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Same brain region responds to beauty, ugliness

Humans use the same brain region, and very possibly the same cells, to perceive both beauty and ugliness, scientists report after one of the first functional MRI studies examining beauty's effects on the brain. 

The findings suggest cells in the orbitofrontal cortex -- an area toward the front of the brain, associated with advanced human thinking -- fire more strongly for things considered beautiful than those seen as ugly, the researchers add. According to the researchers, who are with University College London, it seems the brain distinguishes pretty from ugly by the strength of this firing. This doesn't answer the question, they acknowledged, of how the brain judges which is which in the first place.

The researchers also found perceived beauty and ugliness stimulate the motor cortex, traditionally associated with physical movements. Why this might be is unknown, they add, but it's possibly because both attractive and ugly things tend to stimulate a physical response -- an approach in the former case, and avoidance in the latter. Interestingly, this brain response tended to be stronger for ugly things.

The findings are published in the April issue of the research publication, the Journal of Neurophysiology.

—EJL