Can neuroaesthetics offer another way to understand how learning happens?
Neuroaesthetics provides insights for art and design teaching that go beyond traditional memory-based methods.
How learning happens in creative settings
This research paper explores how neuroaesthetics, a field that studies the brain’s response to aesthetic experiences, can offer new perspectives in art and design education.
Published by Carol Wild at University College London, The Neuroaesthetics of Art and Design Education (Wild, 2024) challenges traditional cognitive science approaches, suggesting that art education benefits from a focus on creativity and sensory engagement.
Traditional cognitive science often prioritises memory retention, structured lessons, and repetitive practice, which may not align with the fluid and creative nature of art education.
Neuroaesthetic principles focus on engaging with phenomena (whether specific art works or the practice of art making) that are unknown and have uncertain meaning (like people do). Expert art and design pedagogy supports students in engaging with that uncertainty and over time increases students’ tolerance for that uncertainty so that they are able to engage with the subject in ever more complex ways.
A traditional model for knowledge understanding and knowledge creation
The following image is used inside the paper, and is a popular cognitive science model for learning. What I like about this research paper, is this model is something I’m also familiar with, but as a design and technology specialist, working in a wide range of school settings, it’s important to always critique research to find nuances that can apply in a range of subjects scenarios and age groups. Therefore, below, must be a neurotypical suggestion for how we learn.
This research paper critiques the above model in the unique context of art and design education in England, reminding us that secondary level students are assessed purely through submission of portfolio/coursework.
Wild suggests that the standardised model of cognitive science requires a “way to think about learning within the messy, ambiguous, distributed context of the art and design classroom.”
An alternative model for knowledge understanding and knowledge creation
The research goes on to argue that neuroscience in the classroom is yet to add anything new to classroom practice. For me, neuroaesthetics is a new term, and the research reminds us that it is a relatively new but growing area of research concerned with aesthetic experiences; brain activity during aesthetic engagement, such as art, drama and performance etc. Three ideas are suggested:
- A triad model for understanding aesthetic perception; brain circuitry, the sensory motor, emotion-valuation and meaning knowledge of circuits.
- Stopping for knowledge suggests that engaging deeply with material causes students to pause, helping them to break from routine thinking and embrace curiosity and exploration, and
- Art as social cognition, explains that experiencing and interpreting art mirrors social interactions, helping students develop empathy, shared understanding, and personal meaning through engagement with others.
The research offers a model of [memory] for recognition in art and design, using an understanding of cognitive processes that come from basic and applied cognitive psychology.
Reflection questions for teachers to consider
- Can opportunities be created in art and design to expose students to open-ended meaning making processes?
- Does a focus on retrieval practice in art and design teaching deny students opportunities to increase their tolerance of uncertainty?
- Can Visual Thinking Strategies scaffold open-ended meaning making processes for primary school children?
- How is developmental experimentation and rehearsal different in kind to memory retrieval?
- How does emotional engagement affect memory in the classroom?
- How can teachers balance Willingham’s recommendations with creative exploration?
- Can neuroaesthetics offer a more holistic approach to creative learning?
The research concludes that it is possible to imagine alternative ways of conceiving learning.
… an alternative choreography of learning is not predicted on a desire to know what works, but it’s prompted instead by the question of what animates and in live in the world for teachers and their students.
- Image credit: Wild, 2024
- Download and read the full paper.
- Thank you also to author, Carol Wild, for her feedback and contributions.
