is to generate emotional experiences. In response to stim-
ulation, the central nervous system (CNS) innervates the autonomous nervous
system (ANS) by means of projections from hypothalamus, cortical, and limbic
xxx Introduction

structures through the brain stem and the spinal cord (Sequeira et al., 2000). The ANS
controls physiological changes in the body in response to external and internal stim-
uli to put the body in the right physiological state (with changes in heart rate, respi-
ratory rate, pupillary response, arousal, digestion, blood oxygen levels), for the
optimal behavioral response to this stimulus.
It has been discussed why is it that we respond emotionally to art. On the one
hand, representational art has given rise to the paradox of fiction (Gomila, 2013),
the challenge to explain how is it that we respond emotionally to what we know
is just fiction. On the other hand, nonrepresentational arts, such as music, make it
even more mysterious how is it that it is heard as expressive of emotions and that
it elicits emotions in its turn (Gomila, 2009), given that its substance is sound. Any-
way, the evidence is clear that art goes hand in hand with emotion (Blood and
Zatorre, 2001; Blood et al., 1999; Salimpoor et al., 2009, 2013). Several mechanisms
seem to be involved in emotional responses (for music, Juslin and Vastfjall, 2008; for
dance, Christensen et al., 2016a,b). One of the most powerful seems to be through
expectancy violations (Huron, 2006; Salimpoor et al., 2015), which induce surprise,
excitement, and wonder, also through literary fiction (Hsu et al., 2014, 2015).
Another way by which the arts affect the emotional state is the opposite: by slow-
ing down bodily constants such as heart and breathing rate to relieve stressful states.
Mesolimbic dopaminergic–amygdalin systems control such changes which basically
consist in a switching from sympathetic to parasympathetic nervous system (SNS
and PNS) activation (Han et al., 2010; Koelsch et al., 2011). For example, music
induces entrainment in bodily systems (Vuilleumier and Trost, 2015). This engages
the hypothalamic–pituitary axis (HPA) which activates the PNS (Fancourt et al.,
2014). The action of the HPA is responsible for the release of the pituitary hormones
prolactin and growth hormone, and of the brain peptides melatonin and β-endorphin
(Ranabir and Reetu, 2011; Segerstrom and Miller, 2004). Thus, music has sedative
effects due to its implication in pituitary growth hormone and prolactin release
(Conrad et al., 2007; Koelsch et al., 2011) and anxiolytic effects through its action
on heart rate (Bradt et al., 2013).
Sometimes, the emotions induced are negative, such as fear (Habibi and Damasio,
2014; Menninghaus et al., 2017). Tears, sweating, and exhaling help restore biological
systems after affective episodes, by eliminating stress- and dysphoria-related neuroen-
docrine agents and toxins from the body (Gross et al., 1994). Notably, shocking art
makes us sweat (Levenson, 2003), and during injury scenes cinema audiences exhale
particularly high levels of the chemicals methanol and acetaldehyde, while the concen-
tration of the organic trace gases isoprene (important for cholesterol synthesis and fat)
and acetone (implied in fat catabolism) is higher during suspense movies (Williams
et al., 2016).
For negative emotions, it arises the question of how they may be pleasurable at all
and why we feel attracted to those situations that elicit these reactions in us (Habibi
and Damasio, 2014; Sachs et al., 2015; Taruffi and Koelsch, 2014). At least part of
the answer is that crying in response to sad art triggers the release of prolactin.
The concentration of prolactin in tears from affective episodes correlates with
 Introduction xxxi

a feeling of belonging, consolation (Frey et al., 1981; Messmer, 2009; Sachs et al.,
2015), and pleasure (Gračanin et al., 2014). Furthermore, T cells and natural killer
cells of the immune system are activated by prolactin; prolactin increases the func-
tion of macrophages, and stimulates IL-2 which triggers NK and IFN-gamma pro-
duction for an adequate immune response (Arora and Bhattacharjee, 2008; Matera
and Mori, 2000). Crying might also help to produce a recovery state in the organism
by activating the PNS (Bindra, 1972; Efran and Spangler, 1979; Hendriks et al.,
2007). Thus, when a person is in a negative state, the drive to engage with negative
affect-inducing art can be an adaptive behavior to reestablish a biochemical and/or
sociocognitive imbalance (Menninghaus et al., 2017). Importantly, prolactin is also
released when observing others cry (e.g., when we watch a movie and see others cry,
or we read about it in a novel). Sad art as an “inducer to cry” is therefore relevant for
reestablishment of homeostasis; it is a mood management mechanism that acts at the
neuroendocrine level. Thus, crying may be pleasurable, as it is related to the release
of opioids (Gračanin et al., 2014) and in this way, mood is “boosted” after crying.
It is now well-established that the arts give rise to these emotional responses. And
that the aesthetic experience in itself relies in some form of emotional state, even if
there is still an open question how to best characterize it (a question some papers in
this volume address). There is also evidence that it further increases our affective
sensitivity, making us better able to recognize expressed emotions, to realize our
own emotional states, and to respond more emotionally (Christensen et al., 2016a;
Kirsch et al., 2013, 2015; Leder et al., 2014; Pang et al., 2013; Van Meel et al., 1993).
We suggest that different mechanisms might mediate these processes, depending
upon the art in question. For example, in the context of performing arts, positive
affect (and concomitant psychoneuroendocrine action) can be achieved by merely
seeing others being touched in a theater play or a dance choreography (Lloyd et al.,
2015; McGlone and Spence, 2010). Observation of affective touch causes the same neu-
robiological effects (oxytocin release) as actually being touched (Hansson et al., 2009;
Keysers et al., 2004; Morrison et al., 2011), and triggers the reestablishment of a healthy
balance between concentrations of serotonin and dopamine (Jeong et al., 2005).

3 ART PRACTICE ELICITS COMPLEX EMOTIONAL

EXPERIENCES THROUGH IMAGERY
A third function of the arts is to elicit complex emotional experiences through
imagery (Christensen et al., 2016b; Juslin and Vastfjall, 2008). Some experiences
and feelings (and the biochemical processes related to these experiences) might
not be available in our daily lives (e.g., some interpersonal situations; Camic,
2008; Whitehead, 2001, 2008), or cannot be articulated in any other way than
through the arts. The arts take the place of these complex experiences, making them
“happen” in fiction. In this way the arts also enlarge our “mind space”, i.e., our
capacity to imagine and represent things, people, and situations that are not in the
xxxii Introduction

present moment, nor space. The arts are de facto helping with the development of the
ability for imagery and hypothetical and contrafactical thinking.
Our brain is activated in a similar way when we do an activity, and when we
merely imagine it (Damasio et al., 2000; Deen and McCarthy, 2010; Jeannerod
et al., 1995; O’Craven and Kanwisher, 2000; Pictet, 2014; Suess and Abdel
Rahman, 2015; Vianna et al., 2009). The story described in a novel, theater play,
movie, etc., makes us live situations in our imagination, “as if” we were living them
in fact (Bhattacharya and Petsche, 2002; Gallese, 2011; Hsu et al., 2015). Listening
to a narrative activates broad cortical and subcortical neural networks (Huth et al.,
2016), and speech is perceived expressively and trigger the limbic processes related
to percepts, memories, and qualia of the objects they refer to (Fruhholz et al., 2014;
Jackson and Crosson, 2006; Lang and Bradley, 2010). Likewise a piece of music also
has this expressive effect (through its acoustic features, mayor/minor key, tone of
voice (sad/happy/sensual, etc.), content of lyrics, the words, etc.) (Baltes et al.,
2011; Cupchick, 1995; Gomez and Danuser, 2007; Kleber et al., 2007; Markovi
c,
2012; McArdle and Byrt, 2001). Art-induced imagery is a safe space for the individ-
ual to engage in mental wanderings that may reestablish their imbalances.
Furthermore, activity in the default-mode network (DMN) has been found to
correlate with creative thinking and art enjoyment (Agnati et al., 2013). Thus, height-
ened DMN activity was found during aesthetic episodes which participants reported
as particularly strong and personally meaningful (Vessel et al., 2012). Imagery may
be what is going on through activation of the DMN. Furthermore, the magnitude of
coupling between DMN regions and the prefrontal cortex (PFC) is related to higher
creativity, suggesting that the interplay between brain regions implied in cognitive
control (PFC) and brain regions associated with low-level intuitive imaginary pro-
cesses (DMN) is both implied in creative thinking (Beaty et al., 2014). Therefore,
it seems that artworks which genuinely engage us are those that touch us “from within”
(Vessel et al., 2013).

4 ART PRACTICE FOSTERS COMMUNICATION

A fourth beneficial effect of art is communication. Any kind of communication has at
least three levels: (i) the expressive, (ii) the intentional, and (iii) the symbolic. Art
involves the three. The expressive level concerns the affective and motivational
states conveyed. For example, in visual art the objects, body positions, and shapes
that are round trigger the experience of positive affect in the observer (Bar and
Neta, 2006, 2007; Leder et al., 2011; Munar et al., 2015), while sharp versions induce
negative affect and correlate with brain stem and amygdala activation related to
threat detection (Bar and Neta, 2007). Other performing arts such as dance share sim-
ilar cues of expressive communication (Christensen et al., 2016a,b), and specific
congruent low-level features of dance and music are related to stronger affective
and psychophysiological responses in the observer, than incongruent combinations
do (Christensen et al., 2014).
 Introduction xxxiii

The intentional level corresponds to the contents that the messenger wants to con-
vey to the audience. At a basic level, we understand each others’ intentions through
the empathic resonance of the other person’s state in our own body, elicited by proper
perceptual cues, such as gaze or goal-directed movement (Gallese, 2005; Gallese
et al., 2004; Gomila, 2002; Hurley, 2008). The same mechanisms are engaged when
the communication happens through the arts (Freedberg and Gallese, 2007; Latif
et al., 2014; Leonards et al., 2006). For example, medieval painters communicated
intentions in static images by using the direction of the observers gaze in their paint-
ings (Bhattacharya and Petsche, 2002; Christensen et al., 2016a; Kirsch et al., 2015).
The symbolic level refers to the way in which specific knowledge is required to
interpret an artwork. For example, when the artwork uses some sort of code (e.g., for
melancholy, romantic paintings depict a person holding her twisted head with a hand;
romantic ballets such as Giselle resort to the “fallen” downward facing wrists and
hands of the dancers; and romantic music used tonal ambiguity). These formulas
are not necessarily natural kinds and may require knowledge of the code to be recog-
nized and understood. There is not an upper level of knowledge required to “decode”
art: interpretation is an open-ended process that goes beyond the intention attributed
to the author, to understand the work in an epoch, a background, a context. Therefore,
it is the first two levels of communication that are more natural and influential as they
involve an interactive standpoint with the art. The symbolic one requires a more
detached, intellectual, perspective. It is the level of art criticism. The other two are trig-
gered spontaneously, as part of the process of understanding.

5 ART PRACTICE FOSTERS SELF-INTIMATION

A fifth effect of the arts is self-intimation, a process of self-realization by self-
observation during artistic activity and enjoyment. Put it simply, the arts make us
feel our body more, make us more aware of our emotions, and more able to modulate
our affective state successfully (Shafir et al., 2013, 2015).
Self-intimation processes engage three levels of the individual. Practice and regular
enjoyment of the arts increase awareness (i) of one’s own body, both through exter-
oception, interoception, and proprioception (Aglioti et al., 2008; Balser et al., 2014;
Blasing et al., 2012; Calvo-Merino et al., 2005, 2006; Croix et al., 2010; Jin et al.,
2011; Makris and Urgesi, 2015; Petrini et al., 2011; Washburn et al., 2014), (ii) of one’s
affective states (Christensen et al., 2016a; Shafir et al., 2015), by self-observation of
one’s own body language during arts episodes and practice (Shafir et al., 2013, 2015);
and (iii) of one’s motivations and intentions, by self-observation of one’s choice of
specific art works, such as love vs adventure movies (Allen et al., 2009).
Thus, for instance, heightened awareness of internal bodily states (interoception)
might help to reliably select art episodes that restore ongoing bodily imbalances.
Interoceptive accuracy is the objective of the awareness of inner states (Craig,
2009; Garfinkel et al., 2015), and is thought to form a basis for healthy emotional
function (Craig, 2002, 2003; Critchley et al., 2004). Interoceptive accuracy is con-
trolled by the insula (Craig, 2002, 2003; Critchley et al., 2004), which is also a neural
xxxiv Introduction

hotspot during arts episodes (Brown et al., 2011). Interoceptive accuracy can be mea-
sured with objective cognitive tasks (Garfinkel et al., 2015), and artists (musicians,
singers, and dancers) have been found to be more interoceptively accurate than other
groups of individuals (Schirmer-Mokwa et al., 2015). Training in the arts may enhance
the awareness of bodily needs expressed as bodily states and emotions (Christensen
et al., 2016a).
Emotional expressions and movements in face and body, and individuals’ choices
are indicators of inner bodily and affective states and intentions (Critchley, 2009). The
way a person spontaneously positions their body in space, the alignment of the limbs,
muscle contractions in large bodily muscles (e.g., back, neck, shoulders, glutes), and
contractions of the facial muscles are the genuine expression of people’s inner (emo-
tional) state. Art practice is a space in which such self-intimation process might be
more central to the practice than, for example, in a sports context. Increasing individ-
uals’ own awareness of these processes through arts practice (e.g., with a mirror in a
dance class) is a powerful tool to enhance self-intimation processes.

6 ART PRACTICE PROMOTES SOCIAL COHESION

Social cohesion is a further effect of art engagement. At least three interrelated
neural mechanisms rooted in the functioning of the human social brain are respon-
sible for the cohesional effects of the arts: (i) classical conditioning and associative
learning mechanisms (memory-reward links); (ii) neuroendocrine mechanisms (oxy-
tocin and prolactin-reward links); and (iii) social touch mechanisms (Ct cutaneous
mechanoreceptor-reward links).
Associative learning mechanisms are triggered by shared experiences. By means
of the neural mechanism of evaluative conditioning (Juslin and Vastfjall, 2008), the
percepts of the artworks, songs, and individuals are encoded in the memory systems
of the brain (I-system-dependent) and associated to reward (A-system-dependent).
Thus, artworks and individuals may become “conditioned stimuli” which signal
pleasure and “belonging” (De Dreu et al., 2011).
Neuroendocrine mechanisms: the arts trigger the release of the hormones oxytocin
and prolactin. These are the main endocrine markers of social attachment and bonding
(Guastella et al., 2008; Light et al., 2005; Porges, 1998; Walker and McGlone, 2013).
We feel affiliated to someone we have moved or danced in synchrony with (Chartrand
and Bargh, 1999; Noy et al., 2011; Richardson et al., 2007), because our neurohormone
systems attach “neurohormone markers” such as oxytocin to people we have shared
positive activities with (Carter et al., 2008; Feldman, 2012). Oxytocin fosters trust
(Kosfeld et al., 2005), increases willingness to share emotional information (Lane
et al., 2013), and to seek social support when distressed (Cardoso et al., 2013). The
“pleasure of being together” is also the conscious correlate of vasovagal parasympa-
thetic activation induced by the mere physical contact and presence of relevant social
others (¼relaxing feeling) during an art episode (Huron, 2011; Sachs et al., 2015;
Taruffi and Koelsch, 2014). The mechanism by which this happens has been set
 Introduction xxxv

out in the polyvagal theory. This theory suggests that our social environment can di-
rectly influence our ANS. There is a neuroanatomical and functional connection be-
tween the 10th cranial nerve and the striatal muscles of the facial muscles which are
implied in our interactions with the social environment (eye muscles, facial muscles,
laryngeal muscles, cochlear muscles) (Porges, 2007, 2009). As we modulate our facial
and other muscles in response to our social environment, this stimulates the vagus
nerve. The vagus nerve and the heart are connected through projections between
the vagus and the sinoatrial node of the heart. In this way, the vagus nerve has a direct
influence on the activity of our ANS and through it on our bodily homeostasis and
biological health (Porges et al., 1994). The vagal innervation of the heart determines
whether the parasympathetic system is activated (in a situation of relaxation and
safety, boosting systems that restore imbalances in homeostasis, fundamentally diges-
tion) or downregulated in a situation of stressful input (Reyes del Paso et al., 2013).
Social touch mechanisms: social touch, caresses, hugs, grooming, and moving to-
gether stimulate a specific type of mechanoreceptor in the skin, the Ct cells. These
engage the limbic brain via efferents through the spinal corticothalamic tract which con-
trols the release of oxytocin, homeostasis, and immune agents (Fischer-Shofty et al.,
2010; Heinrichs et al., 2003), and can be directly activated or by seeing others touch.

7 ART AS AN EXTERNAL SYSTEM FOR HOMEOSTASIS

It has been argued that the arts trigger neural structures implied in the regulation of
bodily states (through biochemical, neuroendocrine, immune, neurocognitive pro-
cesses), including the insula and the hypothalamus (Brown et al., 2011; Menon
and Levitin, 2005). This links artful behavior intrinsically with the homeostatic, neu-
roendocrine, and emotional systems of our body. Pleasure is certainly an important
part of how this is made possible, as the reward system calls attention to those stimuli
that are relevant for survival. But pleasure is not an end in itself, but a signal of the
homeostatic effect achieved (Sachs et al., 2015). Fig. 1 outlines this connection.
But art is a human activity, one as old as humanity, present in all cultures and
epochs. This further suggests that, at least in part, artistic activities developed and pro-
liferated because of these effects. From this point of view, art constitutes an external
system of self-regulation, a set of activities that contribute to the homeostasis of the
body. Ashby (1960) suggested that homeostasis is not only a matter of keeping the
system at an equilibrium point, but within a range, and within a dynamic context (crit-
ical parameters may oscillate within thresholds). In a very simplified form, the process
by which the arts might reestablish imbalances could be that when we are low in one
neuroendocrine agent (e.g., the hormone oxytocin), or too high in another (e.g., the
stress hormone cortisol), we experience a dysphoric state. We feel sad or anxious.
Biopsychological systems will then provoke motivation and behaviors to reestablish
the imbalance (oxytocin up and/or cortisol down).
The arts contribute to achieve this, if the activity engages the individual (Cardoso
et al., 2013; Lane et al., 2013). If we dance in a group with others, oxytocin is elicited
xxxvi Introduction

FIG. 1
Pleasure signals the recovery from a homeostatic imbalance—a by-product of the
psychobiological effects of engagement with art.
Reproduced with permission from Sachs, M., Damasio, A., Habibi, A., 2015. The pleasures of sad music:
a systematic review. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 9, 404.

through the presence of the other people (Fancourt et al., 2014; Meyer-Lindenberg
et al., 2011), and the physical activity burns the cortisol in blood (Eisenberger
et al., 2007; Van der Ark and Ely, 1993), while, for example, the risk for serious injury
is minimal. Thus, a person in a sad–anxious state could seek out to go to a dancing class
and feel pleasure in the activity (Jeong et al., 2005). Or, if there is no dance class at their
disposal, the mental imagery of dancing with others when listening to music (music in
itself has been found to regulate the neuroendocrine systems (Yamasaki et al., 2012)),
watching a dance movie, getting lost in a painting of dance, reading about a dance
story, or seeing others dance may have the same biopsychological effect by means
of the neural simulation mechanisms. In this way, the arts can be viewed as an external
system of bioemotional autoregulation by which means we can ameliorate biological
states of our body. There are other activities which certainly have the beneficial effects
which we have outlined for the arts. However, the arts might be unique in having them
all. As already said above, art is never addictive.

8 CONCLUSION
We have outlined a theoretical framework that contends that the arts are a readily avail-
able tool for everyone to use in the reestablishment and maintenance of well-being.
Similar views have been expressed for the arts in general (Stuckey and Nobel, 2010)
 Introduction xxxvii

and for different art forms separately, including music (Fancourt et al., 2014), and dance
(Christensen et al., 2017), and both together (Richter and Ostovar, 2016).
From this standpoint, several questions become prominent. For example, what
are the motivations to practice art? Of course, art may be approached in many dif-
ferent contexts and situations, in different bodily and emotional states, not always out
of an imbalance. Art involves an institutional dimension as well. But it follows from
this approach that the psychobiological effects will differ accordingly. It is also rel-
evant to ask why doesn’t all art engage everybody equally? A likely explanation is
that the biopsychological state of the individual determines what she needs (and will
choose) in a given moment. But individual differences are to be expected if a learning
process is required to configure what satisfies one’s needs. But the fact is that some
people seem not to obtain pleasure from some art form. Another important question
that arises is why controlled trials of arts therapy programs are still rather inconclu-
sive. This might be due to the need for specific hypotheses as regards the mechanisms
involved, to improve on experimental control. Once mechanisms are reliably iden-
tified, treatment programs might be more specific. Furthermore, a decade of neuro-
scientific research suggests a long list of beneficial effects of early artistic training
(e.g., Bengtsson et al., 2005; Boone and Cunningham, 1998; Gordon et al., 2015).
This has implications for the educational context and for parental guidelines of
child leisure time planning. What is clear is that the arts seem to be a natural and
integral part of human emotional and cognitive development, biopsychological
and mental health, and should be conceptualized, lived, and recommended as such
(Dissanayake, 2009). Longitudinal assessments of the effects of arts training might
elucidate the exact emotional and cognitive benefits of each art form.
In any case, the objective of future empirical work might be the empirical charac-
terization of the exact cause–effect relations between the psychobiological functions
of specific arts activities and their beneficial biological and mental health effects—and
of the specific emotional qualia and experiences that accompany these functions and
effects. Knowledge about these processes would empower us to choose activities to
stimulate particular effects in our bodies, based on our emotional experience in a given
moment, for instance, in therapeutic physical and mental health settings, as well as just
for mood management purposes. In this endeavor, it might be important to establish
dosage and treatment ranges for each activity. Particular degrees and types of emo-
tional experiences are appropriate, given a particular context and object (to which
the emotional state refers).

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was funded by a Newton International Fellowship of the British Academy awarded
to J.F.C. (NF140935), and by the project FFI2013-44007-P awarded to A.G. by the Spanish
Ministry of Education. A special “thank you” goes to Prof. Vincent Walsh (for everything),
and Prof. Javier Perez Pareja, Prof. Miquel Tortella, Patricio Bustos, and Shelly Channon,
for bibliographic guidance. Our gratitude to four referees that provided comments on previous
versions of these paper.
xxxviii Introduction

CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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FURTHER READING
Gómez-Puerto, G., Munar, E., Nadal, M., 2015. Preference for curvature: a historical and con-
ceptual framework. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 9, 712.