Abstract: Aesthetics is a high-level function that is unique to human beings. This article introduced cognitive and neuro-anatomical models for aesthetic processing, as well as relevant experimental paradigms. Different stimulus materials and experimental tasks were evaluated. It reviewed main progresses in recent brain imaging studies. ERP and MEG studies evidenced that aesthetics involves distinct processing stages taking place at different time epochs. An early frontocentral negativity and a late posterior positivity are ERP correlates of aesthetic judgment. fMRI studies revealed that main neural substrates of aesthetics include caudate nucleus, orbitofrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex. It proposed that future research should distinguish between neural mechanisms of different aspects of aesthetics, include more types of stimulus materials, and further explore influences of complex factors on neural correlates of aesthetics, such as the cultural factor.

Key words: aesthetics, neural correlates, brain imaging studies, neuroaesthetics