| This study presents evidence that general aesthetic preferences have a substantial biological and evolutionary foundation. It examines the origins of aesthetic biases from the perspective of evolutionary aesthetics, reconciling theories from anthropology, ecology, neurology, sociology, ethology, aesthetics, and art history in order to present a unified theory that demonstrates how aesthetic systems may have emerged as the result of a symbiotic evolution of morphology, behavior, and symbolic thought. Neurological and cognitive processes indicate early influences on human visual preferences. This study validates prior research in psychology, neurology, and aesthetics and forges an interdisciplinary approach. Discoid and zigzag designs suggest a continuum of abstract forms derived from the staring eyes and canine teeth of predators retained since humanity's primordial past. These “releasers” contributed to a common world view, a system of aesthetics, and finally the foundations of art that led to parallel development of isolated and disparate cutures. |
