Question 11- Discuss 3 Examples Of How Visual Preferences Depend On The Neural Mechanisms Of Visual Perception

Question 1

Motion

Answer 1

-Zeki and Stutters (2012):
•Found that white moving dots on a black backgroumd were preferred when they moved around with more fluidity and in different patterns compared to being uniform dots in rows and columns that move in place

•Researchers found visual preference correlates with activity in early visual (V2,V3) and motion areas (V5) and the parietal cortex, which are associated with contrast/edges and motion respectively

Question 2

Body preferences

Answer 2

-Calvo-Merino et al (2010):
•Used TMS across four cortical sites:
~Ventral premotor cortex
~Extrastriate body areas
~Both hemispheres
• Investigated whether TMS alters preferences of body and non-body stimuli
•PPs had to rate how much they liked the image before and after TMS

-Results:
•TMS increased aesthetic preference when the visual areas were stimulated for body images, but reduced with non-body images

-Perception of bodies is associated with extrastriate body areas, shows how perception and preference depends on the visual system

Question 3

Paintings/judging art

Answer 3

-Kawabata and Zeki (2004):
•Looked at paintings that were portraits, landscapes and still life
•Results:
~Greater activation in the fusiform gyrus for portraits, the parahippocampal place area for landscapes and in the V3 for still life paintings
~The medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC) correlated with judgements of beauty across all categories