Art in the Twilight of Consciousness

Art is an elusive phenomenon, often linked to subjective appreciation. However, both psychology and neuroscience have recently begun looking at this phenomenon in a more scientific fashion, hence less subjectively. An interesting aspect that came under scrutiny is the artistic expressions of people affected by cortical damage and the forms of creativity that arise in an implicit or almost unconscious way. This chapter argues that the Jamesian framework encompassing the notion of fringe and unconscious information processing can offer a better account of certain forms of creativity and art.