Review Article

A Review of EEG and fMRI Measuring Aesthetic Processing in Visual User Experience Research

Table 4

Brain impairment influence on aesthetic processing of UX and UI designs.

Impairment conditionInfluence on aesthetic appreciationInfluence on UX and UI designs

Stroke1. Change of the dominant hand to create artwork [115].
2. Negatively affects the emotions in response to the music if the insula was impaired [116].
1. Influences the user control hand behavior on user experience.
2. Interactive visual and audio art therapy may reduce the quality of user experience.
Visual agnosiaPatients cannot render the overall forms of the objects, but only some essential features. Impaired artists cannot draw from memory but rely on copying objects from the real world [116].Influences design affordance experience of UI design because of impaired visual memory.
Degenerative disease: Alzheimer’s disease1. Some patients have frontotemporal dementia (semantic dementia), which influences new interests in art. They paint some repetitive painting patterns [116].
2. Artists keep their original art preferences, the same they had when they were healthy [117].
3. A recent review found that patients with Alzheimer’s disease influence the clustering coefficient in the right occipital electrode, and the topology of the brain network is altered [118].
1. Influences the visual novelty experience on receiving new UX and UI designs.
2. Influences the results of complex networks and deep learning on connecting the EEG signal and visual elements’ classification results.
Epilepsy and migraineInfluence the variety of visual elements and inspiration [117].Influence the results of a variety of visual stimuli on the event-related potential.
Left temporal lobe resection because of epilepsyChanges in the preference for music, artworks, and literature [119].Influences the results of subjective evaluations or online questionnaire results.
Damage to the amygdala1. Higher liking for three-dimensional visual stimuli of geometrical shapes [120].
2. Easier recognition of music features in scary/sad music than in happy music [121].
The graphic design interface was affected because of preference for three-dimensional visual stimuli.
Posttraumatic disordersPatients find it difficult to achieve high accuracy because of the need to pay attention continuously [77].Influence high concentration research using event-related potential or fMRI.
The impairment of eye or brain visual systems1. The gaze-independent hybrid-BCI experiment is not quite effective [122].
2. It loses navigation or motion ability in a varying spatial environment, but it can help computer-aided design on environment research [123].
1. Possibly influences many research studies on aesthetic processing.
2. Influences the navigation research of UX or UI designs.
Lack of access from perceptual system such as specific musical anhedoniaReduces emotional pleasure from music and visual art. Affects the hedonic sensory system [57].Influences the perception step of aesthetic processing of UI design.
Motion sicknessMotion sickness influences BCI accuracy in virtual reality-based applications [47].Influences UX in virtual environment research studies.
Mental and visual fatigueMental fatigue negatively influences users’ affective experience with the visual stimuli test [7]. Visual fatigue will cause participants to feel tired, which will affect electroencephalograph and event-related potential data accuracy and experiment results.Influences the results of event-related potential and fMRI research on UX design. Some researchers started to use low visual fatigue and low contrast to present visual stimuli to avoid visual fatigue [124].
Traumatic brain injury1. Frontal and prefrontal areas of the brain are impaired [125].
2. Cognitive communication impairments and difficulties.
Influences the visual memory test on memorizing the UI information or data.
The limitation of dorsal and ventral streams1. Disparity between virtual and real worlds.
2. Conflicting visual depth information.
Virtual reality needs to consider dorsal and ventral functions in perceiving real life [126]. There are many differences between virtual and real environments.
Autism spectrum disorder1. Has an impairment of empathic ability, which is related to aesthetic perception [127].Influences implicit and explicit evaluations of aesthetic perceptions.

fMRI, functional magnetic resonance imaging; BCI, brain-computer interface; UX, user experience; UI, user interface.