In this study, we use separate eye-tracking measurements and functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the neuronal and behavioral response to painted portraits with direct versus averted gaze. We further explored modulatory effects of several painting characteristics (premodern vs modern period, influence of style and pictorial context). In the fMRI experiment, we show that the direct versus averted gaze elicited increased activation in lingual and inferior occipital and the fusiform face area, as well as in several areas involved in attentional and social cognitive processes, especially the theory of mind: angular gyrus/temporo-parietal junction, inferior frontal gyrus and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. The additional eye-tracking experiment showed that participants spent more time viewing the portrait's eyes and mouth when the portrait's gaze was directed towards the observer. These results suggest that static and, in some cases, highly stylized depictions of human beings in artistic portraits elicit brain activation commensurate with the experience of being observed by a watchful intelligent being. They thus involve observers in implicit inferences of the painted subject's mental states and emotions. We further confirm the substantial influence of representational medium on brain activity.

• Klíčová slova
• Artistic portraits, Averted gaze, Direct gaze, Eye-tracking, Perception, fMRI,
• MeSH
• dospělí MeSH
• emoce fyziologie   MeSH
• lidé středního věku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• magnetická rezonanční tomografie MeSH
• malířství * MeSH
• mapování mozku MeSH
• mladý dospělý MeSH
• mozek diagnostické zobrazování   fyziologie   MeSH
• oční fixace fyziologie   MeSH
• pohyby očí fyziologie   MeSH
• pozornost fyziologie   MeSH
• sociální percepce * MeSH
• Check Tag
• dospělí MeSH
• lidé středního věku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mladý dospělý MeSH
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH

Incomprehension of and resistance to contemporaneous art have been constant features in the development of modern art. The predictive coding framework can be used to analyse this response by outlining the difference between the misunderstanding of (i) contemporary conceptual/minimalist art and (ii) early modern avant-garde art and by elucidating their underlying cognitive mechanisms. In both of these cases, incomprehension and its behavioural consequences are tied to the failure of the optimal prediction error (PE) minimization that is involved in the perception of such art works. In the case of contemporary conceptual/minimalist art the failure stems from the fact that the encounter results in non-salient visual sensations and generates no PE. In early modern avant-garde art, the occasional inability of viewers to recognize pictorial content using new pictorial conventions reflected the absence of suitable priors to explain away ambiguous sensory data. The capacity to recognize pictorial content in modernist painting, as a prerequisite for a satisfying encounter with such works and ultimately a wider acceptance of new artistic styles, required an updating of a number of expectations in order to optimize the fit between priors and sensations, from low-level perceptual priors to the development of higher-level, culturally determined expectations. This article is part of the theme issue 'Art, aesthetics and predictive processing: theoretical and empirical perspectives'.

• Klíčová slova
• contemporary art, hyperprior, incomprehension, modern art, predictive coding, recognition,
• MeSH
• čití, cítění MeSH
• mozek MeSH
• umění * MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH