Visual elements of subjective preference modulate amygdala activation

Abstract

What are the basic visual cues that determine our preference towards mundane everyday objects? We previously showed that a highly potent cue is the nature of the object's contour: people generally like objects with a curved contour compared with objects that have pointed features and a sharp-angled contour. This bias is hypothesized here to stem from an implicit perception of potential threat conveyed by sharp elements. Using human neuroimaging to test this hypothesis, we report that the amygdala, a brain structure that is involved in fear processing and has been shown to exhibit activation level that is proportional to arousal in general, is significantly more active for everyday sharp objects (e.g., a sofa with sharp corners) compared with their curvedcontour counterparts. Therefore, our results indicate that a preference bias towards a visual object can be induced by low-level perceptual properties, independent of semantic meaning, via visual elements that on some level could be associated with threat. We further present behavioral results that provide initial support for the link between the sharpness of the contour and threat perception. Our brains might be organized to extract these basic contour elements rapidly for deriving an early warning signal in the presence of potential danger. Keywordsarousal; contour; fMRI; form; shape; threat We determine our preference towards people and objects in the environment frequently and rapidly (Ambady, Bernieri, & Richeson, 2000;Bar, Neta, & Linz, 2006;Willis & Todorov, 2006). These first-impression preferences must rely on perceptual features in the image, especially when they are derived quickly. What are these features? In addressing this question, we discovered that the nature of an object's contour provides a potent source of influence on preferences . Specifically, emotionally neutral objects comprised of primarily pointed features and sharp angles were liked significantly less than © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Correspondence should be addressed to: Moshe Bar Martinos Center at MGH, Harvard Medical School 149 Thirteenth St., Charlestown Massachusetts, 02129 Phone: (617) 726-7467 Fax: (617) 726-0504 bar@nmr.mgh.harvard.edu. Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. when the same objects were comprised of curved features (e.g., a watch with a sharp-angled contour compared with a watch with a curved contour). NIH Public AccessWhat is the origin of this bias for preferring objects with curved visual elements significantly more than objects with sharp-angled elements? We hypothesize that this preferen...

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“…From a methodological perspective, amygdala activation in response to rectilinear stimuli (43) has been observed with very brief presentation times (85 ms). In contrast, our participants viewed each stimulus for 3,000 ms.…”

“…In turn, we hypothesized that the reverse contrast (i.e., rectilinear-curvilinear) would activate the amygdala. This specific prediction was derived from an earlier fMRI study in which it was shown that viewing rectilinear everyday objects activated the amygdala, suggesting that sharpness might serve as an early warning signal for potential danger (43).…”

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“…The discipline 'neuroaesthetics' studies these low-level perceptual processes and how they relate to aesthetic preferences [115][116][117]. In this endeavour, neural structures of reward and pleasure have been found to be engaged during aesthetic experiences [107,111,[118][119][120].…”

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