London - When we say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, we may be wrong by an inch or so.
According to scientists, the secret of what we admire in fact lies in the medial orbito-frontal cortex - an area of the brain just behind the eyes.
University College London researchers say it is the part of the brain that lights up when we encounter something beautiful, whatever our taste.
Brain expert Semir Zeki asked 21 young men and women to rate the beauty of a selection of paintings and pieces of music. Their brains were scanned as they viewed and listened to them.
The study, published in the journal PLoS One, revealed the medial orbito-frontal cortex was more active when the subjects were looking at or listening to something they really liked.
Professor Zeki said: “Almost anything can be considered art but we argue that only creations whose experience correlates with activity in the medial orbito-frontal cortex would fall into the classification of beautiful art.
“A painting by Francis Bacon may have great artistic merit but may not qualify as beautiful. The same can be said for some of the more “difficult” classical composers - to someone who finds rock music more rewarding and beautiful, we would expect to see greater activity in the brain region when listening to Van Halen than when listening to Wagner.” - Daily Mail