A Unified Theory of Aesthetic Experience: Optimized Communication across Existential, Neural, and Information-Theoretic Domains

Aesthetic experience—spanning mathematics, music, and art—remains theoretically fragmented across neuroscience, evolutionary psychology, and information theory. I propose the Communication-Optimization Theory of Aesthetics (COTA), a unifying framework that defines aesthetic value as arising from optimized communication across three core dimensions: universality (U), temporal stability (T), and existential resonance (E), while minimizing noise (N), cultural specificity (C), and cognitive load (L). Formalized as: A = (U × T × E) / (N + C + L + 1). COTA posits that aesthetic responses signal successful integration of abstract, high-fidelity, and meaning-rich communication—a cognitive function relevant across domains of perception, learning, and social cognition. The theory explains why certain patterns (e.g., Euler’s identity, Bach’s fugues) evoke durable, cross-cultural responses, while others do not. It generates 23 empirically testable predictions across neuroimaging, cross-cultural research, and developmental psychology. Beyond unifying prior theories, COTA reframes aesthetic experience as an evolved, domain-general capacity for detecting optimized communication—integrating affect, cognition, and meaning-making. This model offers novel hypotheses for 12 future research and a conceptual bridge between aesthetics and core psychological