Rachel Stepaniuk: Neuroaesthetics

I find studies in neuroaesthetics to be extremely fascinating. The human brain is so complex and interesting. Why not keep studying it and see what more we can find and understand? I consider myself to be a very visual person and it’s fun to think about different areas of my brain being more active than others. However, with that said, what can we really do with what we find from such studies? Art isn’t going to change because of it, and people will still like what they like. Even if we can plot fundamental emotions on charts, it’s not going to change what we are drawn to. I don’t see why art critics would be threatened by Zeki’s work. Maybe I’m missing something, but I don’t see how advanced knowledge of processing centers in the brain will change anything when it comes to raw human perception. I would like to know more about why Zeki thinks these studies are necessary, and what can be gained from them.