The noted neuroscientist Vilayanur Subramanian Ramachandran of San Diego has attempted to answer this question, using the principles of cognitive neurosciences.
He believes that there is such universality. He further proposes ten universal `laws' of art, or basic features that evoke responses in the human brain.
These are (1) peak shift, (2) grouping, (3) contrast, (4) isolation, (5) perceptual problem solving, (6) symmetry, (7) abhorrence of coincidence/generic viewpoint, (8) repetition, rhythm and orderliness, (9) balance and (10) metaphor. These might be thought of as the ten features that form the basis of `neuroaesthetics.' And they may well have an evolutionary origin and basis.
