Why and how does our brain decide what's beautiful or not?

I apologize for my english. My native language is french. I tried to do my best in english to provide you good content to the english community too.

Defining beauty is not understanding beauty.
Fernando Pessoa

Reading the book: The Aesthetic Brain: How have we evolved to desire beauty and enjoy art?

Anjan Chatterjee is a neuroscientist whose research consists in answering the question " Why is beauty so captivating? ". In other words, why are we humans attracted to beautiful rather than ugly people and, above all, what makes a person aesthetically beautiful? But also, why does this object seem beautiful to me? And above all, why does it look beautiful to a majority of the population?

His latest book talks about the aesthetic brain: how we evolved to desire beauty and enjoy art? This is the book I'm going to tell you about today.

What is neuroesthetic?

When art meets neurons

Before talking to you about this book you need to understand what neuroesthetic is the main field of activity Anja uses to observe, analyse and write her book.

This definition is largely inspired by Wikipedia, or even partially taken from it:

Neuroesthetics is a sub-discipline of empiricalaesthetics which aims to study aesthetic perceptions of art and music through a scientific approach. In particular, she uses techniques from theneurosciences to experiment and explain aesthetic experiences at the neurological level.

Neuroesthetic is a branch of cognitive neuroscience that studies the neuropsychological pathways of artistic creation.

As well as the emergency membership of the spectator and finally, the role of the artist before, during and after the creative act.

Neuroesthetics is a new field of study that is gradually gaining momentum in the scientific world.

What is Anja's book about?

Anja makes us discover in her book the world of beauty, pleasure and art. He explains to us how the aesthetic sense is engraved in our minds and why artistic concerns are so important in our lives.

Brain, art, beauty. I couldn't miss reading this very informative book.

In fact, Anja addresses the following questions related mainly to visual arts (and not auditory arts such as music): What is beauty? Is it universal? How does beauty relate to pleasure? What is art? Must art be beautiful? Do we have an instinct for art?

In addition to faces and bodies, he also talks about landscapes, food, sex and money. And he analyses modern and past art.

To explain all this, it is based on the latest advances and tools in neuroscience, psychology, biology and finally, art.

He therefore discovers the answers of our neurons in the face of beauty... He explains that faces and places that we find aesthetically beautiful can promote evolutionary success! Nothing but that!!

Why does the brain love beauty?

The cerebral region correlated to the experience of beauty is always the same, regardless of the source of aesthetic emotion.

Otherwise the source could be visual, musical, moral or mathematical (you didn't expect mathematics, did you?).

This cerebral region is also zone A1 of the median orbitofrontal cortex and is associated with a reward circuit.

In fact, when our brain picks up a painting, a face, a mathematical equation, a melody, one of its areas becomes active and it tells us that we perceive something real. A truth.

This sensitivity would therefore tell us that we are on the right track in a better knowledge of ourselves or the universe, on the road to a truth (I am not mystical, don't misunderstand me!). It is the researchers who say so!).

Since sensitivity, aesthetic emotion and sensitivity are found throughout the history of our species, this suggests that there is a biological function as well as an adaptive function of aesthetics that goes beyond pleasure.

On the one hand, this sensitivity allows for "attention-attraction" (I see you, I desire you on the sexual level) and on the other hand, it allows for social function (social attraction of each other).

So, without this aesthetic sensitivity: no evolution possible.

To come back to " The Truth ", how can the brain be aware when it finds itself faced with certain things, to be faced to THE Truth?

This is probably because the structure of the Universe in which we evolve would be reflected in the organization of our brain.

This could be called a mirror effect.

Finally, art interacts with neural processes linked to the Self. Art affects them, incorporates them. Perhaps the brain even detects a harmony between the exterior and the inner representation we have of ourselves? From then on beauty touches something intimate, personal, interior... And so beauty speaks to myself and tells me what is important to me.

My opinion on the book

Again, Anja surprises me. It is capable of dealing with complicated and scientific subjects in a way that is easy to understand, engaging and fun for non-scientific readers.

It is through this type of person that art becomes accessible to the world and helps humans become smarter!

This book is to be put in all hands because, as Diderot wondered:"How is it that almost all men agree that there is a beautiful and... that so few know what it is? ».

Beauty is part of our life, we are attracted by it but nobody knows how to explain exactly why. Beauty and aesthetics are the foundations of human nature... and LIFE. Look at a flower, look at the landscapes, look at the animals, scrupulously at the human being. Everything is beautiful in LIFE... But how come we are " formatted " to know what is beautiful? Beyond the criteria imposed by companies?

Other questions remain for me, however: is there an area of beauty in our brain? Are animals (and especially great apes) able to see the beautiful too? Is our thirst for beauty and aesthetics only a biological basis?

A TEDtalk presentation

Anjan also gave a TED lecture on the subject that you can watch by following this link:

http://www.tedmed.com/talks/show?id=622969

He unravels the complex concept of human beauty. It is undoubtedly a fascinating and informative presentation!

Who is Anjan Chatterjee?

Anjan is an American neuroscientist of Indian origin.

He works at the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, where he works on the link between art and neuroscience.

He has worked and published papers related to the fields of attention, spatial perception and neuroethics.

He is a past president of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics and the Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology Society. He is a founding board member of the Neuroethics Society.

In 2016, he received the Rudolph Arnheim Award for his contribution to psychology and the arts.

Hopefully this will motivate you to go explore the fascinating brain and neuroesthetic, I will tell you very soon my dear Steemiens Francophiles,

With all my Love,

Sources:

*The Aesthetic Brain: How We Evolved to Desire Beauty and Enjoy Art by Anjan Chatterjee, 2015
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anjan_Chatterjee_ (neuroscientist)
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*https://www.letemps.ch/sciences/2015/07/13/cerveau-estil-affame-beaute