Crossing boundaries: toward a general model of neuroaesthetics

Citation: Marin MM (2015) Crossing boundaries: toward a general model of neuroaesthetics. Since its dawn in the early 2000s, neuroaesthetics has been flowering as an independent research field (Nadal and Skov, 2013). Its emergence has mostly been driven by researchers who specialize in the study of visual perception and cognition, and who show interest in visual arts. This strong link between neuroaesthetics and vision science is reflected not only by the fact that the term " neuroaesthetics " was coined by the renowned vision researcher Semir Zeki (Zeki and Nash, 1999), but also by recent reviews on neuroaesthetics focusing primarily on aesthetic experiences induced by paintings, abstract patterns, landscapes, faces, architecture, fashion and design objects (Current models of aesthetic experiences and their brain correlates revolve around the visual modality and include moderators of aesthetic experiences (social, cultural and situational context, personality, expertise etc. These models are not exclusively concerned with the study of beauty or preference, although these concepts are of historical importance, but include a wide range of aesthetic emotions, judgements, and behaviors. What may be the underlying reasons for this prevalence of studying the neural underpinnings of visual aesthetic experiences? As in any developing research field, it takes a critical number of researchers who are motivated to organize and attend conferences on a given topic (the first Since the vision science community is relatively large in comparison to other research communities in the field of experimental psychology, it is not unanticipated that several prominent figures were able to attract the attention of younger researchers to help launch this fascinating research field. Another reason for the leading status of visual neuroaesthetics may be that, before the advent of neuroscience, interest in empirical aesthetics was stronger in the vision science community than in other research communities. Therefore, the move toward applying neuroimaging methods to questions related to aesthetic experiences seemed the next logical step. Furthermore, the investigation of aesthetic responses to static images of different kinds may be easier than the study of dynamic images, such as film, video art and the performing arts, and the study of dynamic artforms, such as music and poetry. Lately, the prolific efforts of the visual neuroaesthetics community have attracted the attention of researchers working outside vision science. For example, the number of publications on music, aesthetics and the brain has clearly increased in the last few years has opened new pathways to a …