An Early Framework for a Cognitive Neuroscience of Visual Aesthetics

In the early 2000s, no framework within which to investigate the biology of aesthetics had been articulated. The author believes that a componential framework, as was common in cognitive psychology, applied to neuroaesthetics made sense. Such frameworks were commonly applied to complex cognitive domains, such as in language, emotion processing, or visual processing research. As such, the author proposes a “box and arrow” model which incorporated levels of visual processing, emotions, attention, and decision-making. The advantage of such a framework is that specific experiments could be placed in the context of testing hypotheses of parts of a larger system deployed for aesthetic processing. The framework has held up well over the years, although the author believes he did not sufficiently emphasize the role of the motor system and the rich contribution of semantics in aesthetic experiences.