Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the medial orbitofrontal cortex changes aesthetic evaluation

Abstract

Recent neuroaesthetic research has demonstrated that medial part of the orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC) includes fundamental neural processing of aesthetic evaluation. In this study, using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over mOFC, we examined the causal role of mOFC on aesthetic evaluation of abstract paintings. Cathodal tDCS over mOFC, which induces temporal inhibition of neural activities, reduced the experience of beauty, while the brain stimulation did not affect the experience of ugliness. Participants in the control group judged beauty faster than ugliness (beauty evaluation superiority). This superiority was not found in participants in the cathodal tDCS group after stimulation. Results from our experiment indicate that neural activities in mOFC underlie aesthetic evaluation and enable us to appraise beauty of paintings automatically.