Combined fMRI and eye-tracking evidence on the neural processing of visual ambiguity in photographic aesthetics.

ABSTRACT: While visual ambiguity is known to play a central role in modern art, the neural correlates of its processing remain substantially unexplored in the case of aesthetic stimuli. To fill this gap, we combined eye-tracking and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate both visual exploration, and the associated brain activity and connectivity, when observing (WO) or evaluating (WE) either ambiguous (AMB+) or non-ambiguous (AMB-) artistic photographic stimuli. These manipulations highlighted more fixations (suggestive of higher loading on exploratory processes) when evaluating compared with observing, and stronger right fronto-parietal and occipito-temporal activity (possibly supporting the resolution of visual ambiguity through attentional reorienting to global vs. local aspe

SUBMITTER: Arioli M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12000333 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature