Empirical Aesthetics is a relatively new field within the cognitive sciences. While its origins trace back to the mid-19th century, it has gained substantial momentum only in the last two decades, particularly due to advances in neuroimaging techniques, which have enabled more precise investigations of aesthetic perception and experience.

In this line of research, we examine the theoretical goals, methodological approaches, and key insights of this emerging discipline. On the empirical side, we investigate whether and how core theoretical concepts can be captured experimentally. For instance, we explore the concept of the aesthetic attitude—the idea that individuals can deliberately adopt or be drawn into a distinct cognitive mode of perceptual processing. Similarly, we examine whether different aesthetic qualities, such as elegance, kitsch, or the sublime, can be experimentally measured and distinguished as separate entities, testing whether these long-theorized concepts can be empirically substantiated.