How our sense of beauty takes shape in the brain | Scientific American
A neuroscience study using MRI scans and machine-learning algorithms found that the brain processes aesthetic experience through two separate neural systems: one identifies what an image depicts (landscape versus figure), while another evaluates its emotional reward value through the same pleasure circuits activated by food or money. The research suggests that art expertise resharpens how these systems interact, particularly in brain regions associated with meaning-making and self-reflection, implying that arts education and art therapy operate by physically rewiring how perception and emotion connect rather than merely providing exposure to beauty.