The last decade has witnessed a renaissance of empirical and psychological approaches to art study, especially regarding cognitive models of art processing experience. This new emphasis on modeling has often become the basis for our theoretical understanding of human interaction with art. Models also often define areas of focus and hypotheses for new empirical research, and are increasingly important for connecting psychological theory to discussions of the brain. However, models are often made by different researchers, with quite different emphases or visual styles. Inputs and psychological outcomes may be differently considered, or can be under-reported with regards to key functional components. Thus, we may lose the major theoretical improvements and ability for comparison that can be had with models. To begin addressing this, this paper presents a theoretical assessment, comparison, and new articulation of a selection of key contemporary cognitive or information-processing-based approaches detailing the mechanisms underlying the viewing of art. We review six major models in contemporary psychological aesthetics. We in turn present redesigns of these models using a unified visual form, in some cases making additions or creating new models where none had previously existed. We also frame these approaches in respect to their targeted outputs (e.g., emotion, appraisal, physiological reaction) and their strengths within a more general framework of early, intermediate, and later processing stages. This is used as a basis for general comparison and discussion of implications and future directions for modeling, and for theoretically understanding our engagement with visual art.

We assess the impact of social and monetary contextual information on liking ratings of art. A group of art-naïve university students (N ϭ 187) was asked to rate a set of 90 paintings for liking, using a 7-point Likert-type scale. Before painting presentation, participants were primed either with information that a certain social group (fellow students, art museum curators/art experts, or low-education/income youth) had rated the painting positively or negatively (social prime, Study 1) or with a fictitious sales price of the artwork (monetary prime, Study 2). These conditions were compared against a control condition in which paintings were viewed without priming information. Results showed a significant effect of both priming types. Paintings with high monetary primes or with high ratings by peers and art experts led to higher participant liking ratings. In contrast, paintings with a low rating by the low-education/income social group led to higher liking ratings by participants. Social priming was also modulated by interest in art and by the level of identification with the social groups. These results provide empirical support for the social "distinction" behavior theory, according to which individuals use their evaluation and engagement with art in order to show allegiance to, or distance themselves from, desirable/undesirable social others, and mark an important area for future research into the analysis of consumer decisions or art preference.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a devastating diagnosis with, however, potential for an extremely intriguing aesthetic component. Despite motor and cognitive deficits, an emerging collection of studies report a burst of visual artistic output and alterations in produced art in a subgroup of patients. This provides a unique window into the neurophysiological bases for why and how we might create and enjoy visual art, as well as into general brain function and the nature of PD or other neurodegenerative diseases. However, there has not been a comprehensive organization of literature on this topic. Nor has there been an attempt to connect case evidence and knowledge on PD with present understanding of visual art making in psychology and neuroaesthetics in order to propose hypotheses for documented artistic changes. Here, we collect the current research on this topic, tie this to PD symptoms and neurobiology, and provide new theories focusing on dopaminergic neuron damage, over-stimulation from dopamine agonist therapy, and context or genetic factors revealing the neurobiological basis of the visual artistic brain.Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease affecting roughly 0.3% of the population, rising rapidly to 3% over the age of sixty-five (Gillies et al., 2014). PD progressively impacts brain cells' ability to produce the neurotransmitter dopamine, and leading, along with spreading brain lesions, to a number of symptoms from issues with motor control and cognitive processes (including language and memory), as well as sensory, and emotional regulation (Chaudhuri et al., 2006;Sveinbjornsdottir, 2016). These symptoms can only be slowed but not presently cured by a combination of medications or invasive procedures, thus, in conjunction with an aging world population, making PD an increasingly pressing target for research.At the same time, and in addition to its obvious medical importance, emerging evidence also suggests something quite surprising that can accompany the disease onset: As reported in a number of case studies, with diagnosis and antiparkinsonian treatment, a subset of individuals appear to experience a sudden awakening of artistic creativity and desire, and/or changes in the style or even in the quality of their produced art. A survey by Joutsa et al. (2012a) has in fact suggested such changes in up to 20% of respondents. This can be found with famous artists, for example Salvador Dali (Forsythe et al., 2017), and is documented on the website of the Parkinson's Disease Foundation, which until recently kept a database of visual artworks in addition to other

Parkinson's disease (PD) has been connected to a burst of artistic creativity. • PD patients' perception and evaluation of art is compared against healthy controls. • No evidence for PD-related differences in liking or beauty ratings. • PD patients showed significantly higher ratings on assessed "emotionality." • This is potentially related to the tie between PD, DA pathways, and emotion/reward. Parkinson's disease and changes in the appreciation of art: A comparison of aesthetic and formal evaluations of paintings between PD patients and healthy controls