Towards a neuroaesthetics of interactions: a perspective review

Abstract

The neuroaesthetics field has made significant progress in understanding behavioral and neural responses associated with appreciating both crafted and natural entities. While extensive research has explored the neurocognitive mechanisms underpinning the aesthetic appreciation of “single-body” forms and movements, only recently attention has turned to investigating the subjective appreciation of groups of individuals moving together. This review aims to introduce the emerging area of two-body appreciation, which we refer to as the neuroaesthetics of interactions, and explore how neural representations of observed and executed movements contribute to the evaluation of complex dyadic body postures and dance movements. By delving into the involvement of neural systems supporting social interaction processing in dance appreciation, we organized the existing literature on objective features of stimuli, individual dispositions, and their combined impact on the aesthetic experience derived from observing single and interactive dance performances. Additionally, we outlined the advantages of using dance as a research framework for neuroscientific studies, address challenges related to the perception of two-body interactions, and highlight future directions in the field.