This book develops a theory of picture perception and aesthetic response, arguing that images can generate in us a complex pattern of mental changes, or transformations. It is essential reading to those seriously involved in linking the arts and cognitive sciences.

Michael Stephan

List of Figures; Foreword; Introduction; 1. The Biological and Procedural Bases of Neuropsychology 2. The Experimental Evidence 3. The Possible Origins of Cerebral Specialization 4. The Right-Hemisphere Cognitive Paradigm 5. Children's Drawing 6. The Languages of Art 7. A Transformational Theory of Aesthetics 8. Art and Aesthetic Experience 9. The Transformational Planes; Appendix: Psychoanalysis and Art; Notes; Bibliography; Index