Abstract
In the current study, we investigated how the perception of half-nude female body representations is altered by framing with information about the presented person. Images from tabloid newspapers were presented to male and female observers, and rated according to their aesthetic appeal while neurofunctional correlates were assessed using functional magnetic resonance imaging. While a generally stronger appetitive response might be expected in men, our results show a significant interaction between framing condition and gender of the observer. Men rated female bodies as more pleasing when presented without personal information, whereas women expressed more aesthetic appeal when information was added. Neuroimaging data revealed gender differences in processing body representations with additional personal information. In women, there was a stronger involvement of the anterior cingulate cortex and adjacent ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and in male observers a higher engagement of the bilateral inferior parietal cortex, when compared to each other respectively. These gender differences in framing effects particularly highlight higher aesthetic appeal and reward processing in women when female bodies are personalized.
Highlights
For every person, specific objective information can be related to personal identity
Framing is Personalizing Bodies as such based on a context, which determines visual perception according to implicit knowledge systems that can be understood as anthropological universals (Pöppel and Bao, 2011; Bao and Pöppel, 2012)
Conceptual and contextual framing engages higher cognitive functions based on prior expectations or knowledge systems, which has been linked to an involvement of the hippocampus, temporal, prefrontal, and parietal brain regions associated with memory, imagery, and attention (McClure et al, 2004; Silveira et al, 2015)
Summary
Specific objective information can be related to personal identity. ‘Attribute framing’ describes those effects that result from the positive or negative valence of stimulus attributes on its evaluation (Levin et al, 1998) In this line, previous research shows that pairing odors with positive or negative words influences the perception of smell with regard to pleasantness (de Araujo et al, 2005). Evidence is provided that those top–down cues, in terms of additional information, can influence aesthetic visual processes (Cupchik et al, 1994; Russell, 2003; Leder et al, 2006; Kirk et al, 2009; Silveira et al, 2015): when presenting identical artworks in the context of different semantic frames like title, origin, or authenticity, perceptual processes are modulated, accompanied by complex brain activation patterns, in the frontal and parietal lobes
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