TY - JOUR

T1 - Physiological correlates of aesthetic perception of artworks in a museum

AU - Tschacher, Wolfgang

AU - Greenwood, Steven

AU - Kirchberg, Volker

AU - Wintzerith, Stéphanie

AU - van den Berg, Karen

AU - Tröndle, Martin

PY - 2012/2

Y1 - 2012/2

N2 - Arts experts are commonly skeptical of applying scientific methods to aesthetic experiencing, which remains a field of study predominantly for the humanities. Laboratory research has, however, indicated that artworks may elicit emotional and physiological responses. Yet, this line of aesthetics research has previously suffered from insufficient external validity. We, therefore, conducted a study in which aesthetic perception was monitored in a fine art museum, unrestricting to the viewers' freedom of aesthetic choice. Visitors were invited to wear electronic gloves through which their locomotion, heart rate and skin conductance were continuously recorded. Emotional and aesthetic responses to selected works of an exhibition were assessed using a customized questionnaire. In a sample of 373 adult participants, we found that physiological responses during perception of an artwork were significantly related to aesthetic-emotional experiencing. The dimensions "Aesthetic Quality," "Surprise/Humor," "Dominance," and "Curatorial Quality" were associated with cardiac measures (heart rate variability, heart rate level) and skin conductance variability. This is the first evidence that aesthetics can be statistically grounded in viewers' physiology in an ecologically valid environment-the art gallery- enhancing our understanding of the effects of artworks and their curatorial staging.

AB - Arts experts are commonly skeptical of applying scientific methods to aesthetic experiencing, which remains a field of study predominantly for the humanities. Laboratory research has, however, indicated that artworks may elicit emotional and physiological responses. Yet, this line of aesthetics research has previously suffered from insufficient external validity. We, therefore, conducted a study in which aesthetic perception was monitored in a fine art museum, unrestricting to the viewers' freedom of aesthetic choice. Visitors were invited to wear electronic gloves through which their locomotion, heart rate and skin conductance were continuously recorded. Emotional and aesthetic responses to selected works of an exhibition were assessed using a customized questionnaire. In a sample of 373 adult participants, we found that physiological responses during perception of an artwork were significantly related to aesthetic-emotional experiencing. The dimensions "Aesthetic Quality," "Surprise/Humor," "Dominance," and "Curatorial Quality" were associated with cardiac measures (heart rate variability, heart rate level) and skin conductance variability. This is the first evidence that aesthetics can be statistically grounded in viewers' physiology in an ecologically valid environment-the art gallery- enhancing our understanding of the effects of artworks and their curatorial staging.

KW - Cultural Distribution/Cultural Organization

KW - Museumskunde

KW - Aesthetics

KW - Fine art exhibition

KW - Museum research

KW - Physiology of phenomenology

KW - Wireless data acquisition

KW - Aesthetics

KW - Fine art exhibition

KW - Museum research

KW - Physiology of phenomenology

KW - Wireless data acquisition

KW - museum research

KW - wireless data acquisition

KW - fine art exhibition

KW - physiology of phenomenology

KW - aesthetics

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84865086033&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1037/a0023845

DO - 10.1037/a0023845

M3 - Journal articles

VL - 6

SP - 96

EP - 103

JO - Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts

JF - Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts

SN - 1931-390X

IS - 1

ER -