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Artistic understanding as embodied simulation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 March 2013

Raymond W. Gibbs Jr.*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of California–Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064. [email protected]

Abstract

Bullot & Reber (B&R) correctly include historical perspectives into the scientific study of art appreciation. But artistic understanding always emerges from embodied simulation processes that incorporate the ongoing dynamics of brains, bodies, and world interactions. There may not be separate modes of artistic understanding, but a continuum of processes that provide imaginative simulations of the artworks we see or hear.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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