How do we come to like the things that we do? Each one of us starts from a relatively similar state at birth, yet we end up with vastly different sets of aesthetic preferences. These preferences go on to define us both as individuals and as members of our cultures. Therefore, it is important to understand how aesthetic preferences form over our lifetimes. This poses a challenging problem: to understand this process, one must account for the many factors at play in the formation of aesthetic values and how these factors influence each other over time. A general framework based on basic neuroscientific principles that can also account for this process is needed. Here, we present such a framework and illustrate it through a model that accounts for the trajectories of aesthetic values over time. Our framework is inspired by meta-analytic data of neuroimaging studies of aesthetic appraisal. This framework incorporates effects of sensory inputs, rewards, and motivational states. Crucially, each one of these effects is probabilistic. We model their interactions under a reinforcement-learning circuitry. Simulations of this model and mathematical analysis of the framework lead to three main findings. First, different people may develop distinct weighing of aesthetic variables because of individual variability in motivation. Second, individuals from different cultures and environments may develop different aesthetic values because of unique sensory inputs and social rewards. Third, because learning is stochastic, stemming from probabilistic sensory inputs, motivations, and rewards, aesthetic values vary in time. These three theoretical findings account for different lines of empirical research. Through our study, we hope to provide a general and unifying framework for understanding the various aspects involved in the formation of aesthetic values over time.

中文翻译：

---

我们如何学习审美价值的理论框架

我们如何开始喜欢我们所做的事情？我们每个人在出生时都处于相对相似的状态，但最终却有着截然不同的审美偏好。这些偏好继续将我们定义为个人和我们文化的成员。因此，了解审美偏好如何在我们的一生中形成非常重要。这提出了一个具有挑战性的问题：要理解这一过程，人们必须考虑在审美价值的形成中起作用的许多因素以及这些因素如何随着时间的推移相互影响。需要一个基于基本神经科学原理的通用框架，该框架也可以解释这个过程。在这里，我们提出了这样一个框架，并通过一个模型来说明它随着时间的推移审美价值的轨迹。我们的框架受到美学评价神经影像学研究的元分析数据的启发。该框架结合了感官输入、奖励和动机状态的影响。至关重要的是，这些影响中的每一个都是概率性的。我们在强化学习电路下对它们的交互进行建模。该模型的模拟和框架的数学分析导致​​了三个主要发现。首先，由于动机的个体差异，不同的人可能会对审美变量产生不同的权衡。其次，由于独特的感官输入和社会奖励，来自不同文化和环境的个体可能会发展出不同的审美价值。第三，因为学习是随机的，源于概率性的感官输入、动机和奖励，审美价值随时间而变化。这三个理论发现说明了不同的实证研究方向。通过我们的研究，我们希望为理解随着时间的推移形成审美价值所涉及的各个方面提供一个普遍而统一的框架。