默认模式网络（DMN）在审美判断中的作用
Visual aesthetic evaluations, which impact decision-making and well-being, recruit the ventral visual pathway, subcortical reward circuitry, and parts of the medial prefrontal cortex overlapping with the default-mode network (DMN). However, it is unknown whether these networks represent aesthetic appeal in a domain-general fashion, independent of domain-specific representations of stimulus content (artworks versus architecture or natural landscapes). Using a classification approach, we tested whether the DMN or ventral occipitotemporal cortex (VOT) contains a domain-general representation of aesthetic appeal. Classifiers were trained on multivoxel functional MRI response patterns collected while observers made aesthetic judgments about images from one aesthetic domain. Classifier performance (high vs. low aesthetic appeal) was then tested on response patterns from held-out trials from the same domain to derive a measure of domain-specific coding, or from a different domain to derive a measure of domain-general coding. Activity patterns in category-selective VOT contained a degree of domain-specific information about aesthetic appeal, but did not generalize across domains. Activity patterns from the DMN, however, were predictive of aesthetic appeal across domains. Importantly, the ability to predict aesthetic appeal varied systematically; predictions were better for observers who gave more extreme ratings to images subsequently labeled as “high” or “low.” These findings support a model of aesthetic appreciation whereby domain-specific representations of the content of visual experiences in VOT feed in to a “core” domain-general representation of visual aesthetic appeal in the DMN. Whole-brain “searchlight” analyses identified additional prefrontal regions containing information relevant for appreciation of cultural artifacts (artwork and architecture) but not landscapes.
视觉审美评价会影响决策和幸福感，它激活腹侧视觉通路、皮层下奖赏回路以及与默认模式网络（DMN）重叠的内侧前额叶皮层部分区域。然而，这些网络是否以领域通用的方式表征审美吸引力，而独立于刺激内容（例如艺术作品、建筑或自然景观）的领域特异性表征，目前尚不清楚。我们采用分类方法，检验DMN或腹侧枕颞皮层（VOT）是否包含审美吸引力的领域通用表征。我们使用多体素功能磁共振成像（fMRI）数据训练分类器，这些数据是在观察者对来自同一审美领域的图像进行审美判断时采集的。然后，我们使用来自同一领域或不同领域的保留试验数据（以得出领域特异性编码的指标）测试分类器的性能（高审美吸引力与低审美吸引力），以得出领域通用编码的指标。类别选择性VOT中的活动模式包含一定程度的关于审美吸引力的领域特异性信息，但无法跨领域泛化。然而，默认模式网络（DMN）的活动模式能够预测不同领域的审美吸引力。重要的是，预测审美吸引力的能力存在系统性差异；对于那些对随后被标记为“高”或“低”的图像给出更极端评价的观察者而言，预测效果更佳。这些发现支持一种审美欣赏模型，该模型认为视觉诱发区（VOT）中特定领域的视觉体验内容表征会输入到DMN中一个“核心”的、领域通用的视觉审美吸引力表征中。全脑“探照灯”分析还发现了其他前额叶区域，其中包含与文化制品（艺术品和建筑）欣赏相关的信息，但与风景无关。
查看原文https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1902650116
