Abstract
Among the brain regions involved in the aesthetic evaluation of paintings, the prefrontal cortex seems to play a pivotal role. In particular, consistent neuroimaging evidence indicates that activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (mainly in the left hemisphere) and in medial and orbital sectors of the prefrontal cortex is linked to viewing aesthetically pleasing images. In this study, we focused on the contribution of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in mediating aesthetic decisions about paintings. We found that enhancing excitability in this region via anodal tDCS led participants to judge paintings as more beautiful. Although significant, the effects were moderate, possibly due to the neutral affective value of the artworks we used, suggesting that activity in mPFC may be critically dependent on the affective impact of the paintings.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 65-76 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Cognitive Processing |
| Volume | 21 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Feb 1 2020 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was supported by a PRIN Grant (2015WXAXJF) by Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research to Z.C and by Mondino Foundation “Ricerca Corrente” funds.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, Marta Olivetti Belardinelli and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.
Keywords
- Beauty
- Brain stimulation
- Medial prefrontal cortex
- Neuroaesthetics
- tDCS