title: Understand after like, viewer's delight? A fNIRS study of order-effect in combined hedonic and cognitive appraisal of art.
abstract: We investigate neural and behavioral aspects of the interrelation between 'liking' and 'understanding' when both appraisals are made within one judgment task. Our goal was to explore questions regarding how these appraisals combine, and specifically whether there is an order-effect when both are employed in sequence. To this end, we tested a hypothesis derived from new models in neuroaesthetics, and concerning processing of art, which suggest that perception may involve a natural sequence from first processing for hedonic quality (i.e., liking) followed by processing for understanding. Thus, due to the initial liking assessment's capacity to prime deepened cognitive involvement, a Liking-Understanding order may show key differences in final assessments or brain activation when compared to an Understanding-Liking sequence. Thirty-two participants evaluated a range of paintings, balanced for visual appeal and understandability, in a two-part task in which half evaluated for understanding followed by liking and the other half had question order reversed. Brain activity was recorded via functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS). Results showed no assessment interrelation or order effect in artwork evaluations. However, participants who began with evaluation for liking, and who came to incongruent combinations (i.e., "I like, but I don't understand" or "I don't like, but I understand"), showed significantly higher activation in left medial prefrontal cortex. This area is functionally associated with attention and integration of hedonic/informational elements. Findings provide tentative support for a liking-driven order-effect, as well as for physiological connection between appraisals, which may not appear in behavioral evidence, and suggest need for further consideration of this topic in appraisal research.
authors.affiliation: Vienna University, Faculty of Psychology, Liebiggasse 5, 1010 Vienna, Austria. Electronic address: mattpelowski@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pelowski
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoko, Japan.
authors.forename: Misato
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oi
authors.affiliation: School of Management, Zhejiang University, Zijingang Campus, Hangzhou 310058, China.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive Informatics, Graduate School of Information Science, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan.
authors.forename: Shuang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Graduate School of Arts and Letters, Tohoku University, 27-1 Kawauchi, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8576, Japan.
authors.forename: Godai
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive Informatics, Graduate School of Information Science, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan. Electronic address: saito@is.nagoya-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Hirofumi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Saito
mesh_terms: D001154:Art; D001288:Attention; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D032882:Comprehension / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D057181:Pleasure / Q000502:physiology*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Art evaluation; Combined judgments; Liking; Medial prefrontal cortex; Order effect; Understanding