2018
Year 38
Prof. Semir Zeki
Professor of Neuroaesthetics
University College, London, United Kingdom
THEME: BEAUTY AND YOUR BRAIN
When people look at something they find beautiful, there is an activation in medial orbito-frontal cortex
(mOFC), which results in the association of perception of beauty. The more beautiful humans find something,
the greater the blood flow in the areas of the brain that respond to beauty. The experience of ugliness on the
other hand, triggers activity in other parts of the brain.
However, there are complicating factors. On the one hand, areas of the brain perform multiple functions; on the other, there are relationships between beauty and other qualities such as sublimity, which is unique, vast and involves “horror mingled with beauty, pleasure with displeasure, fear of something looked at from a safe distance” The brain activity produced by something of a small scale , regarded as beautiful, turns out to be distinct from something sublime. Experimentation has shown that the same areas of the brain which appear to respond to other forms of beauty, become active when the mathematicians look at equations they find beautiful. The aesthetic experience derived from mathematical formulations is possibly due to the fact that they make sense to the logical deductive system of the brain.
However, there are complicating factors. On the one hand, areas of the brain perform multiple functions; on the other, there are relationships between beauty and other qualities such as sublimity, which is unique, vast and involves “horror mingled with beauty, pleasure with displeasure, fear of something looked at from a safe distance” The brain activity produced by something of a small scale , regarded as beautiful, turns out to be distinct from something sublime. Experimentation has shown that the same areas of the brain which appear to respond to other forms of beauty, become active when the mathematicians look at equations they find beautiful. The aesthetic experience derived from mathematical formulations is possibly due to the fact that they make sense to the logical deductive system of the brain.
