1 00:00:02,200 --> 00:00:04,720 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:07,120 --> 00:00:10,039 Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff. I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and today's episode is 3 00:00:10,039 --> 00:00:13,319 Speaker 1: another classic from our archives. In this one, we delve 4 00:00:13,320 --> 00:00:18,400 Speaker 1: into the psychology and biology behind the human appreciation for symmetry. 5 00:00:20,239 --> 00:00:23,720 Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum. Here, think of a pair 6 00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:26,880 Speaker 1: of synchronized divers, or the wings on a butterfly, or 7 00:00:26,920 --> 00:00:30,400 Speaker 1: the vaulted ceiling of a cathedral. These are some of 8 00:00:30,440 --> 00:00:34,160 Speaker 1: the things that most people find visually very pleasing. But why. 9 00:00:34,920 --> 00:00:38,440 Speaker 1: The answer has to do with symmetry. Most objects in 10 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:42,280 Speaker 1: the real world are symmetrical. This is particularly true of nature, 11 00:00:42,640 --> 00:00:45,640 Speaker 1: the radial symmetry of a starfish or flower petals, the 12 00:00:45,680 --> 00:00:49,880 Speaker 1: symmetrical efficiency of a hexagonal honeycomb, or the uniquely symmetrical 13 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:53,920 Speaker 1: crystal patterns of a snowflake. In fact, asymmetry is often 14 00:00:53,960 --> 00:00:56,120 Speaker 1: a sign of illness or danger in the natural world, 15 00:00:56,800 --> 00:01:00,480 Speaker 1: and of course, human beings are symmetrical, at least mostly 16 00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:03,320 Speaker 1: and on the outside. You know, some internal organs like 17 00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:06,520 Speaker 1: the heart and liver are off center. Decades of research 18 00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:09,199 Speaker 1: into sexual attraction have proven that both men and women 19 00:01:09,240 --> 00:01:13,840 Speaker 1: find symmetrical faces sexier than asymmetrical ones. The leading explanation 20 00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:16,520 Speaker 1: is that physical symmetry is an outward sign of good health, 21 00:01:16,800 --> 00:01:19,960 Speaker 1: although large scale studies have shown no significant health differences 22 00:01:19,959 --> 00:01:24,279 Speaker 1: in people with symmetrical or asymmetrical faces. Since severe physical 23 00:01:24,319 --> 00:01:27,720 Speaker 1: asymmetries are strong indicators of genetic disorders, our brains might 24 00:01:27,760 --> 00:01:31,200 Speaker 1: just be overreacting. The simple explanation for our attraction to 25 00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:35,160 Speaker 1: symmetry is that it's familiar. Symmetrical objects and images play 26 00:01:35,240 --> 00:01:38,120 Speaker 1: by the rules that our brains are programmed to recognize easily. 27 00:01:39,120 --> 00:01:41,760 Speaker 1: Physicist Alan Lightman wrote about this in his book The 28 00:01:41,800 --> 00:01:45,119 Speaker 1: Accidental Universe The World You Thought You Knew. He wrote, 29 00:01:45,560 --> 00:01:48,520 Speaker 1: I would claim that symmetry represents order, and we crave 30 00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:51,400 Speaker 1: order in this strange universe. We find ourselves in the 31 00:01:51,440 --> 00:01:54,160 Speaker 1: search for symmetry, and the emotional pleasure we derive when 32 00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:56,320 Speaker 1: we find it must help us make sense of the 33 00:01:56,320 --> 00:01:58,960 Speaker 1: world around us, just as we find satisfaction in the 34 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:01,919 Speaker 1: repetition of the sea and in the reliability of friendships. 35 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:06,920 Speaker 1: Symmetry is also economy. Symmetry is simplicity, Symmetry is elegance. 36 00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:11,280 Speaker 1: At the esoteric end of the explanation, spectrum, Lightment is 37 00:02:11,320 --> 00:02:14,000 Speaker 1: saying that the satisfaction we feel at seeing a creatively 38 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:16,880 Speaker 1: symmetrical work of art or a perfectly stacked display of 39 00:02:16,919 --> 00:02:19,760 Speaker 1: soup cans in the grocery store. Is that the stuff 40 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:22,920 Speaker 1: of our brains is inseparable from the stuff of nature. 41 00:02:23,280 --> 00:02:26,040 Speaker 1: The neurons and synapses in our brains and the processes 42 00:02:26,040 --> 00:02:29,320 Speaker 1: by which they communicate, connect, and conjure thoughts evolved in 43 00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:33,440 Speaker 1: parallel to snowflakes and starfish. If nature is symmetrical, then 44 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:36,840 Speaker 1: so are our minds. On the more basic end, the 45 00:02:36,919 --> 00:02:39,120 Speaker 1: pleasure we get from symmetry could simply be due to 46 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:42,000 Speaker 1: our minds need to find patterns and attempt to make 47 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:45,000 Speaker 1: sense of things, especially quickly and with a limited data 48 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:49,160 Speaker 1: set considered Gistalt psychology, named after an influential school of 49 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:51,960 Speaker 1: visual perception born in Germany in the nineteen twenties. The 50 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:56,360 Speaker 1: famous and famously mistranslated Gistalt motto is the whole is 51 00:02:56,400 --> 00:02:59,240 Speaker 1: other than the sum of its parts, not the whole 52 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:01,720 Speaker 1: is greater than the some of its parts. Our brain 53 00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:03,960 Speaker 1: is more than a calculator adding up the details of 54 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:06,960 Speaker 1: a scene. It's primed to recognize signs of order in 55 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:10,680 Speaker 1: the accidental chaos, and to follow certain rules or shortcuts 56 00:03:10,720 --> 00:03:13,280 Speaker 1: to make sense of the world. Symmetry is one of 57 00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:16,840 Speaker 1: those shortcuts. We spoke with Mary Peterson, a psychology professor 58 00:03:16,880 --> 00:03:20,000 Speaker 1: and director of the Visual Perception Laboratory at the University 59 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:23,480 Speaker 1: of Arizona. As she says, the brain doesn't like things 60 00:03:23,520 --> 00:03:27,120 Speaker 1: that are accidental. We either learn or born with certain 61 00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:30,000 Speaker 1: priors or shortcuts that help our brains quickly determined that 62 00:03:30,040 --> 00:03:34,160 Speaker 1: we're looking at one particular object or another. We also 63 00:03:34,200 --> 00:03:38,040 Speaker 1: spoke with Johann vaching Launch, an experimental psychologist from Belgium 64 00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:41,600 Speaker 1: who specializes in visual perception and how our brains organized 65 00:03:41,640 --> 00:03:45,720 Speaker 1: the constant incoming flow of information. He agrees at symmetry 66 00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:48,120 Speaker 1: is not just a design principle of the outside world. 67 00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:51,360 Speaker 1: He said, you can also see symmetry as one of 68 00:03:51,400 --> 00:03:54,440 Speaker 1: these major principles driving the self organization of the brain. 69 00:03:54,920 --> 00:03:58,320 Speaker 1: All these tendencies toward good organization and simple organization are 70 00:03:58,360 --> 00:04:01,480 Speaker 1: also principles of symmetry in the dynamics of the brain itself. 71 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:04,800 Speaker 1: But on the other hand, too much symmetry can be 72 00:04:04,840 --> 00:04:08,280 Speaker 1: a tad boring. While perfectly symmetrical designs are more pleasing 73 00:04:08,320 --> 00:04:11,960 Speaker 1: to the brain, they're not necessarily more beautiful. Both art 74 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:15,960 Speaker 1: novices and experts prefer art that strikes, says vocumons an 75 00:04:15,960 --> 00:04:19,640 Speaker 1: optimal level of stimulation, not too complex, not too simple, 76 00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:23,680 Speaker 1: not too chaotic, and not too orderly. Indeed, the Japanese 77 00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:26,760 Speaker 1: have an esthetic principle called Kinsey, which is all about 78 00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:36,680 Speaker 1: creating balance in a composition using asymmetry or irregularity. Today's 79 00:04:36,680 --> 00:04:39,000 Speaker 1: episode was written by Dave Ruse and produced by Tristan 80 00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:41,839 Speaker 1: McNeil and Tyler Clang. For more on this and lots 81 00:04:41,839 --> 00:04:45,000 Speaker 1: of other symmetrical topics because of how stuff works dot com. 82 00:04:45,120 --> 00:04:47,080 Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is a production of our Heart Radio. For 83 00:04:47,240 --> 00:04:49,880 Speaker 1: more podcasts to my heart Radio, visit the heart Radio app, 84 00:04:49,920 --> 00:04:52,640 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.