Expertise and aesthetic preference for traditional ornament: A behavioural and fNIRS study on honeysuckle patterns...

The Yungang Grottoes Honeysuckle pattern (YGHP) has significant aesthetic value and cultural connotations as a typical representative of traditional Chinese plant ornament patterns. This study combines behavioural data with functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) technology to explore participants' aesthetic preferences for the YGHP and the neural processing mechanisms underlying these preferences, focusing on the influence of expertise level on aesthetic judgments. Forty-eight participants (including expert and laypeople groups) were recruited to aesthetically rate 58 YGHPs (29 high-scoring YGHPs and 29 low-scoring YGHPs). Scoring values and reaction times (RTs) were recorded, along with changes in oxygenated hemoglobin (ΔHbO) concentrations in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and temporoparietal junction (TPJ) region. Behavioural results indicated significantly higher scores and shorter RTs for high-scoring YGHPs than low-scoring YGHPs. The expert group displayed greater scoring consistency and quicker RTs. Participants' order of preference for the types of YGHP was single-column, annular, individual, and wavy. fNIRS results revealed that the expert group exhibited markedly higher activation levels in the PFC and TPJ regions than the laypeople group, suggesting it engaged in more advanced cognitive processing during aesthetic judgments. This study illustrates that the visual features of the patterns influence aesthetic preference for YGHPs. The level of expertise regulates behavioural performance and neural activation patterns in aesthetic judgments, providing neuroaesthetic insights into the aesthetic processing of traditional patterns and empirical support for cultural heritage design applications.