New Paper published in PNAS

Despite being highly subjective, aesthetic experiences are powerful moments of interaction with one’s surroundings. Default mode network (DMN) which has been implicated in self-referential processing, is typically suppressed when a person engages with the external environment. However, in our new paper published in PNAS we present evidence that the DMN is not only engaged when one finds a visual artwork aesthetically moving, it also represents aesthetic appeal in a manner that generalizes across visual aesthetic domains. 

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Edward A. Vessel, Ayse Ilkay Isik, Amy M. Belfi, Jonathan L. Stahl, & G. Gabrielle Starr (2019): The default-mode network represents aesthetic appeal that generalizes across visual domains. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Advance online publication. doi:10.1073/pnas.1902650116