Physiological correlates of aesthetic perception of artworks in a museum

Tschacher, Wolfgang; Greenwood, Steven; Kirchberg, Volker; Wintzerith, Stéphanie; van den Berg, Karen; Tröndle, Martin (2012). Physiological correlates of aesthetic perception of artworks in a museum. Psychology of aesthetics, creativity, and the arts, 6(1), pp. 96-103. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association 10.1037/a0023845

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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 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.

Item Type:	Journal Article (Original Article)
Division/Institute:	04 Faculty of Medicine > University Psychiatric Services > University Hospital of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy > Psychotherapy
UniBE Contributor:	Tschacher, Wolfgang
ISSN:	1931-3896
Publisher:	American Psychological Association
Language:	English
Submitter:	Factscience Import
Date Deposited:	04 Oct 2013 14:39
Last Modified:	05 Dec 2022 14:12
Publisher DOI:	10.1037/a0023845
Web of Science ID:	000300541700011
URI:	https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/15960 (FactScience: 223481)