Neuroaesthetics: How beauty drives engagement
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Simon Norris presents on Neuroaesthetics: how beauty drives engagement from Linkdex Think Tank ‘The psychology of sharing’ November 2013.
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Neuroaesthetics: How beauty drives engagement
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- 22. Why are some things beautiful? thetics? ives aes W hat dr
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- 29. rtex is rebral co mely f t he c e ecture o ellular types, na it The arch of a few c d (a) and ompose r pyramid cells c al o Pyramid star cells (b). or Stellate of iled view a deta a) and e shows he imag id cells ( T pyram midal or cells (b). Pyra or star has Stellate l Cortex e Visua V1 in th ngly Interesti ells! no star c 29
- 30. brain concepts? m ‘brain r the ter cepts? rlie ioned ea t are a brain con I ment ut wha ncept’ b co
- 31. ...there are two kinds [brain concepts], inherited and acquired. The two kinds are intimately linked and one could not exist without the other.” Zeki
- 32. inherited or acquired The inh erited c onc signals that com epts organisin g the e into th instill m eaning e brain into the so as to sense o m and t f them. hus m a ke The acq ui through red concepts a ou re significa t life by the bra generated in, and nt make it change ly independen t of the in the in c on fo they ma ke it ea rmation reachin tinual sier g recognis e and th for us to perc the brain; eive an u things a d nd situa s obtain knowl edge of tions. A good ex concep ample of an in t is her A perso the perception ited brain n or seein or ignor with a normal g of colo brain ca e the co nnot co ur. lour the ntrol y se e . We hav e cells i no that are orientat ur Primary Vis u ion-sele only res ctive e. al Cortex pond to g. cells straight that lines. So hori zon not resp tal orientation -selecti ond t o a ve vertical stimulu cells will s. Zeki’s c onsider this bra fire for s in a pecific s timuli to bility of cells to building re blocks o f form p present the ne ural erceptio n. Zeki als o consi ders it a conscio fo usness that ope rm of microcognitiv rates be e opera low nor tion. m al
- 33. constancy Zeki o utl the bra ines other im in p and ab , namely, pe ortant functio rceptu stracti on. al cons ns of tancy Percep tu mainta al constanc ya in such a visual stimu llows us to s li illumin distance, vie when variab le at wing a ngle a s brain m ion change. nd In othe aintain r word s an o e.g. a s th b je ba regard nana or a fa ct’s ‘constan e les ce cy’ The br s of light, an will remain in a in is a g cting w le or distanc tact reduci ng the e. it amoun h efficiency needs a t of inf to ormati nd recogn be rememb on th er is conditi e a face or a ed or recalle at ons. d banan a in ch to anging It has be consta en argued th nc at art e x the es y because i sence t allow poses this s us to of an o bject. captur e Consta ncy re pr functio n of th esents a prim e visua l brain ordial .
- 34. abstraction cy and constan rent to tion. n is diffe neural coordina tio n be Abstrac erarchical i tation ca h n requires general represe So in the r e, lars. Therefo y particu the functions of to man applied nalises r, the t it exter f ar Howeve case o brain. n in the io d with abstract s involve known to rocesse rently un actual p ar e c ur traction logy. abs neurobio e cognitiv
- 35. “the particular is subordinated to the general, so what is represented is applicable to many particulars.” s the indicate d how by Zeki ories an brain to e quote Th our mem llow the tions of to a limita perates ed for action o ly within the ne abstr ient ail. ave effic alling every det beh r ec ring and sto r all. cted afte constru ory is re Mem Zeki
- 36. ambiguity cy, constan ion and abstract e considered a can Like an b that biguity c rain behaviour am ntal b fundame different levels. at operate ity. r ambigu ition fo t a defin ka Let’s loo
- 37. ... a neurobiologically based definition of ambiguity is the opposite of the dictionary definition; it is not uncertainty, but certainty - the certainty of many, equally plausible interpretations, each one of which is sovereign when it occupies the conscious stage.” Zeki ood at is very g ions. rain erpretat ly, the b l rent int Essentia any diffe gm producin
- 38. A classic cube. ecker is the N object biguous am 32 by ed in 18 cker iscover . A. Ne lusion d visual il rapher L ced A stallog noti wiss cry he S ystal he t cr ls, yet, e crysta bserving h of th whilst o the dept hanging. in changes not c ls were ta the crys le of a t examp and how an grea timulus resents It p arying s ly unv ible physical produce 3 poss valid. equally s e our brain ns which all ar atio interpret
- 39. Lisa he Mona T c.1517 by Da V onar do Le inci ean? r smile m es he What do gs and any thin great m mean a d as enigmatic. It could scribe been de has an one more th ll have tainly wi I t c er ation. interpret 39
- 40. How can we use insights from neuroaesthetics in design? se fro an we u ights c what ins s? So, sthetic neuroae xplore: eas to e r Three a sure; and plea s - Pattern odels; M - Mental - Cards. m
- 41. n 3 film Iron Ma brain om image fr llian showing his A great Ki g Aldrich showin P ot s . Pepper to
- 42. pleasure and patterns We hav e long k no system in the p wn about the r erceptio ole of th n of ple e limbic asure. We cou ld process consider aesth ing of th e e visua tic perception V1 in th l centre as the e visua s in the l cortex brain su c h as We also k continu now that the b r al ques t for kno ain processes patterns wledge . in its We also know th a accurat ely we c t the more qui ckly and an enjoyab m le it is, e represent a p attern th ore .g. we r mother, e more ec father o r child m ognise the fac e of a ore quic kly. Pattern s that a re a number of interp mbiguous will in retation interpre s we ge crease the tations n the mor process e inform erate. The mo as well ation w re as the p e need otential to uncerta Pattern inty we s includ feel. e: - visual lay pages o outs, such as pa ve - eleme rall symmetry; ges, and there nts with fore a in visua e.g. a s l l ay pe carouse cific feature or outs (recogniti on of de function l); tail such as - the flo w or int t he eraction betwee n pages All thes . e eleme nts hav be cons e an ae idered w sthe hen des is not ju igning t tic that needs s t t he c hem. T t olo more th he aest o an the t ur or arrangem het i c otal com ent, and have a bi ned e Gestalt lements it is also -like eff ect. . A e st h etics
- 43. mental models ing the build pts are in conce els? ra Maybe b ental mod fm blocks o uired both acq tal sising m en e synthe ld b pts into We cou ed brain conce could the link herit and i n jects anding t em s , ob e Underst tter sys models. sur esign be e c an as to d cause w help us ence be he design er i and exp ent of t m ent al r alignm just our greate ct not d by s to refle y are constructe propertie how the but models . the brain
- 44. design patterns: cards Anothe rd in the d esign pattern tha i gi present tal world is the t is emerging and con u trol the se of cards to informa flow of tion. All the ma cards a jor digital play nd I be lieve on ers are adopti using c ng e ards is that the of the benefits friendly y em of th models inking. We ha brace futurev e m en fo tal cards c r using cards. an natu This me ra ans design and the lly support res ponsive fashion aesthet able fla i c. t design Cards a re not n ew and present ha informa tion ove ve used to time e.g r . Top T rumps. along period o f Let’s lo ok at tw o twitte cards. r examp les of
- 45. itter ion of tw ad vers e and iP y option. on The iPh e discover th showing ion is nformat w the i ry well n see ho d and works ve n You ca ens t ha entalise mpartm ith smaller scre co es w rs. on devic laptop compute or desktop
- 46. tics roaesthe ing Neu gning us nding requires a t esi I think d d understa ach. I tic appro king ts an insigh re holis ader mo hous design thin or o much br polymorp right a ctive is requires o single perspe -n attitude wrong.
- 47. livion cent Ob n the re terface i ds! r in The use s of car have lot movie rface user inte hey are the movie t ollywood viously believe H age is b igners o er, whilst the im ysical des ph wev ea of big ure. Ho fut k the id iful I thin ent the beaut t repres ed on. m ay no re head y we a ny screens trajector s not utilise ma ogy oe t technol terface d rtainly does no er in The us use d it ce nses an t how we of our se hem to augmen dt combine . ion informat
- 48. micro-macro perspective acro micro-m adopt a need to We tive. perspec s that aching u cros is te aesthetic ortant and a mi Neuro tomic g is imp oth the a everythin tice considers b an be r ac at c macro p f the design th r om an nts o design f eleme s , t he as well a erspective. , reduced ological) p ec holistic ( erefore rs and th ered. m at t e erything ould be consid Ev g sh verythin e
- 49. beauty/style/aesthetic atever ics - wh esthet ll very , style, a beauty ey ar e a So know th all it we we c t. importan than ch more ty in all mu eauty is e aspire to beau , to Yet b W ture architec arance. appe we s from rounds u .well everything 't just sur that cts.. W e don n, produ hio eaning. fas ty is m n. Beau eel it. desig we f beauty, see the likely thing is l some beautifu re The mo re it! e to sha we ar
- 50. Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it. thing in every eauty ius. ee the b eed to s f Confuc We n dom o d the wis and hee Confucius
- 51. Thank you for your attention
Editor's Notes
- Hi! I’m Simon from Nomensa. This is my presentation Neuroaesthetics: how beauty drives engagement from Linkdex Think Tank ‘The psychology of sharing’ November 2013. I’ve added my notes to each of the slides. Any questions, please contact me @simon_norris. Why do we share? What makes one thing engaging and another disengaging? Why do we prefer some things over others? How do our preferences work? To understand the processes that underlie preferences we need to dive into the psychology and neurobiology of beauty. So, what is beauty? And, why is beauty so important? How does it work? What can we learn from understanding beauty? More importantly by understanding it we can design better experiences that feel more engaging. Experiences that feel more meaningful. Experiences we want to share.
- Jan Vermeer painting A girl with pearl earring c.1665 What does her look mean? It can mean many things, yet it is intriguing and therefore engaging. Obviously, great content can be highly engaging. But, how do you know you've got great content? And, great content is only half of the equation because you need to distribute it and get other people to do the same. However, great content helps a lot!
- Aphrodite of Milos or the Venus de Milo, is one of the most famous works of ancient Greek sculpture and is currently on permanent display at the Louvre Museum in Paris. We have been creating works of art for thousands of years.
- David is a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture created between 1501 and 1504, by the Italian artist Michelangelo.
- Claude Monet’s Impression Sunrise c. 1872 The name of the picture contains the name of the art movement ‘impressionist’ in the title even though it was heavily criticised at the time.
- Impression Sunrise in black and white. Whilst the sun was the brightest object in the sky in the previous slide it is hardly distinguishable when the colour is removed. The sun should always be brighter than the sky if painting in a representational style. Obviously, Monet knew how to paint the sun so it would shimmer in the picture and therefore by breaking the purely representational style creates something totally new and different: the impressionist art movement.
- So, Neuroaesthetics: how beauty drives engagement. Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy concerned with art, beauty and taste and has been discussed for thousands of years since the time of Plato. It is obviously pretty important! David Hume a British empiricist in the 18th century argued that beauty does not exist in things but the minds that contemplate them. Does the property for aesthetic preference exist in all human brains? This presentation will provide a quick tour of the domain of Neuroaesthetics and therefore start by looking at the brain, its function and how insights from this domain can be applied to design. But firstly, a definition...
- Neuroaesthetics definition by Skov & Vartanian which focuses on art perception and experience. It raises an interesting question…..
- Does neuroaesthetics play a role in non-art objects? We don’t just respond to art but we also respond to non-art. Let’s look at a range of non-art objects that have aesthetic appeal.
- Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao designed by architect Frank Gehry and opened in 1997. The curves and unusual geometry make this building interesting and aesthetically appealing.
- Zaha Hadid designed the Innovation Tower for the Hong Kong Polytechnic University which was completed in 2013. Like the Guggenheim it is unusual and aesthetically interesting.
- From exteriors to the interiors of buildings. The Amagerbro Metro Station in Copenhagen is a beautiful image showing the fabulous lighting and geometry of the space.
- From the things we build to things built by nature. The image of Mount Fuji reflected in Lake Yamanaka is a great natural example of symmetry showing the snow capped mountain rising above the town. Human beings are surrounded by many examples of symmetry within nature. Is it no wonder we have a strong preference for symmetrical objects?
- Tigers like many animals within the animal kingdom are considered beautiful. This image showing the tiger staring straight at us reveals its amazing eye colour and the pattern of its stripes. It’s an enigmatic image. For everyone who likes cats :)
- When we look out into the cosmos there are a great many objects of beauty. Our star the Sun may look a little scary here but it is still beautiful.
- Our own Mother Earth showing an image of our planet only observable twice a year, during an Equinox.
- To our own galaxy the Milky Way showing Orion Nebula and Orion’s belt The cosmos is beautiful.
- Even the things we make can be beautiful. Smeg’s retro-style refrigerators with their curves and simple design have aesthetic appeal.
- To a much smaller product designed with aesthetic appeal. In fact, its beautiful design is considered one of its major features and has catapulted Apple’s iPhone (version 5) to one the top profit generating company’s in the world. Aesthetics can make or break a product!
- Even websites can be considered aesthetic. The Nominet website is responsive and could be considered as an example of a website with aesthetic appeal. The responsive design approach could also be considered an aesthetic preference. In other words, we are developing preferences for websites that are responsive and the more aesthetically pleasing they are, as well as, responsive, the better the user experience. So, aesthetics can be commercially beneficial.
- We also like abstract patterns. We want to make sense of them. There are many things in our lives both natural and designed that have aesthetic appeal.
- What drives aesthetics?
- So, if beauty is not in the eye but in the brain. That brings us onto another important question. What is the function of the brain?
- I appreciate that there can be many different definitions for the brain and what it does. That said, I find the definition by Zeki to be particularity poignant.
- Simir Zeki is Professor of Neuroaesthetics at the University College of London and founded the Institute of Neuroaesthetics in 2001 at Berkeley, California. Zeki is known among other things for the discovery of the many visual areas of the brain and their functional specialisation for different visual attributes such as colour, motion and form. For example discovering neurones in a part of the monkey visual system that would respond only when a particular colour, rather than a particular wavelength, was in their receptive fields. For example, he showed that a red-sensitive neuron would continue to respond to a red stimulus, even when it was illuminated mainly by green light. This was important because it was the first study relating colour perception to single cell physiology in the brain. This is really interesting and maybe even a little controversial because it challenges the orthodox view that processing sites in the visual brain are separate from perceptual sites but in fact, that processing sites can also be perceptual sites. An idea Zeki calls Micro-consciousness!
- An MRI scanner. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (NMRI), or magnetic resonance tomography (MRT) is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to visualise internal structures of the body in detail. MRI makes use of the property of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to image nuclei of atoms inside the body. MRI can create more detailed images of the human body than are possible with X-rays.
- The image shows the topography of the primary visual cortex and surrounding areas. This type of image is a typical output of the brain shown in sagittal view (A and B) with a close-up on the visual areas (V1, V2, V3, VP, V3A and V4V) . It is important to note that there is no single area where all specialised visual circuitry connects and therefore no single neural centre exists and it is more likely to be a neural network.
- What is interesting about the brain and specifically the cortex is its 6 layer formation. The same anatomical structure can have profoundly different functions. It is very hard to tell by anatomical analysis the difference between the areas for touch, smell or hearing. Compare this to other areas of the body where the differences can be obvious even by the untrained observer looking at the anatomical structures of the retina or the cochlea. The 6 layers are composed of two cell types.
- The architecture of the cerebral cortex is composed of a few cellular types, namely Pyramidal or pyramid cells (a) and Stellate or star cells (b). The image shows a detailed view of Pyramidal or pyramid cells (a) and Stellate or star cells (b). Interestingly V1 in the Visual Cortex has no star cells!
- I mentioned earlier the term ‘brain concept’ but what are a brain concepts?
- Zeki describes “...two kinds [brain concepts], inherited and acquired. The two kinds are intimately linked and one could not exist without the other.”
- The inherited concepts organising the signals that come into the brain so as to instill meaning into them and thus make sense of them. The acquired concepts are generated throughout life by the brain, and make it significantly independent of the continual change in the information reaching the brain; they make it easier for us to perceive and recognise and thus obtain knowledge of things and situations. A good example of an inherited brain concept is the perception or seeing of colour. A person with a normal brain cannot control or ignore the colour they see. We have cells in our Primary Visual Cortex that are orientation-selective e.g. cells that only respond to straight lines. So horizontal orientation-selective cells will not respond to a vertical stimulus. Zeki’s consider this brain ability of cells to fire for specific stimuli to represent the neural building blocks of form perception. Zeki also considers it a form of micro-consciousness that operates below normal cognitive operation.
- Zeki outlines other important functions of the brain, namely, perceptual constancy and abstraction. Perceptual constancy allows us to maintain visual stimuli when variables such as distance, viewing angle and illumination change. In other words the brain maintains an object’s ‘constancy’ e.g. a banana or a face will remain intact regardless of light, angle or distance. The brain is acting with efficiency and reducing the amount of information that needs to be remembered or recalled to recognise a face or a banana in changing conditions. It has been argued that art exposes this constancy because it allows us to capture the essence of an object. Constancy represents a primordial function of the visual brain.
- Abstraction Abstraction is different to constancy and requires hierarchical neural coordination. Therefore, general representation can be applied to many particulars. So in the case of art it externalises the functions of abstraction in the brain. However, the actual processes involved with abstraction are currently unknown to cognitive neurobiology.
- The quote by Zeki indicates the limitations of memory and how abstraction operates to allow the brain to behave efficiently within the need for storing and recalling every detail. Memory is reconstructed after all.
- Like abstraction and constancy, ambiguity can be considered a fundamental brain behaviour that can operate at different levels. Let’s look at a definition for ambiguity.
- ...a neurobiologically based definition of ambiguity is the opposite of the dictionary definition; it is not uncertainty, but certainty - the certainty of many, equally plausible interpretations, each one of which is sovereign when it occupies the conscious stage.” Essentially, the brain is very good at producing many different interpretations.
- A classic ambiguous object is the Necker cube. A visual illusion discovered in 1832 by the Swiss crystallographer L. A. Necker whilst observing crystal he noticed changes in the depth of the crystals, yet, the crystals were not changing. It presents an great example of a physically unvarying stimulus and how our brains produce 3 possible interpretations which all are equally valid.
- The Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci c.1517 What does her smile mean? It could mean a great many things and has been described as enigmatic. It certainly will have more than one interpretation.
- So, what insights can we use from neuroaesthetics? Three areas to explore: - Patterns and pleasure; - Mental Models; - Cards.
- A great image from Iron Man 3 film showing Aldrich Killian showing his brain to Pepper Pots.
- We have long known about the role of the limbic system in the perception of pleasure. We could consider aesthetic perception as the processing of the visual centres in the brain such as V1 in the visual cortex We also know that the brain processes patterns in its continual quest for knowledge. We also know that the more quickly and more accurately we can represent a pattern the more enjoyable it is, e.g. we recognise the face of a mother, father or child more quickly. Patterns that are ambiguous will increase the number of interpretations we generate. The more interpretations the more information we need to process as well as the potential uncertainty we feel. Patterns include: - visual layouts, such as pages, and therefore a pages overall symmetry; - elements within visual layouts (recognition of detail e.g. a specific feature or function such as the carousel); - the flow or interaction between pages. All these elements have an aesthetic that needs to be considered when designing them. The aesthetic is not just the colour or arrangement, and it is also more than the total combined elements. Aesthetics have a Gestalt-like effect.
- Maybe brain concepts are the building blocks of mental models? We could be synthesising both acquired and inherited brain concepts into mental models. Understanding the link could help us to design better systems, objects and experience because we can assure greater alignment of the design properties to reflect not just our mental models but how they are constructed by the brain.
- Another design pattern that is emerging in the digital world is the use of cards to present and control the flow of information. All the major digital players are adopting cards and I believe one of the benefits of using cards is that they embrace future-friendly thinking. We have mental models for using cards. This means cards can naturally support responsive design and the fashionable flat design aesthetic. Cards are not new and have used to present information over along period of time e.g. Top Trumps. Let’s look at two twitter examples of cards.
- The iPhone and iPad version of twitter showing the discovery option. You can see how the information is compartmentalised and works very well on devices with smaller screens than desktop or laptop computers.
- I think designing using Neuroaesthetics insights and understanding requires a much broader more holistic approach. It requires a polymorphous design thinking attitude - no single perspective is right or wrong.
- The user interfaces in the recent Oblivion movie have lot’s of cards! Hollywood movie user interface designers obviously believe they are the future. However, whilst the image is beautiful I think the idea of big physical screens may not represent the technology trajectory we are headed on. The user interface does not utilise many of our senses and it certainly does not combined them to augment how we use information.
- We need to adopt a micro-macro perspective. Neuroaesthetics is teaching us that everything is important and a micro-macro practice considers both the atomic elements of the design that can be reduced, as well as, the design from an holistic (ecological) perspective. Everything matters and therefore everything should be considered.
- So beauty, style, aesthetics - whatever we call it we know they are all very important. Yet beauty is much more than appearance. We aspire to beauty in all that surrounds us from architecture, to fashion, products...well everything we design. Beauty is meaning. We don't just see beauty, we feel it. The more beautiful something is the likely we are to share it!
- We need to see the beauty in everything and heed the wisdom of Confucius.
- Thank You.