Aesthetic responses to visual art involve at least two distinct brain activity patterns. In sensory regions (occipito-temporal) and the striatum, activity increases linearly with how highly observers rate artworks. Low-rated artworks actually cause striatal activity to fall below baseline. In contrast, a network of frontal regions, including parts of the default mode network linked to self-referential thought, shows a step-like increase only for the most moving artworks, with no differential activity for all others. This suggests aesthetic experience integrates sensory and emotional reactions in a way tied to personal relevance.
During an fMRI task where people rated images of artworks, regions of the medial prefrontal cortex that are part of the default mode network (DMN) were more active on the highest-rated trials. This is notable because the DMN was originally characterized as more active during rest than during externally focused tasks. Although the task had no explicit self-referential aspect, observers were told that their individual tastes mattered and were asked how much each artwork moved them. The artworks were little-known and varied widely in style, leading to high individual variability in ratings, so neural responses reflected aesthetic experience rather than features of particular artworks.