Martin Skov
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mskov01.bsky.social
Martin Skov
@mskov01.bsky.social
Neuroscientist interested in sensory liking and neuroaesthetics.
Google Scholar: https://tinyurl.com/26nh7zjm
Pinned
Marcos Nadal and I are pleased to announce that our new paper, "The sensory valuation account of aesthetic experience", is now out in Nature Reviews Psychology.

www.nature.com/articles/s44...
Reposted by Martin Skov
Welcome to the IAEA Aesthetics Conference 2026 in Jena!

We are delighted to announce that the International Association for Empirical Aesthetics (IAEA) will hold its next international conference in Jena, Germany, from 5th to 8th May.
Discover more at iaea-jena2026.org (link in bio)
October 6, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Reposted by Martin Skov
𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀 (𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲) 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺?
Implications for reinforcement learning.
Very interesting paper.
doi.org/10.1016/j.ti...
#neuroskyence
September 3, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Reposted by Martin Skov
August 5, 2025 at 9:58 PM
What if animals find beauty in the world, just like we do?

Brief article in Psyche:
psyche.co/ideas/what-i...
What if animals find beauty in the world, just like we do? | Psyche Ideas
Chimpanzees favour the colour red. Junglefowl prefer symmetry. Our shared capacity for aesthetic pleasure is cause for wonder
psyche.co
July 22, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Commentaries for Marcos Nadal's and my recent paper "Can arts-based interventions improve health? A conceptual and methodological critique" have begun to roll in. To keep track of them I am starting this thread.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Can arts-based interventions improve health? A conceptual and methodological critique
Can art improve health and wellbeing? The claim that there is strong evidence that engaging with art ameliorates symptoms of mental and physical disor…
www.sciencedirect.com
July 15, 2025 at 7:56 AM
Very nice meta-analysis of the neural correlates of negative aesthetic judgments from Zaira Cattaneo's lab.
academic.oup.com/cercor/artic...
Neural correlates of negative aesthetic evaluations in visual art: a neuroimaging meta-analysis
Abstract. Neuroaesthetics has focused on investigating positive aesthetic evaluations while neglecting negative aesthetic evaluations. The employment of do
academic.oup.com
July 13, 2025 at 9:35 AM
Reposted by Martin Skov
Here's a link to freely access my recent comment on debates in arts and health research.

Yes free.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
There is more to arts and health than neural mechanisms: A Critique of Evidence Dismissal in Arts and Health: Comment on “Can arts-based interventions improve health? A conceptual and methodological c...
www.sciencedirect.com
July 3, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Reposted by Martin Skov
@mskov01.bsky.social and @mnadal.bsky.social recently reviewed arts-based interventions:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

I got the opportunity to write a comment:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

TLDR: ABIs hold some promise but must be tested with the same rigor as other treatments.
Can arts-based interventions improve health? A conceptual and methodological critique
Can art improve health and wellbeing? The claim that there is strong evidence that engaging with art ameliorates symptoms of mental and physical disor…
www.sciencedirect.com
June 27, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Reposted by Martin Skov
David Huron (1954-2025), pioneer in music cognition. He will be missed! No words (but music): www.mcg.uva.nl/symposium/pr...
Program
Overview
www.mcg.uva.nl
June 6, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Reposted by Martin Skov
For #InternationalDanceDay, a new paper out on @cp-iscience.bsky.social entitled: “Toward a neuroaesthetics of interactions: Insights from dance on the aesthetics of individual and interacting bodies”. A big thanks to Prof. Matteo Candidi. 🧠🕺🏻👥 #neuroaesthetics #review

www.cell.com/iscience/ful...
April 29, 2025 at 12:09 PM
The published version is now out in the recent issue of Physics of Life Reviews. Stay tuned for a round of commentaries + a response from @mnadal.bsky.social and I.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
March 29, 2025 at 8:19 AM
Thought-provoking new study from @giacomobignardi.bsky.social et al.
“What an odd thing“ wrote Oliver Sacks “to see an entire species playing with listening to meaningless tonal patterns, preoccupied for much of their time by what they call ‘music’...“. Our new paper, led by ace student @giacomobignardi.bsky.social, unpacks this puzzle from a genetic perspective. 🧪
Twin modelling reveals partly distinct genetic pathways to music enjoyment - Nature Communications
Here, Bignardi et al. report on a study of over 9,000 Swedish twins that indicates the ability to enjoy music is influenced by multiple partly distinct genetic factors.
www.nature.com
March 26, 2025 at 8:16 AM
Reposted by Martin Skov
💃🧠 Psyched to share my latest paper in Neuron on the past, present and future of dance neuroscience research! Crazy to think where this field will be in 20 more years 🚀

authors.elsevier.com/a/1kkh3_KOmx...

#PsychSciSky #neuroskyence #Dance #CognitiveNeuroscience #Neuroaesthetics #BrainScience
authors.elsevier.com
March 22, 2025 at 10:19 AM
"Can arts-based interventions improve health? A conceptual and methodological critique" by @mnadal.bsky.social and I has been accepted for publication in Physics of Life Reviews.

The pre-proof version is online at the following URL:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Can arts-based interventions improve health? A conceptual and methodological critique
Can art improve health and wellbeing? The claim that there is strong evidence that engaging with art ameliorates symptoms of mental and physical disor…
www.sciencedirect.com
March 14, 2025 at 10:18 AM
"Healthy participants (N = 49) receiving electrical shocks report lower pain when exposed to virtual nature compared to matched urban or indoor control settings".

Cool new imaging study by Steininger et al.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Nature exposure induces analgesic effects by acting on nociception-related neural processing - Nature Communications
Virtual nature exposure reduces self-reported pain and is associated with decreased brain responses linked to somatosensory and nociceptive processing, providing new insights into the underlying mecha...
www.nature.com
March 14, 2025 at 9:05 AM
Reposted by Martin Skov
Communications Biology

The human reward system encodes the subjective value of ideas during creative thinking
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
The human reward system encodes the subjective value of ideas during creative thinking - Communications Biology
Creativity and rating tasks in fMRI help unpack the evaluation process of creative thinking, revealing its neural substrates and shedding light on the link between individual preferences and creative ...
www.nature.com
February 11, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Reposted by Martin Skov
I invite you to attend the Toronto Aesthetics Sciences Conference (TASC) at @uc-uoft.bsky.social on April 8th, 2025.
Registration is free but required.
sites.google.com/view/tasc2025/

Please join us for a day of nerding out over empirical aesthetics!

@uoftpsychology.bsky.social @uoft.bsky.social
February 3, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Reposted by Martin Skov
Five years in the making: our meta-analysis of 10 fMRI datasets across Asia, Europe, and North America (N=2,433). We find creative ability emerges from dynamic switching between default and executive brain networks, with optimal creativity at a "sweet spot."
Dynamic switching between brain networks predicts creative ability - Communications Biology
Robust evidence that creativity is tied to the capacity to dynamically switch between brain networks supporting spontaneous and controlled cognition.
www.nature.com
January 15, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Reposted by Martin Skov
🚨 New fMRI preprint from our lab 🚨

"Brain dynamics during architectural experience: prefrontal and hippocampal regions track aesthetics and spatial complexity"

Led by Lara Gregorians with co-authors, Zita Patai, Pablo Fernandez Velasco & Fiona Zisch.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#neuroskyence
January 13, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Reposted by Martin Skov
Here is the MIT Tech Review article covering the data collection linked to this new Phd Opportunity at our new International Centre for NeuroArchitecture and NeuroDesign:

www.technologyreview.com/2024/09/13/1...
January 10, 2025 at 10:59 AM
Reposted by Martin Skov
The Society for the Neuroscience of Creativity is coming to Europe (Paris) for the first time! Abstracts are due Feb. 1. We welcome neuroscience, behavioral, and computational work.

@tsfnc.bsky.social

www.tsfnc.org/sfnc2025-cre...
January 8, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Very interesting paper.
January 7, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Very disturbing development.
December 28, 2024 at 11:05 AM
Reposted by Martin Skov
A detailed new look at dopamine signaling suggests neuroscientists’ model of reinforcement learning may need to be revised. #MIT

"Dopamine release plateau and outcome signals in dorsal striatum contrast with classic reinforcement learning formulations" #NatureCom

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
December 21, 2024 at 4:33 PM