From cognitive control to visual incongruity: Conflict detection in surrealistic images

This study explored brain responses to images that exploit incongruity as a creative technique, often used in advertising (i.e., surrealistic images). We hypothesized that these images would reveal responses akin to cognitive conflict resulting from incongruent trials in typical laboratory tasks (i.e., Stroop Task). Indeed, in many surrealistic images, common visual elements are juxtaposed to create un-ordinary associations with semantically conflicting representations. We expected that these images engage the conflict processing network that has been described in cognitive neuroscience theories. We addressed this hypothesis by measuring the power of mid-frontal Theta oscillations using EEG while participants watched images through a social media-like interface. Incongruent images, compared to controls, produced a significant Theta power increase, as predicted from the cognitive conflict theory. We also found increased memory for incongruent images one week after exposure, compared to the controls. These findings provide evidence for the incongruent images to effectively engage the viewer’s cognitive control and boost memorability. The results of this study provide validation of cognitive theories in real-life scenarios (i.e., surrealistic ads or art) and offer insights regarding the use of neural correlates as effectiveness metrics in advertising.