Sex-related similarities and differences in the neural correlates of beauty

Abstract

The capacity to appreciate beauty is one of our species' most remarkable traits. Although knowledge about its neural correlates is growing, little is known about any gender-related differences. We have explored possible differences between men and women's neural correlates of aesthetic preference. We have used magnetoencephalography to record the brain activity of 10 male and 10 female participants while they decided whether or not they considered examples of artistic and natural visual stimuli to be beautiful. Our results reveal significantly different activity between the sexes in parietal regions when participants judged the stimuli as beautiful. Activity in this region was bilateral in women, whereas it was lateralized to the right hemisphere in men. It is known that the dorsal visual processing stream, which encompasses the superior parietal areas, has been significantly modified throughout human evolution. We posit that the observed gender-related differences are the result of evolutionary processes that occurred after the splitting of the human and chimpanzee lineages. In view of previous results on gender differences with respect to the neural correlates of coordinate and categorical spatial strategies, we infer that the different strategies used by men and women in assessing aesthetic preference may reflect differences in the strategies associated with the division of labor between our male and female hunter-gatherer hominin ancestors.

Fig. 1.

Two examples of the stimuli used in the experiment. (Left) “Paisaje de Capri” (1878), painting by Francisco Pradilla y Ortiz, printed with permission from the Museo Nacional del Prado (Madrid, Spain) Archivo fotográfico. (Right) Photograph of an urban landscape.

Fig. 2.

Brain areas in which activity is significantly greater (P < 0.001) for stimuli rated as beautiful rather than not beautiful by women and men during different time intervals. The time window between 300 and 400 ms showed left superior (SPL) and inferior parietal lobe (IPL) in women and right inferior motor area (IMA) in men. The time window 400–500 ms showed bilaterally SPL and IPL in women and right SPL and IMA in men. A 500–600-ms time window showed right IPL in women and right SPL and IPL in men. The time window 600- to 700 ms showed left and right IPL in women and right SPL and IPL in men. In the time window between 800 and 900 ms, differences were concentrated on the right IPL in women and right motor area in men.

Fig. 3.

Brain areas in which activity is significantly greater (P < 0.001) for stimuli rated as beautiful rather than not beautiful by all participants during different time intervals. The time window 300–400 ms showed superior parietal lobe (SPL) bilaterally and left inferior parietal lobe (IPL). The time window 400–500 ms again showed SPL and IPL bilaterally and in addition right inferior motor area (IMA). The time window 500–600 ms showed right SPL and right IPL. The time window 600–700 ms showed right SPL, IPL bilaterally and left mid frontal gyrus. The time window 700–800 ms showed right IPL and 800–900-ms right IPL.