Connect: Neuroaesthetics and the Future for Wellness Art
Neuroaesthetics is a growing field of research exploring how aesthetic experiences such as visual art interact with the brain and nervous system.
As someone who creates pattern-based artwork and has spent years observing how people respond to it, I've become increasingly fascinated by this area of study.
Here's why.
What Is Neuroaesthetics?
Neuroaesthetics is an interdisciplinary field that combines art, psychology, and neuroscience to better understand our responses to aesthetic experiences.
Researchers are exploring questions such as:
- Why are we drawn to certain colours, shapes, and patterns?
- Why can the same artwork evoke completely different responses in different people?
- What happens in the brain when we engage with visual art?
While the field is still relatively young, it is helping researchers investigate something humans have intuitively understood for centuries: art affects us, even if we don't always understand exactly how.
What Does the Research Say?
The findings emerging from this area are fascinating.
One large study following more than 7,000 adults over a 14-year period found that engagement with receptive arts activities, such as visiting museums and galleries even just once or twice a year, was associated with better long-term health outcomes (Fancourt & Steptoe, 2019, BMJ).
Other research has linked viewing artwork to reductions in physiological measures associated with stress (Worrell et al., 2025).
While these findings are promising, there is still much we do not fully understand.
Many of the biological and psychological processes behind these effects remain the subject of ongoing investigation, which is one reason neuroaesthetics has become such an exciting field of study.
Why Does This Matter to Checkmates Designs?
Long before I encountered the term neuroaesthetics, I was fascinated by the way people respond to pattern-work.
Over the years, I noticed that people were drawn to completely different pieces of my work. Some preferred highly detailed, dense patterns. Others connected more strongly with simpler, flowing compositions.
Many people described their experiences differently too. What one person found calming, another found energising. Similarly, what captured one person's attention barely registered with someone else.
These differences made me curious.
I originally began creating these patterns when I was experiencing health challenges related to my own nervous system. The process of making them became an important part of my personal wellbeing journey, and I experimented a lot with colour, density, and flow. I have often felt that spending a significant amount of time around these patterns has somehow supported my own sense of well-being.
I don't claim to understand the how or why.
What interests me is the possibility that aesthetics may play a far greater role in how we experience wellbeing than we currently realise.
As a wellness art brand, that curiosity sits at the heart of Checkmates Designs.
Is the Future Neuroaesthetics?
Right now Checkmates is not providing answers or making promises in the field of neuroaesthetics. However, it is inviting you to explore the effect of these patterns on your own mind.
As the founder, I am very excited to see where the research into neuroaesthetics will take us, and how Checkmates can start to become a part of that conversation.
Take a Look at the Studies
1. Engagement with Receptive Arts
Fancourt, D. & Steptoe, A. (2019). The art of life and death: 14 year follow-up analyses of associations between arts engagement and mortality in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. BMJ, 367:l6377. https://www.bmj.com/content/367/bmj.l6377
2. Viewing Artwork
Worrell, C., Kirkpatrick, M., Ribeiro Perez, C., et al. (2025). The physiological impact of viewing original artworks vs. reprints: A comparative study. King’s College London (IoPPN). https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/the-physiological-impact-of-viewing-original-artworks-vs-reprints/
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