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Topic · Cognitive Neuroscience

Aesthetic Perception and Analysis

Aesthetic Perception and Analysis is a research topic within Cognitive Neuroscience. Science Explorer counts 12k research works in it since 1950. 10.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the intersection of neuroscience and aesthetics, focusing on the perception and processing of visual art, emotional responses to art, cognitive and brain correlates of aesthetic judgment, and the influence of psychological models on artistic preference. The field of neuroaesthetics is central to understanding the neural basis of aesthetic experiences and the complex interplay between sensory perception, emotional engagement, and cognitive processing in response to art.

  • Neuroaesthetics
  • Aesthetic Perception
  • Visual Art
  • Emotional Responses
  • Cognitive Processing
  • Brain Correlates
  • Aesthetic Emotions
  • Artistic Preference
  • Neural Activation
  • Psychological Models
Research works
12k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.2k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+53%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
32% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Aesthetic Perception and Analysis

Which countries lead Aesthetic Perception and Analysis research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (815 and 582 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 815 works
  2. 2 United States 582 works
  3. 3 United Kingdom 254 works
  4. 4 India 182 works
  5. 5 Germany 160 works
  6. 6 Japan 143 works
  7. 7 Italy 143 works
  8. 8 Türkiye 120 works
  9. 9 Canada 97 works
  10. 10 South Korea 85 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 31.6%United States: 22.5%United Kingdom: 9.9%India: 7.1%6 others listed: 29.0%32%largest
China815 · 31.6%United States582 · 22.5%United Kingdom254 · 9.9%India182 · 7.1%6 others listed748 · 29.0%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Aesthetic Perception and Analysis research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Aesthetic Perception and Analysis research, followed by University of Toronto and University College London.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 26 works
  2. 2 University of TorontoCanada 18 works
  3. 3 University College LondonUnited Kingdom 15 works
  4. 4 New York UniversityUnited States 14 works
  5. 5 KU LeuvenBelgium 13 works
  6. 6 The University of TokyoJapan 13 works
  7. 7 University of ViennaAustria 13 works
  8. 8 Zhejiang UniversityChina 13 works
  9. 9 University of ChicagoUnited States 12 works
  10. 10 Max Planck SocietyGermany 12 works

Who are the leading researchers in Aesthetic Perception and Analysis?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Aesthetic Perception and Analysis include Karl John Friston, Pierre Bourdıeu and Yann LeCun.

  1. 1 Karl John Friston United Kingdom 310k citations
  2. 2 Pierre Bourdıeu France 268k citations
  3. 3 Yann LeCun United States 256k citations
  4. 4 Andrew Zisserman United Kingdom 255k citations
  5. 5 Li Fei-Fei United States 225k citations
  6. 6 Albert-Ĺaszló Barabási United States 223k citations
  7. 7 Trevor William Robbins United Kingdom 199k citations
  8. 8 Bruce Leonard Miller United States 196k citations
  9. 9 Chris Frith United Kingdom 175k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Aesthetic Perception and Analysis?

The most cited paper in Aesthetic Perception and Analysis is "Why we buy what we buy: A theory of consumption values" (Jagdish N. Sheth, Bruce I. Newman, Barbara L. Gross, 1991), with 4,853 citations. Next come "Processing Fluency and Aesthetic Pleasure: Is Beauty in the Perceiver's Processing Experience?" (2,922) and "A Cortical Area Selective for Visual Processing of the Human Body" (2,138).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Why we buy what we buy: A theory of consumption values Jagdish N. Sheth, Bruce I. Newman, Barbara L. Gross · Journal of Business Research Mar 1991 4,853
2 Processing Fluency and Aesthetic Pleasure: Is Beauty in the Perceiver's Processing Experience? Rolf Reber, Norbert Schwarz, Piotr Winkielman · Personality and Social Psychology Review Nov 2004 2,922
3 A Cortical Area Selective for Visual Processing of the Human Body Paul E. Downing, Yuhong V. Jiang, Miles Shuman et al. · Science 28 Sep 2001 2,138
4 A model of aesthetic appreciation and aesthetic judgments Helmut Leder, Benno Belke, Andries Oeberst et al. · British Journal of Psychology Nov 2004 1,947
5 Aesthetics and Psychobiology William Blizek, D. E. Berlyne · Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 1973 1,942
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Aesthetic Perception and Analysis research done?

The largest centres of Aesthetic Perception and Analysis research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), London (United Kingdom), Shanghai (China) and Tokyo (Japan).

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 108 works
  2. 2 LondonUnited Kingdom 77 works
  3. 3 ShanghaiChina 63 works
  4. 4 TokyoJapan 55 works
  5. 5 SeoulSouth Korea 45 works
  6. 6 New YorkUnited States 44 works
  7. 7 HangzhouChina 44 works
  8. 8 WuhanChina 39 works
  9. 9 GuangzhouChina 38 works
  10. 10 Xi'anChina 35 works
See Aesthetic Perception and Analysis on the map

Where is the best place to study Aesthetic Perception and Analysis?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Vienna, University College London and City University of Hong Kong score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%30%mean 15.19%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →City University of H…Hong Kong Polytechni…University of ViennaUniversity College L…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1University of ViennaAustria 76.320.0%8.0×13 -3.6%
2University College LondonUnited Kingdom 72.512.2%2.9×15 +27.2%
3City University of Hong KongChina 67.326.7%5.1×10 +412.1%
4Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityChina 66.722.2%3.7×10 +312.5%
5University of TorontoCanada 62.45.6%2.7×18 +33.2%
6New York UniversityUnited States 58.69.4%3.7×14 +18.2%
7KU LeuvenBelgium 56.113.0%4.3×13 +5.7%
8University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 51.311.2%2.3×11 +20.6%
9Zhejiang UniversityChina 48.713.2%1.4×13 +68.7%
10Jiangnan UniversityChina 46.618.4%4.8×9 +209.5%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Aesthetic Perception and Analysis, country by country

Is Aesthetic Perception and Analysis research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 53% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Aesthetic Perception and Analysis.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Aesthetic Perception and Analysis as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.014% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%Aesthetic Perception and Analysis0.018% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Aesthetic Perception and Analysis over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Aesthetic Perception and Analysis10.2% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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