It is common sense to claim that you see with your eyes. But according to latest neuroscience findings, you actually see with your brain. The eyes are just organic tissues that absorb light from the environment and send the signals to the brain. It is the brain that brings everything together to create a visual experience. Here is an even more radical claim: all visions are illusions. I will give you a few examples of what I mean.

When we are engaging in REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, the brain is simulating visual images as if you are actually seeing them. Your sleeping self insists that the vivid dream from last night feels real. According to the fMRI scans of REM sleep, the visual cortex is lighting up like a Christmas tree as if the person is fully awake. This means that the brain is using the same mechanism of consciousness to reproduce visual experiences in sleep.

Another evidence is when a schizophrenic individual claims that she can see her dead mother who is standing right there. She is not lying. Her brain is conjuring up her dead mother on top of reality. Like an augmented reality. But the patient explicitly believes she is real. Her inability to discern her mother’s nonexistence means that her illusion is no different from her perception of reality.

Moreover, those who suffer from Anton-Babinski syndrome believe they can see despite an eye exam proving otherwise. Their brains create believable images in their mind’s eye by matching the other senses so they are fully convinced of actually seeing. Then they walk around the room and bump into furniture. Surprisingly, nobody notice they are blind in the beginning because they act as though they can actually see.

Why am I telling you all this? Before we start exploring the visual pleasure, we need to first accept that the sense of vision is the product of the brain. Vision is an active program that the brain runs by calibrating conditioned assumptions, immediate emotions and past experiences on top of the light particles that the eyes receive from the environment. In other words, you don’t see the world as it is. You see the world as your brain wants to see.

The visual cortex at the back of the brain

What I personally find fascinating is why some visual experiences are more pleasurable than others. Why do we like looking at some images over others? From that fascination comes a more practical question. How can we design specific visual cues that bring constant pleasure in our everyday life? For something to contain rich visual pleasure, it not only has to activate the visual cortex to process the shape and features of the image, but also other brain areas to process meaning, emotions and purpose. In other words, a visual image is not pleasurable (or as some express it as ‘interesting’) unless the neurons from many areas of the brain are activated at once. The bodily reaction of visual pleasure varies from person to person. Some people feel chills and goosebumps but they are not a prerequisite to visual pleasure.

The ocular pleasure model is an attempt to shed some light on this mind-bogglingly complex topic. It is divided into five pairs: Art-Nature, Sexy-Cute, Optics-Illusion, Disgust-Violence, and Familiar-Strange similar to how quarks are characterized in the Standard Model of Physics. I will explain more in depth what they mean. These pairs cover all categories of the visual universe that Homo Sapiens find pleasurable. They can be mixed and matched like how mixing up spices and ingredients to cook a tasty meal. By using the model, one can not only analyze whether something is lacking in visual appeal, it can also be used to design visual scenes that are pleasurable.

The first pair we will discuss is Art-Nature. Art in this model is defined as any deliberate human creation that triggers different emotions in our psyche. Art must involve human intent. A piece of garbage is not art. But that same garbage folded into a crane can be called art. Art does not exist in nature outside of human influence. It can serve many purposes but we are attracted to it because of the human essence it contains, the soul of its creator. That essence reflects the human mind behind its creation. Like a mirror. Of course there are technical aspects of beauty in art such as the golden ratio, symmetry, proportions, depth, dimensions and colors, but they are just tools. How the creator(s) uses these tools to create a meaningful and pleasurable object is what qualifies as art.

Assassin’s Creed Origins allows the player to experience Ancient Egypt art in a believable context. They are in their natural tomb, not trapped in museums. — **Assassin’s Creed Origins** allows the player to experience Ancient Egypt art in a believable context. They are in their natural tomb, not trapped in museums.

From this definition the following things are considered as art:

Fine art is what most people traditionally refer to as art. It is characterized by its emphasis on aesthetics rather than its functional purpose: painting, sculpture, pottery, fine dining, calligraphy, typography, poetry, film, narrative art, photography, animation, video games, printmaking, body art, street art etc. That doesn’t mean they lack purpose. Far from it.

Performing art is when the creator uses bodily movements and voices to express artistic intent in front of an audience: theater, dance, martial arts, sports, public speaking, stand-up comedy, magic show, musical concert etc. An audience is required to be recognized as performing art. Singing in the shower alone (no matter how good your voice is) is not art.

Practical art must provide a functional benefit to the one who is using it in addition to giving a visual treat. (any field that contains ‘design’): industrial design, graphic design, fashion design, business design, system design, urban design, web design, user experience design, lighting design, architectural design, interior design etc. They need to work first before they are beautiful.

Mathematical and Scientific art are human ideas of the natural world that are beautiful to look at and reflect. It is qualified as art according to my definition since they are human inventions that also contain clear intent. The sense of beauty is a coincidence because of how orderly it feels. Hardcore mathematicians are aroused by the simplicity and brilliance of Euler’s identity for example. Other ideas are: Pythagorean Theorem, Fibonacci Sequence, Theory of General Relativity, Theory of Plate Tectonics, The Periodic Table, Theory of Evolution, String Theory, Germ Theory, Musical Theory etc.

Two Pagodas on top of a waterfall. Art + Nature

Nature is the second part of the Art-Nature pair. It is defined as anything that is devoid of human involvement but still pleasurable to look at. The animals, the trees, the sky, the water are all productions of nature because of the complex interactions between the laws of the universe. It is that lack of human intent, lack of our control that makes nature so compelling. Although we may not like to admit it, we are ourselves animals, children of nature. Our appreciation of the natural world is hard wired in the brain because of our inescapable connection to it. In death, we are reminded of this inconvenient truth. Nature exists beyond our understanding, beyond our control, beyond our existence. It has begun long before the evolution of humans and it will continue long after our demise. Modern technology and scientific tools like telescopes and microscopes allow us to expand our appreciation of nature. But what aspect of nature that humans find irresistible? There are 3: the Earth, living things and awe.

This game has nailed the natural beauty element of ocular pleasure.

In any sci-fi movie, we don’t care if the aliens attack other planets. But when they attack Earth, the story becomes human. It becomes personal. Earth may be a ball of blue rock in the middle of nowhere but it is our home. That makes all the difference. Humans are in love with their planet. Who wouldn’t since it contains so much beauty? We don’t just live on earth. We live with it.

Another reason why we care so much about Earth is because our living cousins are here with us. Earth is the only known planet that contains life. From our natural intuition, the Earth and life makes no difference. We see the trees and the soil together as if they are a part of the whole. All is One. One is All. There is a unique pleasure to be had when venturing out in the woods away from all the noises of the cities. We are reminded by looking at the plants, the flowers, the birds, the insects that we are a part of this world. We are a part of this gigantic web of life. It feels amazing to just observe how the animals live on their own, minding their own business without any need of help from us.

A sense of wonder and mystery. God of War (PS4) — A sense of wonder and mystery. **God of War (PS4)**

It is a well-known fact in psychology that, when humans experience a sense of wonder like being a part of a huge social gathering, being in the presence of a respected leader or thinking of God. A unique emotion called awe is released. When we unexpectedly encounter something greater than ourselves, something we cannot fathom, our body releases a chill down our spine unlike anything else. Perhaps the brain is signalling something that is beyond our current understanding. It is the unknown unknown. Scientists have theorized many reasons why awe is adaptive in humans. For example, it has been observed that those who are curious and open to new experiences are more prone to this emotion than others. And what better and more reliable way of activating awe than looking at the stars because they present us with a direct, sensory impression of the magnitude of the cosmos. When we look at the stars, all of our immediate worries take a backseat which in turn releases us from the shackles of everyday life. We need that perspective of grandeur sometimes. Video game developers have gotten pretty good at designing awestruck virtual worlds that are just jaw dropping. Look at the photo I took in God of War above.

The second pair I would like to reveal is the Sexy-Cute pair. This is very different from Art-Nature because visual experiences that contain sexiness and cuteness bypass all the higher processing of the prefrontal cortex and go straight to our survival instincts. By that I mean sexy images activates humans’ mating instinct and cute images activate humans’ parental instinct. Both of these instincts are very important in propagating the human species to the next generation.

According to the Ocular Pleasure Model, 'sexy' means any image that possesses sexual or erotic connotation. As explained above, humans have a hard time resisting sexual images. Even mundane objects become interesting when they hold a resemblance to sexual organs. They capture our attention instantly regardless of whether our conscious mind is interested or not. As you might suspect by now, the advertising industry exploits this weakness relentlessly.

Universally, the showing of smooth skin, proportionate bodies and symmetric faces activate hot erotic feelings in most people because they suggest healthy bodies and a robust immune system. What is deemed beautiful however is a more complex question. The truth is: Beauty is not in the eyes of the beholder. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder’s culture. Sexual expectations are molded by culture since childhood. That is why people from different cultures often find it hard to sexually bond with one another because of their wildly different expectations. The preference of body types for example has changed back and forth throughout human history. Even now, different countries have a preference for a certain kind of body type. Korean women mostly prefer thin bodies of men while Swedish women find muscular bodies hot.

Japanese Hostess Club as depicted in Yakuza 0. It profits from the sexy element of ocular pleasure. — Japanese Hostess Club as depicted in **Yakuza 0**. It profits from the sexy element of ocular pleasure.

Eroticism is an even more complex matter. The essence of erotic is subtlety that plays around with taboos. Pushing and pulling at the same time. The slight showing of strategic parts of the body through elegant clothing and costumes, a genuine smile, being in flow all ooze erotic energy. However eroticism is a subjective experience. What works for one person will not work for others. In other words, each human has an erotic profile based on their culture and sexual tastes. When this is discovered, consistently pleasurable images can be designed for that person.

2B tragically killing 9S by choking him to death. There is an erotic undertone in this scene because they love each other. Yet they never confessed right to the very end. Nier Automata — 2B tragically killing 9S by choking him to death. There is an erotic undertone in this scene because they love each other. Yet they never confessed right to the very end. **Nier Automata**

The downside of sexual images is that they often carry a sense of shame especially in those who are conservative, who are not sexually confident or who have not fully explored their sexual nature. Not to mention that asexual people (who exist by the way) find sexual images unnecessary and distasteful. For those kind of people, it is often beneficial to avoid all kinds of sexual images altogether and pretend as if sex doesn’t exist.

On the other hand, cute is the opposite of sex. This is because cuteness promotes warm affectionate feelings of caring and attachment. Linguistically it is called maternal instinct but both genders have them. Of course women feel it more intensely than men. However this should not be confused with instances when women describe handsome men as ‘cute’. What they mean by that is the word, cute is being used as a substitute for ‘sweet’, ‘attractive’ or ‘sexy’. There is a clear difference between the hot feelings produced by sexual images (controlled by sex hormones like estrogen, testosterone, endorphins) and warm feelings produced by cuteness (happiness hormones like oxytocin, serotonin).

My former dog. Those eyes always melt my heart.

Cuteness contains three elements: miniaturization (yet similar to its bigger counterpart), large heads, and big eyes. If you recall, these are the characteristics of a baby. Big cheeks also help. Human babies are helpless at birth and they need nourishment for decades before they become independent adults. As a result, the nearby adults are evolved to feel kindness and caring when they see babies or baby-like features. This parental instinct extends to pet animals. Puppies and kittens are cuter than the adult versions and instinctively we want to pick them up and take care of them. Another reason why we find animal younglings cute is because of their clumsy exaggerated movements. Again reminiscent of a baby learning to walk.

Why do humans find cuteness appealing? Massive entertainment corporations like Disney have already figured that out. Mickey Mouse was designed to be cute because the creator took an inspiration from child-like features. It was a massive hit because cuteness is familiar. Cute things are safe and comforting. Moreover it is an indicator of innocence so we let down our guard. The scene from Shrek 2 when Puss in Boots uses his big cute eyes for distraction is a perfect example. Cuteness even improves our concentration and motor skills because the brain is preparing the necessary bodily readiness to take care of the young. Some people like sleeping with teddy bears because the furry touch feels safe.

Cute childish drawing filled with emotions. Witcher 3 — Cute childish drawing filled with emotions. **Witcher 3**

Of course we cannot talk about cuteness without mentioning Japan. In Japanese culture, kawaii (cuteness) has become a sensation in recent decades. In the 1970s, teenage girls started writing koneko ji (which translates to kitten writing) which included hearts, stars, and emoticons on rounded big letters. This cute writing began the trend of kawaii youth culture. Young girls in school wore cute uniforms and backpacks to show their innocent nature. Now, the cute industry in Japan is a billion dollar industry ruled by ‘Hello Kitty’ and many other icons. Cuteness is more or less the measure of physical attractiveness in Japan which is uncomfortably brushing against pedophilia. Even in the Western world, cuteness is a huge hit. The Minions, Barbie dolls, M&Ms mascots, and recently Baby Groot in the Guardian of the Galaxy movies.

Speaking of which there is a dark connection between cuteness and pedophilia. Of course not all child sex offenders are pedophiles. Those who aren’t use children as a substitute to relieve their sexual tensions due to the availability bias. They feel guilty afterwards. But for actual pedophiles, the emotions are very different. Instead of feeling warm and caring like normal people when seeing cuteness, a pedophile’s brain activates hot sexual feelings towards it. So whenever they see children or cute things their mating instinct is activated instead of the maternal instinct. They cannot help this development like how homosexuals cannot help but feel attracted to the same gender. I will not argue here whether pedophilia is right or wrong. However its connection to cuteness is unmistakable.

The next pair to consider is Optics-Illusions. Here, we will explore the physical characteristics of light and its connection to human psychology. The brain has innate mechanisms to interpret the electromagnetic signals arriving at the eyes. Then it uses shortcuts (which are visual and cognitive illusions) to construct a believable experience of reality. Now I will explain how this characteristic is connected to visual pleasure itself.

Why do humans like to see the sunset? Why do they like to take pictures of rainbows? Why do they like to look at prisms? When I look the bigger picture, the pattern is clear. Humans are evolved to be fascinated by the behavior of photons. Back in the days when we were living in the caves, humans were sensitive to the day and night cycles since there were no modern day lighting to keep us from falling asleep early. As diurnal creatures, humans have evolved to discern small changes in reflections of light from the environment to hunt and to escape from being hunted. The brain must recognize quick changes in the shadows and contrast of colors. One needs a lot of visual information to successfully hunt for food. This is why carnivorous animals have heightened sight compare to herbivores. So do humans. Therefore we have evolved to possess the visual hardware to appreciate the many phenomena of light like colors, reflections, shadows, refractions etc. We are evolved to take pleasure from optical phenomenon so to speak. As a result, curious events like Blackpool Illuminations and New Year’s Eve fireworks are invented to please the eyes.

Narcissus by Caravaggio 1597 - 1599 — ***Narcissus*** by Caravaggio 1597 - 1599

Mirrors are especially enchanting because we are able to see how we actually look like. Naturally, we can’t perceive our body in third person unless we look ourselves from the calm reflection of a pond. Flat mirrors are often used for personal grooming reasons. Other types of distorted mirrors are humorous to look at because of how radically they change our image. E.g. Yayoi Kusama’s infinity mirror exhibition is really cool. In recent centuries, humans have developed sophisticated technologies to directly control the behavior of light and colors for example producing lasers or lenses to focus and disperse light rays. As a result, telescopes, microscopes, binoculars, cameras and TVs are developed. Humans find it pleasurable to look through or at these devices mainly because they expand our perspective of the world. We can intuitively understand and appreciate the behavior of light.

The illusion of walking on air. Witcher 3 — The illusion of walking on air. **Witcher 3**

Next we come to illusions. In the beginning of this article, I have declared that we don’t see with our eyes. We see with our brain. All visions are illusions. Here I will explain in detail of what I meant. In order to construct a mental simulation of reality known as consciousness, the brain is evolved to take shortcuts and fill in the empty spots. You don’t ‘see’ like a camera would; rather you process patterns related to objects, people, scenes, and events to build up representations of the world. An abstract map so to speak. In other words, the human brain is the most powerful prediction machine in the universe. What you see, hear, feel and think is what you expect to see, hear, feel and think. The brain detects patterns in the environment and predicts a few milliseconds into the future by taking shortcuts. When these shortcuts are targeted by a magician for example, the visual system is hilariously compromised. Visual illusions are not necessarily mistakes but are integral to perception. There are only 9 categories of magic tricks in the world: appearance, disappearance, levitation, teleportation, transformation, penetration, restoration, prediction and escape. Each of them contradicts the fundamental laws of physics. Superheroes break these laws all the time. To put it another way, these tricks lay bare the brain mechanisms controlling how we perceive reality. We like being fooled by magicians because the brain fools us already and convinces us that what we perceive is real. Illusions force us to see from a new perspective.

Hologram illusion pleasure in Warframe — Hologram illusion pleasure in **Warframe**

Artists, magicians and filmmakers have a deep understanding of visual illusions to the point where they can manipulate your perception for entertainment. For example, the TV is an incredible invention because it specializes in creating illusions. We see 3D moving images on a static 2D screen. Objectively speaking, the blurry images on the TV are flickering very fast. But the brain detects them as moving. Not to mention that the sound we hear is not coming from the mouths of actors but from the speakers on the side of the TV. But the brain cleverly pairs them together as if the voices are coming from the actor’s mouths (see: ventriloquist illusion). Magicians reveal the brain for the liar that it is by making objects disappear in front of our eyes or conjure living things out of their hats, socks, nose, or whatever. Actually illusions goes beyond just the visual. Many cognitive illusions like attention spotlight, illusion of choice and fallible memories also contribute to the visual pleasure.

Lumiere London. Floating fishes. Illusion + Optics

The penultimate pair Violence-Disgust concerns with immediate survival. Fear and disgust are basic hardwired emotions of human beings and not surprisingly they reside in the deepest part of the limbic system. To simplify, fear comes from the amygdala, while the insula cortex is involved in the expression of disgust. Human self-awareness is a curse in itself because they are oddly attracted to what should normally be avoided. To experience visual pleasure from violence and disgust, the person must be removed from any life-threatening danger. Secondly they need to feel they are in control even if that notion is an illusion.

The pleasure of violence is activated in three aspects: gore, fighting and destruction.

Kratos stabbing a Chimera in the heart. Classic gore pleasure. God of War 3 — Kratos stabbing a Chimera in the heart. Classic gore pleasure. **God of War 3**

For some reason we are very fascinated by the sight of blood. In the English Language, blood is used as a metaphor to denote family relationships or to express the propensity to violence. “Blood is thicker than water.” “The king is bloodthirsty.” “Much blood has been spilled. It’s time to stop the war.” Perhaps it is the color red that captivates us. We value blood and find it pleasurable to see it from a safe position. Humans are fascinated while at the same time disturbed by disfigurements on the face and body. Since the eyes are the windows to the soul, seeing them plucked out is the most slithering feeling. Another is beheading. Historically, humans have been preoccupied with beheading as public punishment not because it’s a sure kill but because it serves as a loud warning to everyone else. Nobody wants their head cleaned off. Public torture is also pleasurable to look at for the masses. The european culture in the middle ages treat it as entertainment. Next is seeing the innards. We are very much shielded from the horrifying sight of the organs working tirelessly in the stomach to digest the food. When we see them out in the open, we cannot ignore it. The cutting of limbs causes no less reaction in the brain compared to other decapitations. Remember that scene when Darth Vader cut off Luke’s arm before the big reveal. Due to the mirror neurons, we internalize the pain of others from a safe distance even if the other is a fictional character.

Titanic struggle between two powerful Gods that literally shapes the landscape

The next aspect of violence is fighting. As humans have evolved in complex social environments for thousands of years, having power is an attractive state of being. In the animal kingdom, fighting and dominating your opponents will allow an individual to rise above the ranks and become influential in the social hierarchy. This dominance instinct is ingrained in every human, some more so than others. Any kind of fighting is a display of one’s prowess and influence. Fighting against AI opponents work but it is not as satisfying as beating human opponents. The more personal a fight the more entertaining it seems for the audience. In terms of physical fights, a fist fight (or a sword fight) is more appealing to watch than a sniper fight. Proximity is the key here. A fight of wits between Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty is also fun to watch when these two geniuses predict each other’s thoughts before coming to a conclusion. A verbal fight in a formal debate also tests the contestants of their ability to exercise their clarity of thinking and passion in delivery. Sports are what I called constrained violence. Sports allow humans to show off their physical capabilities without necessarily putting themselves in mortal danger. Football, Basketball, Tennis, Rugby, Boxing, Wrestling are forms of violence one way or another. Not to mention the virtual fights in video games. They too capture the attention of the eyes because games allow humans to show off their mental capacities without having to be in the same room. Games bypass the proximity requirement of fighting like a cockfight. The proximity is transferred to the avatar themselves just like how a gamecock is the avatar of its human master.

Batman is intimidating a thug by threatening to run him over. What a badass display. Batman: Arkham Knight — Batman is intimidating a thug by threatening to run him over. What a badass display. **Batman: Arkham Knight**

Lastly, we love seeing destruction. Things blowing up. Things snapped in two. Things cut in pieces. Things burning up. Things being toppled. It is a kind of guilty pleasure you get when you see established things being obliterated. In fact that’s how humans learn. Children break things all the time in order to understand the properties of the materials and the forces of nature. Deliberate destruction allows us to explore the limits of physics around us and to intelligently use this knowledge in the future. It is fun to learn through destruction.

Disgust like fear and violence is another basic emotion all humans possess to some degree. Unlike them, disgust is not innate, it is learned. Cultural conditioning is an important element in learning what is disgusting and what is not. It seems humans are the only animal that have developed disgust emotion. We develop emotional tension around disgust and when released appropriately can be turned into humor. Disgust originates in the insula and the amygdala regions of the brain and perhaps even be connected to empathy. What we are interested is the element of pleasure from the supposedly disgusting elements.

Since humans are cursed with self-consciousness, what we find disgusting also somewhat attracts us. That feeling happens when we don’t want to touch the dirty thing yet it lingers largely in our mind. What I am referring is the contamination aspect of disgust. Throughout our upbringing, we develop aversion to anything that is rotten or could potentially cause diseases. Some people are more sensitive to contamination than others. Women in general are more contamination sensitive than men. While at the same time, they are more empathetic. There are in fact two kinds of contamination: positive and negative. The negative one I have already mentioned that is connected to dirtiness and disease. The positive contamination is our desire to be attracted to the good essences like cleanliness, success, status etc. During an interview a few years ago, Kim Kardashian expressed surprise on how teenagers were screaming in excitement to buy water bottles from her shop. What those teenagers wanted was to have a piece of the essence that Kim represents. They receive great pleasure to possess that positive contamination. The water bottle is just an object that channels that essence.

Kratos is calmly standing in front of the dead dragon’s mouth after killing it. Disgust element of ocular pleasure.

Another type of disgust is bodily related. Any kind of bodily fluids like spit, snot, urine, semen, blood are only disgusting as soon as they leave the body. There is an invisible barrier around the body where as soon as these fluid leave the barrier, it will be regarded as revolting. For example, saliva that stays in your mouth isn’t disgusting but as soon as it leaves beyond the lips, it will be seen as disgusting by others. When engaging in a sexual act, it has been shown by neuroscience that disgust sensitivity decreases dramatically until all the sexual tensions are being released. For example a French kiss often involves the transfer of saliva to each other yet it isn’t disgusting for the couple who are doing the kissing. In fact, it is highly erotic. Another bodily related disgust is the violation of normal body schema: smooth skin, a head, a body, two arms and two legs. Any kind of mutilation, burned wounds, extra limbs, extra body parts, or deformed facial features are sources of great disgust. All these remind us of how fallible our bodies are which in turn remind us of death. The dark side of this is that when we see someone whom we dislike suffer these features we secretly feel superior and gain pleasure from their misfortune. It is called schadenfreude.

The final type of disgust is the social/cultural disgust known as taboos. Taboos are violations of informally agreed upon norms of the culture. Every culture has its own arbitrary taboos. Anyone who dares to break them will be seen with scorn and disgust. For example, cheating in a monogamous marriage is considered a great taboo in the western society. Objectively speaking, human biology is not built for monogamy and having sex with multiple partners is not entirely surprising. But since it is considered a taboo, the intensity of the topic changes completely. We are visually enticed by seeing taboos in front of our eyes. It is also very tempting to gossip about them. Another kind of cultural taboo is fashion expressions. Every culture has an acceptable range of body parts one is allowed to show and jewelry to wear for different genders. If these general rules are broken, you will be judged as a bad person. No one wants to associate with you. You are also interesting to them like how an animal in a zoo is interesting.

The final pair is Familiar-Strange. How much does the level of familiarity related to visual pleasure? It turns out, a lot. Nostalgia is a very important component in experiencing visual pleasure. Humans find safety in the familiar things. Equally important, the strangest and weirdest things also activate visual pleasure because the brain wants to learn new information about the world, anything relevant to survival. Strangeness is unsettling because they violate the image we have in our heads, and the expectation and the mental models of the world are shattered.

What kind of familiar things give us pleasure? There are three of them: childhood nostalgia, habitual association and memory transfer. The first and obvious one is childhood nostalgia. Humans hold special meaning towards childhood and teenage experiences because we were innocent at the time. It was the stage of life when we interacted everything with enhanced emotional intensity. When these emotions are reactivated in adulthood, pleasure quickly follows. For example, the toys we played with, the cartoons we have watched, the games we have played, the things we have learned in school are enticing when we see them again many years later. Additionally, familiar images will further activate the memories of the good old days through daydreaming. Nostalgia is a very personal pleasure.

These photos activate nostalgia from my university times. They are visually pleasurable only for me.

The second one is habitual association. These images are something you are used to seeing every day. The familiar sight of your room, the posters you put up, brand logos in the streets, the color scheme of your laptop etc. (If you have a Mac, it will be boringly white.) The web of associations can be very complex. Depending on the personality, some people like clutter while others hate it. As a result, the brain associates familiarity with whatever level of mess you are used to. Any image that is similar to your habitual familiarity will flood your nervous system with pleasurable hormones. You feel at home.

The familiar image of chilling in your best friend’s room. Life is Strange — The familiar image of chilling in your best friend’s room. **Life is Strange**

The third one is memory transfer. What do I mean by that? From second hand stories we hear from our friends, or stories we read somewhere on the internet, or stories we watch on TV, the brain subconsciously remembers them and categorizes them as safe. For example, a friend of mine told me how beautiful her trip to Fiji was. The sunsets she saw on the open ocean. The corals she touched while diving in the sea. The stars she counted at night with no light pollution. I remember her words whenever I see photos of tropical islands. My expectation of the scene from her story triggers the pleasurable sensations.

The antithesis of familiarity is strangeness. How do we gain visual pleasure from strange things? When the brain encounters a new phenomenon, it can’t help but focus attention on it because learning about it may prove useful later. In the modern world, this brain tendency is exploited by the entertainment industries. I will use the concepts from arithmetic in order to explain this: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

When two or three familiar concepts are added together to form a new strange concept, humans find it alluring. For example, a mermaid is a combination of the concept of fish and sexy female human. Although this entity does not exist, we nonetheless find it very interesting. It holds our interest due to its strangeness.

Poseidon Hippocampi design in God of War 3 uses addition element of strangeness. A large man holding a trident + horses + arthropodal spiky limbs + water + rocks — Poseidon Hippocampi design in **God of War 3** uses addition element of strangeness. A large man holding a trident + horses + arthropodal spiky limbs + water + rocks

Next up is subtraction. When something is missing from what we expect to be there. Like a man with a hollow stomach or a table without one of its legs. The sight of them is disturbing but at the same time holds our attention.

The World Serpent = Multiplication; Mimir (the living severed head that Kratos is holding with his right hand) = Subtraction

When something we expected to be small is exaggerated (multiplied in proportion) in size and authority, we experience visual pleasure. Like giant insects, giant puppies or a giant football.

Similarly when something we expect is big but miniaturized or divided into smaller version of the big one (division), we experience pleasure and cuteness. Miniaturized books, model town, hobbits etc.

Defense grid 2 features miniaturized cities to protect against invading aliens by building weapon towers. Division element of strangeness — **Defense grid 2** features miniaturized cities to protect against invading aliens by building weapon towers. Division element of strangeness

Another huge factor of pleasure in strangeness is the presence of agency or theory of mind. Normally, the sky, the storms, the trees and the animals don’t talk to us. But when they do in fictional stories, the scene captures our complete attention. Our brain is hardwired to predict human minds and live in peace with everyone. But when inorganic things possess motivations and intelligence, we can’t ignore them. Socially adept individuals are especially sensitive to the theory of mind. Autistic individuals on the other hand who have a poor understanding of the theory of mind, do not find talking trees interesting.

In Tearaway Unfolded, the player controls a living envelope called Iota to deliver a message. It takes place in a world made entirely of paper. Theory of Mind element of Strangeness — In **Tearaway Unfolded**, the player controls a living envelope called Iota to deliver a message. It takes place in a world made entirely of paper. Theory of Mind element of Strangeness

The last piece of the puzzle to strangeness is ignorance. If you tell a person from the 19th century that in 200 years’ time, we will possess a device in our hands that can navigate around the world, can engage in telepathic communication, can produce perfect replicas of self-portraits, they will predictably say it’s witchcraft. Because in their mind a smartphone would be a very strange concept, a chimera of supernatural abilities. They cannot fathom something that they have complete ignorance of. It’s the unknown unknown. It causes humans to be afraid or excited when they come across a phenomenon they have never witnessed before like mastering alien technologies in Ender’s game. When I came across carnivorous plants in my youth, I was absolutely baffled by them. Before, my mental model of plants was that they used nutrients from the ground and used sunlight for photosynthesis. When I saw that plants could eat insects, it turned my model of plants upside down and caused me tremendous excitement. Immediately I went out to learn about carnivorous plants as much as possible until I became satisfied and familiarized with the new concept. Category-breaking things capture your visual attention.

To conclude, the Ocular Pleasure Model contains all the elements of visual pleasure that are deciphered from neuroscience and human behaviors across history. The model is intended to remind designers and artists how to cleverly incorporate pleasure in their inventions.

Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, Burma. Majestic!

Ocular Pleasure Model

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