Visual Underpinnings of Body Aesthetics: A TMS Study

The 'Dual route model' for visual body processing suggests that occipital-lateral cortex and premotor cortex may have complementary influences on body perception. In particular, while the Extrastriate body area (EBA) may be involved in body form processing, premotor cortex (PMC) is necessary in body action processing. Here, we applied rTMS over bilateral EBA and PMC to investigate the neural mechanisms of esthetic of body perception. Female and male healthy volunteers were required to express VAS judgments of how much they liked virtual model bodies that varied either in body size and implied motion. After a 500-ms fixation cross, the stimuli were presented for 150 ms at the center of the screen and were followed by a mask for 500 ms and, finally, by the 100 mm VAS scale. Five 10 Hz rTMS pulses were delivered after 150 ms from stimulus onset. The analysis on the esthetic liking VAS revealed specific effects of EBAvs. dPMC-rTMS according to the size and posture of the bodies. While, rTMS over right EBA specifically decreased the liking judgments of fat models, stimulation of left EBA decreased the liking judgments of slim dynamic models. Importantly, only the left PMC, but not the left EBA, decreased the judgments of slim static bodies. Our results provide evidence of lateralization effects for the positive vs. negative evaluation of the body of conspecifics. Crucially, both EBA and PMC seem to play a complementary role in esthetic processing and their individual contributions influence the final esthetic judgment

“I Feel like I Am in That Place and I Would like to See More”: Aesthetic and Embodiment Components of Tourist Destination Image

Photographs of places are cognitive sources that provide the observer with a first, essential impression of a potential tourist destination, before the observer visits that place. Recent evidence suggests that aesthetic qualities of a tourist destination may affect tourists’ experience and satisfaction, contributing to their loyalty toward a destination and intention to return. Drawing upon the literature on sensorimotor processes of aesthetic experience of arts, here, we investigated whether embodiment and aesthetic qualities of landscape photos might play a role in people’s aesthetic preference and willingness to visit a tourist destination. One-hundred twenty-one participants (Mage = 22.17, SD = 6.25) completed an online survey, which asked to evaluate a series of landscapes according to subjective ratings of presence, exploration, and completion, that is the intention to explore beyond the represented place (embodiment dimensions), as well as of symmetry. Furthermore, participants rated how much they liked each destination (Liking) and how much they would like to visit that place (Tourist judgment). Convolutional neural networks (CNN) of image features (Symmetry, Variance and Self-similarity) were also analyzed to rule out the effects of these features on the 2 types of judgment. Results showed that embodiment components predicted both Liking and Tourist judgements. In contrast, neither subjective Symmetry nor CNN measures predicted any of the 2 Liking and Tourist judgements. Overall, our findings support a novel theoretical framework of tourist aesthetic judgment, whereby sensorimotor mechanisms might play a role in tourist destination choice

Sensibiliser à l'interculturel. Proposition d'un projet annuel pour la quatrième année du Secondaire : "La diversité nous unit"

El trabajo trata del enfoque multicultural en el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje del francés, proponiendo un proyecto anual para una clase de 4° ESO que valorice la diversidad lingüística y cultural presente hoy en día en nuestras aulas

The ageing body: contributing attitudinal factors towards perceptual body size estimates in younger and middle-aged women

Over-estimation of body size, a core feature of eating disorders (EDs), has been well-documented both in young healthy and ED individuals. Yet, evidence that altered body perception might also affect older women is limited. Here, we examined whether attitudinal components of body image (i.e. the feelings an individual has about their body size and shape) might affect perceived actual and ideal body shape self-estimates in midlife, similarly to younger women. Thirty-two younger (mean age, 24.22 years) and 33 middle-aged (mean age, 53.79 years) women took part to a computerized body perception assessment of perceived, actual and ideal aspects of body image. Body mass index (BMI), societal and interpersonal aspects of appearance ideals, measured by means of Sociocultural Attitudes towards Appearance Questionnaire (SATAQ-4), and assessment of body uneasiness and concerns for specific body parts, measured by Body Uneasiness Test (BUT-A/B) scales, were also investigated. Younger and middle-aged women with larger BMI showed greater discrepancy in perceptual distortions from their perceived actual body size. However, middle-aged women with greater body part concerns overestimated their perceived body size, as opposed to younger women who were almost accurate. Unlike middle-aged women, younger women with higher body part concerns desired slimmer ideal body image than their perceived actual. Results suggest that distortions in the perceived actual and ideal body size self-estimates of younger and middle-aged women are best explained by a combination of BMI, body part concerns and the particular age group to which a participant belonged. In the future, a personalized approach for the assessment of women’s perceptions and concerns of specific body areas during lifespan should be adopted

The importance of perceptual experience in the esthetic appreciation of the body.

Several studies suggest that sociocultural models conveying extreme thinness as the widespread ideal of beauty exert an important influence on the perceptual and emotional representation of body image. The psychological mechanisms underlying such environmental influences, however, are unclear. Here, we utilized a perceptual adaptation paradigm to investigate how perceptual experience modulates body esthetic appreciation. We found that the liking judgments of round bodies increased or decreased after brief exposure to round or thin bodies, respectively. No change occurred in the liking judgments of thin bodies. The results suggest that perceptual experience may shape our esthetic appreciation to favor more familiar round body figures. Importantly, individuals with more deficits in interoceptive awareness were less prone to increase their liking ratings of round bodies after exposure, suggesting a specific risk factor for the susceptibility to the influence of the extreme thin vs. round body ideals of beauty portrayed by the media

Gender differences in visuospatial planning: an eye movements study.

Gender studies report a male advantage in several visuospatial abilities. Only few studies however, have evaluated differences in visuospatial planning behaviour with regard to gender. This study was aimed at exploring whether gender may affect the choice of cognitive strategies in a visuospatial planning task and, if oculomotor measures could assist in disentangling the cognitive processes involved. A computerised task based on the travelling salesperson problem paradigm, the Maps test, was used to investigate these issues. Participants were required to optimise time and space of a path travelling among a set of sub-goals in a spatially constrained environment. Behavioural results suggest that there are no gender differences in the initial visual processing of the stimuli, but rather during the execution of the plan, with males showing a shorter execution time and a higher path length optimisation than females. Males often showed changes of heuristics during the execution while females seemed to prefer a constant strategy. Moreover, a better performance in behavioural and oculomotor measures seemed to suggest that males are more able than females in either the optimisation of spatial features or the realisation of the planned scheme. Despite inconclusive findings, the results support previous research and provide insight into the level of cognitive processing involved in navigation and planning tasks, with regard to the influence of gender

Follow My Eyes: The Gaze of Politicians Reflexively Captures the Gaze of Ingroup Voters

Studies in human and non-human primates indicate that basic socio-cognitive operations are inherently linked to the power of gaze in capturing reflexively the attention of an observer. Although monkey studies indicate that the automatic tendency to follow the gaze of a conspecific is modulated by the leader-follower social status, evidence for such effects in humans is meager. Here, we used a gaze following paradigm where the directional gaze of right- or left-wing Italian political characters could influence the oculomotor behavior of ingroup or outgroup voters. We show that the gaze of Berlusconi, the right-wing leader currently dominating the Italian political landscape, potentiates and inhibits gaze following behavior in ingroup and outgroup voters, respectively. Importantly, the higher the perceived similarity in personality traits between voters and Berlusconi, the stronger the gaze interference effect. Thus, higher-order social variables such as political leadership and affiliation prepotently affect reflexive shifts of attention

Circulating hematopoietic stem cells and putative intestinal stem cells in coeliac disease

Background: The intestinal stem cells (ISC) modulation and the role of circulating hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) in coeliac disease (CD) are poorly understood. Our aim was to investigate the longitudinal modifications in peripheral blood HSC traffic and putative ISC density induced by gluten-free diet (GFD) in CD. Methods: Thirty-one CD patients and 7 controls were enrolled. Circulating CD133+ and CD34+ HSC were measured by flow cytometry, at enrolment and after 7 days and 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 months of GFD. Endoscopy was performed at diagnosis and repeated at 6, 12, and 24 months following GFD. We used the Marsh-Oberhuber score to evaluate the histological severity of duodenal damage; immunohistochemistry was employed to measure the intraepithelial lymphoid infiltrate (IEL, CD3+ lymphoid cells) and the putative ISC compartment (CD133+ and Lgr5+ epithelial cells). Results: At enrolment, circulating HSCs were significantly increased in CD patients and they further augmented during the first week of GFD, but progressively decreased afterwards. CD patients presented with villous atrophy, abundant IEL and rare ISC residing at the crypt base. Upon GFD, IEL progressively decreased, while ISC density increased, peaking at 12 months. After 24 months of GFD, all patients were asymptomatic and their duodenal mucosa was macroscopically and histologically normal. Conclusions: In active CD patients, the ISC niche is depleted and there is an increased traffic of circulating HSC versus non-coeliac subjects. GFD induces a precocious mobilization of circulating HSC, which is followed by the expansion of the local ISC compartment, leading to mucosal healing and clinical remission