Title: Visual neuroscience in renaissance paintings: Role of spatial frequencies

Abstract

Understanding the relationship between the neural map of the human brain and the aesthetic behaviour was of great importance to Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) as a painter. His knowledge about the interconnectedness of human vision and emotion was best reflected in his Mona Lisa — one of the perennial portraits that bear witness to a transcendent level of creative art. It is one of his unique touch stones where he played with light and shade in such a way that the spatial frequency filtering process of our central and peripheral parts of the visual field together with the tones and textures play a crucial role in creating the illusionistic and lifelike smile in Mona Lisa's face. By explaining how Leonardo created an unfathomable emotion in her smile and veiled her face by optics of uncertainty through the fusion of art and neuroscience, in this talk I would like to explain the connectivity between the neuroscience of human vision and the visual art that depicts elusive as well as illusive visual effects of optical perception.