Planck-Scale Periodicity C. R. Gimarelli (December 25, 2025) \affiliation Independent Researcher The neurocognitive basis of beauty: Human beauty and the beauty of the arts. An integrative review

This paper identifies the primary neurocognitive bases of experiencing human beauty. Based on a systematic review of recent articles analyzing brain activity during the experience of beauty in both the arts and human faces, we propose a neurocognitive model, which includes five different stages of visual information processing, that encompasses both the beauty of the visual arts and human beauty. 1. Primary visual processing 2. Secondary visual processing 3. Sensorimotor coupling of visual perception 4. High-level visual processing: Appraisal and reward 5. Neurocognitive visual resonance with the default mode network (DMN) Based on our analysis, a two-part classification was developed. The first differentiates the perception of beauty in the visual arts from that in human faces. The second classification distinguishes between the subjective, objective, and intersubjective components of beauty perception for both faces and visual arts. The study yields three main conclusions: 1. The experience of human beauty involves five complementary neurocognitive processes. 2. The experience of facial beauty activates neurocognitive processes that are partially distinct from those involved in the experience of visual arts. 3. While innate and universal neurocognitive mechanisms exist for the objective perception of human beauty, this perception is significantly modulated by higher neurocognitive instances on which subjective and intersubjective perception is based. Keywords : neurocognitive bases, human beauty, beauty of the arts, aesthetic medicine, objective perception, subjective perception, intersubjective perception.