Abstract People are drawn towards personally meaningful places. Seeing or remembering those places improves mood and supports wellbeing. But existing evidence relies on self-reports and comparisons with unpleasant places. Using brain imaging techniques, we examined reactions towards images of personally meaningful places, meaningful objects, neutral places and objects, and pre-validated (IAPS) images, among 19 volunteers (10 female) between 19 and 53 years old. A whole brain analysis showed that meaningful places and IAPS images elicited the largest response in the amygdala, associated with the processing of emotion. Similarly high activity was found for the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), associated with self-referential processing, emotional appraisal, and memory processing. This was not found for meaningful objects or neutral places. The parahippocampal place area (PPA) showed enhanced activity only to personally meaningful places. Personally meaningful places clearly evoke distinctive neurological responses supporting the importance of this holistic and complex concept for human wellbeing and urban planning.

中文翻译：

---

为什么地方如此特别？揭示我们的大脑如何对有意义的地方做出反应

摘要 人们被吸引到对个人有意义的地方。看到或记住这些地方可以改善情绪并支持健康。但现有证据依赖于自我报告和与不愉快地方的比较。使用大脑成像技术，我们检查了 19 到 53 岁之间的 19 名志愿者（10 名女性）对个人有意义的地方、有意义的物体、中性的地方和物体以及预先验证的 (IAPS) 图像的反应。全脑分析表明，有意义的地方和 IAPS 图像在杏仁核中引起最大的反应，与情绪处理有关。内侧前额叶皮层 (mPFC) 也有类似的高活动，与自我参照处理、情绪评估和记忆处理有关。对于有意义的物体或中性的地方，没有发现这一点。海马旁区域 (PPA) 仅在对个人有意义的地方表现出增强的活动。对个人有意义的地方显然会唤起独特的神经反应，支持这种整体而复杂的概念对人类福祉和城市规划的重要性。