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Abstract #3007

Neural Activation Differences between Viewing Rural and Urban Images

Marie-Claire Reville 1 , Ian Frampton 2 , Jonathan Fulford 3 , Matthew Holland 2 , Shanker Venkatasubramanian 4 , Benjamin Rock 5 , Michael Depledge 6 , and Mathew White 2

1 Psychology, University of Exeter, Exeter, Devon, United Kingdom, 2 European Centre for Environment and Human Health, University of Exeter Medical School, Truro, Cornwall, United Kingdom, 3 MR Research Centre, University of Exeter Medical School, Exeter, Devon, United Kingdom, 4 University of Exeter Medical School, European Centre for Environment and Human Health, Truro, Cornwall, United Kingdom, 5 Department of Nuclear Medicine, Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust, Truro, Cornwall, United Kingdom, 6 European Centre for Environment and Human Health, University of Exeter Medical School, Exeter, Devon, United Kingdom

Why do people prefer rural environments and feel better in them? To explore this, 28 participants viewed rural and urban images while their brain was scanned with a fMRI scanner. Results indicate that there are brain regions with significant additional activation in response to urban as opposed to rural image viewing. When images were matched on attractiveness ratings, the amount of activation difference in urban over rural image viewing generally decreased. This suggests that to some extent features of the images are influencing the activation differences. Future research should investigate this further by focusing on factors associated with attractiveness.

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