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Whether isolated or within a larger composition, note intervals in music carry sig-
nificant and consistent emotional meaning. There is also softer evidence that these
interval-emotional relationships are universal across different times, cultures, and
musical traditions. Speculation is that this is related to universal aspects of vocal
expression (Oelmann and Laeng
2009
).
10.3.4 Neuroaesthetics
Beginning with Birkhoff, and throughout this chapter, neurology has frequently
been the backstory for aesthetic and computational aesthetic evaluation models
described at higher levels of abstraction. To some extent Arnheim, and certainly
Berlyne and Martindale, all had in mind neurological models as the engines of aes-
thetic perception. In no small part due to new imaging technologies such as func-
tional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), positron emission tomography (PET)
scanning, and functional near-infrared imaging (fNIR), science seems to be prepar-
ing to take on perhaps the deepest mystery we face everyday, our own minds.
It is in this context that the relatively new field of neuroaesthetics has come into
being (Skov and Vartanian
2009a
). Neuroaesthetics is the study of the neurological
bases for all aesthetic behaviour including the arts. A fundamental issue in neu-
roaesthetics is fixing the appropriate level of inspection for a given question. It may
be that the study of individual neurones will illuminate certain aspects of aesthetics.
Other cases may require a systems view of various brain centres and their respective
interoperation.
A better understanding of representation in the brain could illuminate not only
issues in human aesthetics but more generally all cognition. This in turn may find
application not only in computational aesthetic evaluation, but also broadly across
various artificial intelligence challenges. And finally, a better understanding of neu-
rology will likely suggest new models explaining human emotion in aesthetic ex-
perience. If we better understand the aesthetic contributions of both the cortex and
the limbic system, we will be better prepared to create machine evaluation systems
that can address both the Dionysian and the Apollonian in art (Skov and Vartanian
2009b
).
10.3.5 Computing Inspired by Neurology
Computer science has felt the influence of biology and brain science from its ear-
liest days. The theoretical work of Von Neumann and Burks (
1966
) towards a uni-
versal constructor was an exploration of computational reproduction and evolution.
Turing (
1950
) proposed a test essentially offering an operational definition for ma-
chine intelligence. Turing also invented the reaction diffusion model of biological
morphogenesis, and towards the end of that article he discuses implementing a com-
puter simulation of it (Turing
1952
). Computing models inspired by neurology have
