Is this car looking at you?
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Is this car looking at you? How anthropomorphism predicts fusiform face area activation when seeing cars. / Kühn, Simone; Brick, Timothy R; Müller, Barbara C N; Gallinat, Jürgen.
in: PLOS ONE, Jahrgang 9, Nr. 12, 2014, S. e113885.Publikationen: SCORING: Beitrag in Fachzeitschrift/Zeitung › SCORING: Zeitschriftenaufsatz › Forschung › Begutachtung
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Is this car looking at you?
T2 - How anthropomorphism predicts fusiform face area activation when seeing cars
AU - Kühn, Simone
AU - Brick, Timothy R
AU - Müller, Barbara C N
AU - Gallinat, Jürgen
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - Anthropomorphism encompasses the attribution of human characteristics to non-living objects. In particular the human tendency to see faces in cars has long been noticed, yet its neural correlates are unknown. We set out to investigate whether the fusiform face area (FFA) is associated with seeing human features in car fronts, or whether, the higher-level theory of mind network (ToM), namely temporoparietal junction (TPJ) and medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) show a link to anthropomorphism. Twenty participants underwent fMRI scanning during a passive car-front viewing task. We extracted brain activity from FFA, TPJ and MPFC. After the fMRI session participants were asked to spontaneously list adjectives that characterize each car front. Five raters judged the degree to which each adjective can be applied as a characteristic of human beings. By means of linear mixed models we found that the implicit tendency to anthropomorphize individual car fronts predicts FFA, but not TPJ or MPFC activity. The results point to an important role of FFA in the phenomenon of ascribing human attributes to non-living objects. Interestingly, brain regions that have been associated with thinking about beliefs and mental states of others (TPJ, MPFC) do not seem to be related to anthropomorphism of car fronts.
AB - Anthropomorphism encompasses the attribution of human characteristics to non-living objects. In particular the human tendency to see faces in cars has long been noticed, yet its neural correlates are unknown. We set out to investigate whether the fusiform face area (FFA) is associated with seeing human features in car fronts, or whether, the higher-level theory of mind network (ToM), namely temporoparietal junction (TPJ) and medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) show a link to anthropomorphism. Twenty participants underwent fMRI scanning during a passive car-front viewing task. We extracted brain activity from FFA, TPJ and MPFC. After the fMRI session participants were asked to spontaneously list adjectives that characterize each car front. Five raters judged the degree to which each adjective can be applied as a characteristic of human beings. By means of linear mixed models we found that the implicit tendency to anthropomorphize individual car fronts predicts FFA, but not TPJ or MPFC activity. The results point to an important role of FFA in the phenomenon of ascribing human attributes to non-living objects. Interestingly, brain regions that have been associated with thinking about beliefs and mental states of others (TPJ, MPFC) do not seem to be related to anthropomorphism of car fronts.
KW - Adult
KW - Automobiles
KW - Brain
KW - Brain Mapping
KW - Face
KW - Female
KW - Humans
KW - Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
KW - Magnetic Resonance Imaging
KW - Male
KW - Theory of Mind
KW - Visual Perception
KW - Young Adult
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0113885
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0113885
M3 - SCORING: Journal article
C2 - 25517511
VL - 9
SP - e113885
JO - PLOS ONE
JF - PLOS ONE
SN - 1932-6203
IS - 12
ER -
