In the Light of Evolution Volume VII: The Human Mental Machinery (2014) / Chapter Skim
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15 Impact of Contour on Aesthetic Judgments and Approach-Avoidance Decisions in Architecture-Oshin Vartanian, Gorka Navarrete, Anjan Chatterjee, Lars Brorson Fich, Helmut Leder, Cristin Modroo, Marcos Nadal, Nicolai Rostrup, and Martin Skov
15 Impact of Contour on Aesthetic Judgments and Approach-Avoidance Decisions in Architecture-Oshin Vartanian, Gorka Navarrete, Anjan Chatterjee, Lars Brorson Fich, Helmut Leder, Cristin Modroo, Marcos Nadal, Nicolai Rostrup, and Martin Skov
Pages 263-282
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From page 263... ...
However, there is surprisingly little research on how architecture impacts behavior, much less on how it influences brain function. To begin closing this gap, we conducted a functional magnetic resonance imaging study to examine how systematic variation in contour impacts aesthetic judgments and approach-avoidance decisions, outcome measures of interest to both architects and users of spaces alike.
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Furthermore, activation in a distributed brain network known to underlie the aesthetic evaluation of different types of visual stimuli covaried with beauty ratings. In contrast, contour did not affect approach-avoidance decisions, although curvilinear spaces activated the visual cortex.
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. Because this must be considered an exploratory study, an important objective was narrowing the potentially very large number of physical features that could be manipulated within the context of architecture down to a manageable set.
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Extending Appleton's landscape-based theory to built environments, the architect Grant Hildebrand has proposed that an analogous argument can be put forth regarding our relationships with constructed spaces (Hildebrand, 1999)
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We hypothesized that spaces with curvilinear contours would more likely elicit "beautiful" judgments in the beauty judgment run and "enter" decisions in the approach-avoidance run, than spaces with rectilinear contours. This result would extend earlier findings regarding preferences for curved objects to the domain of architecture, and determine the extent to which aesthetic judgments and approach decisions (as a function of contour)
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, we hypothesized that compared with viewing rectilinear spaces, viewing curvilinear spaces would activate structures coextensive with the brain's reward and emotions networks, with specific interest in the regions highlighted in Brown et al.'s meta-analysis of aesthetic appraisal. In turn, we hypothesized that the reverse contrast (i.e., rectilinear-curvilinear)
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We then ran a binary logistic regression where we regressed beauty judgments obtained inside the scanner (i.e., "beautiful" or "not beautiful") onto pleasantness ratings collected outside of the scanner.
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Although we had no a priori prediction about response latency, we nevertheless explored the effect of contour on reaction time involving beauty judgments and approach-avoidance decisions. We conducted this analysis because when rating facial attractiveness, people tend to view more attractive faces for longer periods of time (Quinsey et al., 1996; Shimojo et al., 2003)
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FIGURE 15.4 Effect of choice on response latency for beauty judgments and approach-avoidance decisions.
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The results demonstrated that activation in a distributed network including the frontopolar cortex, superior frontal gyrus, globus pallidus, precuneus, parahippocampus, and the middle occipital gyrus covaried in relation to beauty ratings (Table 15.1)
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TABLE 15.1 Regions Activated in the Parametric Analyses Involving Postscan Beauty and Pleasantness Ratings Collected in Relation to the Beauty Run Parameter Structure BA x y z z score k Beauty Frontopolar cortex 10 −14 64 −2 3.68 74 Superior frontal gyrus 6 −26 22 60 3.68 44 Globus pallidus -- 16 −4 −6 3.66 99 Precuneus 7 −28 −74 46 3.48 127 Parahippocampus 27 −26 −32 −2 3.32 35 Middle occipital gyrus 19 −42 −78 14 3.31 32 Middle occipital gyrus 19 −30 −86 16 3.30 23 Pleasantness Precuneus 7 −14 −68 50 3.85 36 Middle frontal gyrus 9/46 34 42 10 3.77 32 Middle frontal gyrus 9/46 −38 30 14 3.35 71 Anterior cingulate 32 −18 44 12 3.42 17 cortex NOTE: BA, Brodmann area; k, cluster size. The coordinates are reported in MNI space.
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of analyses we explored second-order polynomial expansions but failed to find any evidence for nonlinear relationships between brain activations and beauty or pleasantness ratings. For the approach-avoidance run, the contrast of curvilinear-rectilinear contours revealed significant activation in a single cluster (k = 340)
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In terms of the former, our daily experiences provide us with ample exposure to rectilinear spaces. Arguably, through conditioning, sharp contours might have lost their value as signals for threat within built environments, for example through mere exposure (Marks and Dar, 2000)
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Future studies in which degree-of-curvature is manipulated systematically could certainly address this possibility. In addition to the above categorical contrasts involving beauty judgment, we also conducted two parametric analyses involving beauty and pleasantness ratings collected outside of the scanner.
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Also note that in the present study, pleasantness ratings predicted not only beauty judgments but also approach decisions. Taken together, our results suggest that although contour affected aesthetic judgments and approach-avoidance decisions differently, the two outcome measures might nevertheless be influenced by some of the same underlying mechanisms.
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" In the book, Appleton attempted to reestablish what he perceived to be the lost link in modern society between preferences for certain landscapes and the latter's ability to satisfy the biological and survival needs of humans. By extending habitat theory to built environments and focusing on contour, we asked whether curvilinear spaces would affect beauty judgments and approach decisions in similar ways, and whether the neural systems underlying judgments of "beautiful" and decisions to "enter" a space would overlap.
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Given our increasing propensity to spend time indoors (Klepeis et al., 2001) , our results suggest that a systematic evaluation of how the physical features of built environments affect human behavior, emotion, and brain function is both timely and within reach.
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To obtain the stimulus set please contact O.V. Procedures In the course of structural MRI acquisition, participants were familiarized with the task via exposure to trials involving beauty judgments and approach-avoidance decisions.
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The first analysis was a test of our focal hypothesis, and consisted of comparing curvilinear to rectilinear trials, separately for beauty judgment and approach-avoidance runs. The second analysis geared toward testing Appleton's theory was based on a conjunction analysis involving the beautiful–not beautiful contrast and the enter-exit contrast.
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Although incorporated into the design, motor response and ITI were modeled out of the analyses by assigning null weights to their respective regressors. Our third analyses were parametric and involved first-order polynomial expansions exploring linear relationships as well as second-order polynomial expansions exploring nonlinear relationships in relation to beauty and pleasantness ratings (collected outside of the scanner)
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