The neural foundations of aesthetic appreciation

The study of the cognitive and neural underpinnings of aesthetic appreciation by means of neuroimaging techniques has yielded a wealth of fascinating information. Although the results of these studies have been somewhat divergent, here we provide an integrative view of the early approaches, which identified some of the core mechanisms involved in aesthetic preference. Then, a number of more specific issues under the perspective of recent work are addressed. Finally, we propose a framework to accommodate these findings and we explore future prospects for the emerging field of neuroaesthetics.

► The appreciation of beauty involves activity in a broad array of brain regions. ► These regions are related with perception, memory, decision making, attention, affect, and emotion. ► Brain activity underlying the appreciation of beauty takes place during different time frames. ► The combined use of high spatial and temporal resolution imaging techniques is needed to understand the neural underpinnings of the appreciation of beauty.