Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28544456›Full record

ArticleHuman brain mapping2017

The experience of beauty derived from sorrow.

Tomohiro Ishizu, Semir Zeki

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Human brain mapping, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
20citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Trial
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. The complexities of joy: a qualitative study of joy cultivation, loss of joy, and happiness in British adults.International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2025
    Article
  6. Review
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Visceromotor roots of aesthetic evaluation of pain in art: an fMRI study.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2021
    Article
  14. What is Beauty?Aesthetic plastic surgery · 2021
    Review
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Review
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Tomohiro IshizuWellcome Laboratory of Neurobiology, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, London, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0001-7107-657X
Semir ZekiWellcome Laboratory of Neurobiology, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, London, United Kingdom.

Funding

Wellcome Trust
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

We studied the neural mechanisms that are engaged during the experience of beauty derived from sorrow and from joy, two experiences that share a common denominator (beauty) but are linked to opposite emotional valences. Twenty subjects viewed and rerated, in a functional magnetic resonance imaging scanner, 120 images which each had classified into the following four categories: beautiful and sad; beautiful and joyful; neutral; ugly. The medial orbito-frontal cortex (mOFC) was active during the experience of both types of beauty. Otherwise, the two experiences engaged different parts of the brain: joyful beauty engaged areas linked to positive emotions while sorrowful beauty engaged areas linked to negative experiences. Separate regions of the cerebellum were engaged during experience of the two conditions. A functional connectivity analysis indicated that the activity within the mOFC was modulated by the supplementary motor area/middle cingulate cortex, known to be engaged during empathetic experiences provoked by other peoples' sadness. Hum Brain Mapp 38:4185-4200, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Indexed as

BeautyAdultBrainBrain MappingEmotionsFemaleHumansMagnetic Resonance ImagingMaleNeuropsychological TestsPsychophysicsVisual Perceptionaesthetic experienceemotionfunctional magnetic resonance imaging

Identifiers

PMID28544456
PMCPMC5518297

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.