Brain and Aesthetic Attitude: How to Integrate "Old" and "New" Aesthetics

• Main Author: Gianluca Consoli
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Contemporary Aesthetics, Inc. 2014-01-01
• Series: Contemporary Aesthetics
• Subjects: evaluation; naturalism; neuroimaging; reward; sensory processing; top-down processing
• Online Access: http://www.contempaesthetics.org/newvolume/pages/article.php?articleID=709

At present, various efforts are being put forward to naturalize aesthetics. One of the most controversial disciplines of aesthetics is neuroaesthetics. The first applications of neuroimaging of the aesthetic experience of paintings occurred ten years ago. Over this decade, neuroscientific findings have determined three common centers of visual aesthetic experience: top-down processing; reward and evaluation; and cortical sensory processing. Undoubtedly, these common centers require better identification and further investigation. However, the experimental data currently available make it possible to falsify or corroborate traditional philosophical theories of aesthetic perception and evaluation. Within an integrated approach to aesthetics, this selective function might constitute a future role for neuroaesthetics in humanities research.