Eugen Wassiliwizky|Stefan Koelsch|Valentin Wagner|Thomas Jacobsen|Winfried Menninghaus
The emotional power of poetry: neural circuitry, psychophysiology and compositional principles
Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics|Freie Universität Berlin|Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics|University of Bergen|Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics|Helmut Schmidt University|Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics
common experienceand well established experimentallythat music engage us emotionally compelling manner mechanisms underlying experiences receiving increasing scrutiny however extent domains aesthetic experience similarly elicit strong emotions unknown using psychophysiology neuroimaging behavioral responses show recited poetry act powerful stimulus eliciting peak emotional responses including chills objectively measurable goosebumps engage primary reward circuitry importantly responses poetry largely analogous found music neural underpinnings show important differences specifically regard crucial role nucleus accumbens also go beyond replicating previous musicrelated studies showing peak aesthetic pleasure cooccur physiological markers negative affect finally distribution chills across trajectory poems provides insight compositional principles poetry