Sixteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

Neuroaesthetics, like digital humanities, is a relatively new field of study that has yet to fully define all of its research methods. While digital humanities gives us access to previously undeterminable information through the use of technology in humanities related topics, neuroaesthetics uses technology to better detect how human beings use their brains to create and appreciate art. This paper gives an overview of a few prominent research methods in both digital humanities and neuroaesthetics (which overlaps with research methods from cognitive neuroscience), and identifies both shared methods and the methods of one discipline that can be effective in the other discipline. Specifically, in my paper, I will discuss the application of digital humanities and neuroaesthetics as they pertain to a reading of poetry, combining statistical analysis of word choice with the “ease of processing” theory, where statistically more predictable meter is processed more easily recognized by the brain and leads to broader aesthetic appeal. I argue that together, this multidisciplinary approach to poetry improves on our ability to determine the change of a word’s meaning over the course of a longer poem through an appreciation for meter.