Visual elements of subjective preference modulate amygdala activation
Section snippets
Participants and design
We collected 140 pairs of real objects and 140 pairs of novel meaningless patterns for which the critical difference between the items in each pair was the curvature of their contour, keeping their semantic meaning and general appearance equated (Fig. 1). These were everyday objects whose semantic meaning had no inherent positive or negative valence (e.g., a plant or a chair). The novel patterns provided a further measure for the possible role of semantic meaning, familiarity and associations
Experiment 2: Low spatial frequencies mediate contour-driven preferences
In this experiment, we tested directly our hypothesis that the aspects of the contour that are critical for this type of preference formation are conveyed primarily by the LSFs in the image. We preceded this experiment with a pilot study, where we wanted to verify that the amount of low and high spatial filtering we employed would create sets of LSF and HSF images that are equally recognizable. By using an equated set of images, we ensure that the differences we might observe are not
Experiment 3: Subjective ratings of threat for sharp and curve contours
Experiments 1 and 2, while providing critical support for our hypotheses, do not provide a direct link between contour type and an actual perception of threat; so far we primarily inferred it from the combined decrease in preference and increase in amygdala activation. But amygdala activation could be observed for emotions other than fear, and we decided to test the direct link in a separate behavioral experiment.
Discussion
A critical influence on our preference for objects in the environment is exerted by basic visual elements - whether the contour is curved or sharp (Bar & Neta, 2006). We hypothesized that the bias towards liking sharp-angled objects significantly less than curved objects stems from an elevated perception of threat conveyed by sharp object features, either implicitly or explicitly. To test this hypothesis, we used objects whose semantic meaning is emotionally neutral, and compared amygdala
Acknowledgements
We thank K. Kveraga for programming tools used for filtering stimuli, as well as those used for both the recording and collection of voice responses to the filtered images used in the pilot for Experiment 3. We also thank E. Aminoff, M. Fenske, N. Gronau, M. Vangel, P. Whalen, and G. Wolford for helpful comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by the James S. McDonnell Foundation #21002039, NINDS R01 NS044319 and NS050615, the MIND Institute, and resource support by #5P41RR014075.
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