What are the arts? What functions do the arts serve in human life? This book presents the first fully integrated cognitive account of the arts that unites visual art, theatre, literature, dance, and music into a single framework, with supporting discussions about creativity and aesthetics.

Steven Brown is Director of the NeuroArts Lab in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour at McMaster University in Canada. He obtained his Ph.D. in the Department of Genetics and Development at Columbia University in New York, and did postdoctoral research at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, and Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. His research deals with the neural and evolutionary bases of the arts. He is co-editor of two books: The Origins of Music (MIT Press) and Music and Manipulation (Berghahn Books).

• Part I. Foundational Topics


• 1: The Arts and their Functions


• 2: Evolution of the Arts: Biological and Cultural


• 3: Emotion and the Arts


• Part II. The Narrative Arts


• 4: The Visual Arts: Static Narrativity


• 5: Theatre and Storytelling: Dynamic Narrativity


• Part III. The Coordinative Arts


• 6: Dance: Coordination of Bodies


• 7: Music: Coordination of Voices


• Part IV. Creative Synthesis


• 8: Creativity