A brain study released today shows that the human ability to appreciate aesthetics is based in the prefontal cortex, part of the brain involved in decision making. The scientists at the Balearic Islands University in Spain came to this conclusion by imaging their subjects' brains while looking at art and photography. According to the study, quoted in Scientific American, "'a phylogenetic change in the prefontal cortex could give way to the decorative and artistic profusion' in humans."
Another study published today by Northwestern University suggests that "Eureka!" moments of insight activate "a distinct area in the right hemisphere of the brain's temporal cortex," a region where semantic connections occur.
"For thousands of years people have said that insight feels different from more straightforward problem solving," one of the researchers said. "We believe this is the first research showing that distinct computational and neural mechanisms lead to these breakthrough moments."
