An Evolutionary Approach to Art and Aesthetic Experience

Zaidel, Dahlia W.
Nadal, Marcos
Flexas, Albert
Munar, Enric

¹Department of Psychology, University of California at Los Angeles
²Human Evolution and Cognition Group (IFISC-CSIC), University of the Balearic Islands, Palma, Majorca, Spain

Dahlia W. Zaidel, Department of Psychology, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095-1563, USA [email protected]

Submission March 15, 2012. Revision April 5, 2012. Accepted April 5, 2012.

Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts 7(1):p 100-109, February 2013. | DOI: 10.1037/a0028797

A comprehensive characterization of the neurobiological underpinnings of artistic activities and aesthetic experience will require understanding of their evolution. Evolutionary approaches to these phenomena have thus far lacked adequate conceptual, archaeological, and neurobiological grounding. Here, after the necessary conceptual clarifications, we review the basic archaeological and neurobiological evidence that should be accounted for by any hypothesis about the evolution of visual art and aesthetic appreciation. We end by arguing that, in order to overcome the limitations of prior interdisciplinary attempts, such scenarios should take the form of gradual and mosaic coevolutionary processes.