The Science of Art

'If a Martian ethologist were to land on earth and watch us humans, he would be puzzled by many aspects of human nature, but surely art-our propensity to create and enjoy paintings and sculpture-would be among the most puzzling. What biological function could this mysterious behaviour serve?... But even if beauty is largely in the eye of beholder, might there be some sort of universal rule or 'deep structure', underlying all artistic experience?' (Ramachandran and Hirstein, 1999 p. 16)