Gestalt Psychology, Aesthetics, and Neuroscience

Abstract

The Gestalt psychology view of the aesthetic experience is reconstructed, tracing its root to Köhler’s unified framework for physics and biology. The key concepts of the structure and the phenomenological objectivity of the art work, the embedding of expressive qualities and their role in art understanding and enjoyment are set out. Since these concepts were introduced in a scientific theory of perception and brain functions, research programs, empirical models and neuro-cognitive evidence in Neuroaesthetics are outlined. Finally, the amendment of some Gestalt theoretical claims is submitted for Gestaltist insights into the psychology of art perception to concur to future research.