Type: dissertation
Abstract: In this thesis I present four studies investigating the role of attention and prediction in action guidance and in the emergence of aesthetic appreciation.In a first fMRI study we used a virtual reality-based setup to investigate the modulation of brain responses to realistic visual movement feedback during active vs. passive right-hand movements, with or without visual feedback.Activations in sensory areas responsible for the integration of proprioceptive and visual feedback of movements were lower during self-generated movements.This result might reflect the inhibition of sensory feedbacks (sensory attenuation) of motor programs.In a second EEG study we investigated attentional engagement and motor inhibition following the presentation of more or less appreciated musical chords.More appreciated sounds elicited enhanced indexes of attentional engagement (N1 and P2) and motor inhibition (N2 and P3) during a Go-Nogo task coupled with slower RTs in a detection task.Finally, in the two remaining EEG studies we showed that more appreciated visual and auditory stimuli induce attentional amplification, as evidenced by different electrophysiological indexes of attentional processing such as early ERP components and the mismatch negativity (MMN).Our results, i.e. sensory attenuation during movement and motor inhibition/attentional amplification during aesthetic appreciation, can be best explained by the predictive coding (PC) model of attention.I propose that attentional modulations are fundamental for optimizing action and perception, and emerge during movement and aesthetic appreciation as the outcomes of the conflict between action and perception, as hypothesized by the predictive coding model.I suggest that during sensory attenuation, attention is withdrawn from the consequences of movement, so that movement can occur.On the contrary, during aesthetic appreciation movement is inhibited and processing resources are redirected to informationally valuable perceptual features. Disinterested interest: aesthetic appreciation enhances attention while inhibiting motor response. A behavioural and evoked-potentials study
Author: SARASSO, PIETRO
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7217643173