The effects of narrative structure and semantic cues on aesthetic judgments of Dunhuang murals: A study based on fNIRS.

Dunhuang murals are a significant cultural heritage of traditional Chinese culture, which have different narrative structures due to the influence of the spatial constraints of the cave interiors.How does narrative structure influence people's aesthetic judgments of Dunhuang murals?We have explored it from the perspective of aesthetic psychology.This study explores how narrative structure and semantic cues influence aesthetic responses and neural activation during the appreciation of story paintings through two experiments.Experiment 1 used a 2 (narrative structure: forward vs. backward) 3 2 (cue type: cued vs. uncued) design and found that narrative structure significantly affected aesthetic comprehension and liking, with forward paintings eliciting higher scores and faster reaction times.Neural activation, measured by functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), showed that narrative structure influenced activation in the frontopolar cortex, whereas semantic cues impacted activation in the premotor and supplementary motor area (M2).Experiment 2 further controlled the presentation duration of the paintings and examined the temporal impact of narrative structure and semantic cues on brain activation in the prefrontal cortex.Results from Experiment 2 confirmed the findings from Experiment 1, highlighting the critical roles of narrative structure and semantic cues in shaping aesthetic responses and neural activation during story painting appreciation.The study concludes that both narrative coherence and semantic guidance are essential for optimizing aesthetic experiences and cognitive processing of visual narratives.