Hooper Jake, Stoliker Devon, Wolfe Kyle, Hutchison Kent
Department of Psychiatry, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA.
Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia.
Neuropsychologia. 2025 Oct 10;217:109238. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109238. Epub 2025 Jul 26.
Neuroaesthetics is a subdiscipline within cognitive neuroscience which describes the biological mechanisms of aesthetic experiences. These experiences encompass perceptions and evaluations of natural objects, artwork, and environments that are ubiquitous in daily life. Empirical research demonstrates that aesthetic experiences arise from an interplay of sensory, affective, and semantic processes. Neuroaesthetics is becoming an established scientific pursuit just as modern psychedelic research begins to develop. Psychedelics can profoundly alter perceptions and evaluations, positioning them as a valuable tool to advance research into the neural basis of aesthetic experience. As the central goal of this article, we identify several synergies between psychedelic and cognitive neuroscience to motivate research using psychedelics to advance neuroaesthetics. To achieve this, we explore psychedelic changes to aesthetic experiences in terms of their sensory, affective, and semantic effects, suggesting their value to understand the neural mechanisms in this process. Throughout the article, we leverage existing theoretical frameworks to best describe the unique ways psychedelics influence aesthetic experience. Finally, we offer a preliminary agenda by suggesting future research avenues and their implications.
神经美学是认知神经科学中的一个子学科，它描述了审美体验的生物学机制。这些体验包括对日常生活中无处不在的自然物体、艺术品和环境的感知与评价。实证研究表明，审美体验源于感觉、情感和语义过程的相互作用。随着现代迷幻药研究开始发展，神经美学正成为一项既定的科学探索。迷幻药能深刻改变感知和评价，使其成为推进审美体验神经基础研究的宝贵工具。作为本文的核心目标，我们确定了迷幻药与认知神经科学之间的几种协同作用，以推动使用迷幻药推进神经美学的研究。为实现这一目标，我们从感觉、情感和语义效应方面探讨迷幻药对审美体验的改变，表明它们对理解这一过程中的神经机制的价值。在整篇文章中，我们利用现有的理论框架来最好地描述迷幻药影响审美体验的独特方式。最后，我们通过提出未来的研究途径及其影响，提供了一个初步议程。
