How do we perceive beauty?

Our brains perceive beauty in a complex way. It has been seen that our brains see art, architecture and music attributed with beauty. This can be broken down into things like simplicity, pattern, rhythm, symmetry, juxtaposition, arrangement of musical notes, ratios and geometry. Beauty wakens not a single part of the brain but multiple. It can cause our sight, reward, visual and others to deploy reactions.

Yet beauty can be defined as something individual. If two people were stood in front of a painting they would relate the beauty of the painting to their personal thoughts and perspective, neither would see the painting the same. This can be related to the individual; past experiences, culture and emotional states can change someone’s perspective of things of beauty which comes to reflect the highly individualised nature of aesthetic appreciation. We tend to find a sense of beauty in the things we see familiar or that come from a connection to social interactions, relationships and personal growth highly effect our perception. This provides us with the understanding that we see beauty differently to someone else. Our brains are singularly unique as we see things differently to billions of people.

Our brains are singularly unique as we see things differently to billions of people.

Whenever we see something beautiful a complex symphony of memories, personal experiences and emotional associations occur and spark to life. This all happens in a single moment when appreciating one or many things. Beauty isn’t just something that is around and we appreciate it boosts our everyday mood. For example, flowers are seen to boost our everyday mood and make people feel more comfortable, something so simple and intricate possesses much power. Beauty causes our brains to become happier, feel safe and at home. It relaxes us waking up parts of our brain one after the other, rippling the brain.

Our understanding of the brain and beauty is in no way static, it’s a deeply connected occurrence shaped by personal experiences. Our brains each see beauty individually inspiring individuality and diversity. Beauty isn’t always whether a person has certain physical attributes, it becomes what the individual sees as beautiful to them. Beauty is a subjective concept allowing us to really understand that beauty is ever more inclusive and inspiring as we make it out to be.

Mackenzie N, Year 11