CEREBRAL BLOOD FLOW CHANGES IN PREFRONTAL CORTEX DURING THE PROCESS OF LANDSCAPE EVALUATION: A NIRS STUDY

Abstract

 This study focuses on the evaluation process of landscape based on the theory of emotion by using Near-Infrared Spectroscopy. The aim of this study is to show the trend of cerebral blood flow (CBF) changes corresponding to pleasant and unpleasant emotion in prefrontal cortex during viewing landscape pictures, and to find the temporal correlation between CBF changes and landscape evaluation using semantic differential method. Results showed (1) pleasant pictures led to a decrease of oxygenated hemoglobin concentration in the late phase of presentation, while unpleasant pictures led to an increase in the early and middle phase, (2) the concentration changes mainly correlated with the evaluation score of “orderly/open/lively” in the early phase, while “orderly/clean/beautiful/soft/warm/historic” in the middle and late phase. These findings suggest landscape pictures also induce CBF changes corresponding to each emotion, and CBF changes occur in relation to arousal or activity, valence or evaluation, and other emotional traits in this order.