The experience of mathematical beauty and its neural correlates (2014)

A 2014 study published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience found that the experience of mathematical beauty activates the same brain reward regions, specifically the medial orbitofrontal cortex, as the appreciation of art and music. The research, led by Semir Zeki and colleagues at University College London, used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to show that mathematical formulas rated as beautiful elicited activity in the A1 field of the medial orbitofrontal cortex, with the intensity of the experience correlating with the strength of the neural response. The findings suggest that the neural basis for the experience of beauty is shared across different domains, including mathematics.