Pleasure is mediated by well-developed mesocorticolimbic circuitry and serves adaptive
functions. In affective disorders, anhedonia (lack of pleasure) or dysphoria (negative affect) …

This paper has a rather audacious purpose: to present a comprehensive theory explaining,
and further providing hypotheses for the empirical study of, the multiple ways by which …

The ability to experience pleasant or unpleasant feelings or to represent objects as “positive”
or “negative” is known as representing hedonic “valence.” Although scientists …

Neuroaesthetics is an emerging discipline within cognitive neuroscience that is concerned
with understanding the biological bases of aesthetic experiences. These experiences …

Pain and stress share significant conceptual and physiological overlaps. Both phenomena
challenge the body's homeostasis and necessitate decision-making to help animals adapt to …

This article reviews recent computer vision techniques used in the assessment of image
aesthetic quality. Image aesthetic assessment aims at computationally distinguishing high …

Understanding how the brain computes value is a basic question in neuroscience. Although
individual studies have driven this progress, meta-analyses provide an opportunity to test …

One fundamental question concerning brain reward mechanisms is to determine how
reward-related activity is influenced by the nature of rewards. Here, we review the …

Aesthetic evaluations are appraisals that influence choices in important domains of human
activity, including mate selection, consumer behavior, art appreciation, and possibly even …

Affective neuroscience aims to understand how affect (pleasure or displeasure) is created by
brains. Progress is aided by recognizing that affect has both objective and subjective …