Is Beauty Hardwired into Our Brains?


	Is Beauty Hardwired into Our Brains?

gardengirlinohio

11-21-2007 12:12 PM

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tags:

brain, perception of beauty

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://www.clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/91bb1a1e-4e6b-4278-b920-611d7b620df0/E58DF887-4AD4-412E-9F9D-FD61C022D4AC/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20071121/sc_livescience/senseofbeautypartlyinnatestudysuggests" href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20071121/sc_livescience/senseofbeautypartlyinnatestudysuggests" style="font-size: 11px;">news.yahoo.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20071121/sc_livescience/senseofbeautypartlyinnatestudysuggests"><P>The proportions of the statues themselves reflect "<A href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/livescience/sc_livescience/storytext/senseofbeautypartlyinnatestudysuggests/25288269/SIG=123stun2i/*http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/perfect_spirals_030917.html"><SPAN id="lw_1195656742_1" class="yshortcuts">the golden ratio</SPAN></A>," a mathematical figure known since ancient Greece that Renaissance artists often thought embodied ideal beauty. In nature, the golden ratio can be found in the way nautilus shells curve or how seeds spiral on strawberries. It describes hurricanes, galaxies and the flight pattern of a falcon on the hunt.
</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20071121/sc_livescience/senseofbeautypartlyinnatestudysuggests"><P>Specifically, the golden ratio is equal to roughly 1.618. It is unique in that its value is equal to the ratio of its integer part to its fractional part—that is, 1.618 is roughly equal to 1 divided by 0.618.
</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20071121/sc_livescience/senseofbeautypartlyinnatestudysuggests"><P>In art, the golden ratio has arguably been found in the <A href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/livescience/sc_livescience/storytext/senseofbeautypartlyinnatestudysuggests/25288269/SIG=11u573r3f/*http://www.livescience.com/history/060320_ruins_colored.html"><SPAN id="lw_1195656742_2" class="yshortcuts">Parthenon</SPAN></A> in <SPAN id="lw_1195656742_3" class="yshortcuts">Athens</SPAN>, the <A href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/livescience/sc_livescience/storytext/senseofbeautypartlyinnatestudysuggests/25288269/SIG=125aldo77/*http://www.livescience.com/history/070518_bts_barsoum_pyramids.html"><SPAN id="lw_1195656742_4" class="yshortcuts">Great Pyramid of Giza</SPAN></A> and the <A href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/livescience/sc_livescience/storytext/senseofbeautypartlyinnatestudysuggests/25288269/SIG=11qic4ajm/*http://www.livescience.com/history/071018-mona-lisa.html"><SPAN id="lw_1195656742_5" class="yshortcuts">Mona Lisa</SPAN></A>. 
</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20071121/sc_livescience/senseofbeautypartlyinnatestudysuggests"><P>Strong reactions
</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20071121/sc_livescience/senseofbeautypartlyinnatestudysuggests"><P>The proportions of the <A href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/livescience/sc_livescience/storytext/senseofbeautypartlyinnatestudysuggests/25288269/SIG=1n264n8a7/*http://www.livescience.com/php/multimedia/imagedisplay/img_display.php?pic=071121-rizzolatti-02.jpg&cap=Volunteers+with+no+background+in+art+theory+were+shown+an+original+image+of+a+sculpture%2C+Doryphoros+by+Polykleitos+%28center%29+as+well+as+distorted+versions+%28left+and+right%29.+The+original+obeys+the+golden+ratio%2C+a+mathematical+figure+often+found+in+nature+that+Renaissance+artists+thought+embodied+ideal+beauty.+The+original+activated+certain+sets+of+brain+cells+more+than+the+distorted+versions%2C+suggesting+the+brain+judges+beauty+by+at+least+partly+hard-wired+standards.+Credit:+Cinzia+Di+Dio+et+al.&title=Sense+of+Beauty+Partly+Innate%2C+Study+Suggests&title=Sense%20of%20Beauty%20Partly%20Innate,%20Study%20Suggests"><SPAN id="lw_1195656742_6" class="yshortcuts">sculptures in the study</SPAN></A> followed the golden ratio. And the original images of them strongly activated sets of brain cells that the distorted images did not—including the insula, a brain structure that mediates emotions.
</P></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/E58DF887-4AD4-412E-9F9D-FD61C022D4AC/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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