Understanding Perceptual Experience of Art Using Mobile Brain/Body Imaging

This chapter draws on the importance of movement for human perceptual
experience and how it influences brain dynamics. By use of Mobil Brain/Body
Imaging (MoBI), artists with interest in the experience of art can get insights into
human cortical activity during artworks. Specifically, art that depends on action faces
challenges regarding the exploration of human brain activity during their artistic acts
or performances. We give an account of how architectural experience, which essentially
rests on perception and movement, can be investigated using a MoBI method.
We present results from studies that indicate fundamental differences in cognitive
and behavioural responses when comparing active behaviour compared to passive
perception. Consideration of the processes underlying movement and cognition suggests
that action alters perception, which in turn alters experience. MoBI is therefore
able to reveal aspects of natural cognition, which would otherwise go unnoticed
highlighting the advantage of using MoBI in animate forms of art.