close this window
Portraits Can Get Your Pulse Pounding
New research recording physiological reactions of museum-goers suggests we respond to art with our bodies as well as our brains.
Art exhibits are not generally thought of as opportunities to get our pulses racing and skin tingling. But newly published research suggests aesthetic appreciation is, in fact, a full-body experience.
Three hundred and seventy-three visitors to a Swiss museum agreed to wear special gloves measuring four physiological responses as they strolled through an art exhibit. Researchers found an association between the gallery-goers’ reported responses to the artworks and three of the four measurements of bodily stimulation.
“Our findings suggest that an idiosyncratically human property — finding aesthetic pleasure in viewing artistic artifacts — is linked to biological markers,” researchers led by psychologist Wolfgang Tschacher of the University of Bern, Switzerland, write in the journal Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts.
Their study, the first of its kind conducted in an actual art gallery, provides evidence for what Tschacher and his colleagues call “the embodiment of aesthetics.”
The participants (65 percent were women) spent an average of 28 minutes viewing an exhibit at the Kunstmuseum St. Gallen in Switzerland. It featured 76 works of contemporary art, including paintings by Claude Monet, Edvard Munch, Andy Warhol and Paul Klee.
They wore a specially manufactured glove on their right hand, which measured four physiological responses: heart rate, heart rate variability, skin conductance level and skin conductance variability. According to the experts at MIT, skin conductance “is the phenomenon that the skin momentarily becomes a better conductor of electricity when either external or internal stimuli occur that are physiologically arousing.”
Researchers tracked participants as they strolled through the gallery, allowing them to record physiological reactions to specific artworks.
Afterward, each participant was asked his or her response to six of the pieces — the three they spent the most time viewing, as well as three others chosen in advance. At a computer terminal, they answered a 19-item questionnaire in which they described the emotions evoked by each of the pieces, as well as their aesthetic evaluation and general appraisal of the works.
Their answers were condensed into a set of five scores for each artwork: Aesthetic Quality (whether it was considered beautiful and well crafted in terms of technique and composition); Surprise/Humor (whether it startled the viewer or made him or her smile); Negative Emotion (whether it conveyed sadness, fear or anger); Dominance (whether it came across as powerful or stimulating); and Curative Quality (whether it worked well in the context of the other pieces).
Comparing these scores with the bodily responses, the researchers found three of the four physiological measurements — all except skin conductance — were “significantly associated with aesthetic-emotional assessments.”
Specifically, an elevated heart rate was linked to an assessment of a painting as dominant and/or high in curatorial quality. Heart-rate variability was linked to perceptions of high aesthetic quality and surprise/humor. Skin conductance variability was also linked to a perception of dominance.
“Heart-rate variability was the physiological measure most influenced by aesthetic emotional variables,” the researchers report. “Thirteen percent of total variance of HRV was accounted for by aesthetic-emotional-factors.”
Altogether, the participants’ reaction to the artworks accounted for “up to 25 percent of [their] total physiological variance,” they add.
Tschacher and his colleagues are quick to add that they do not interpret their results to mean that “aesthetic appreciation is nothing but a neurological response.” Nevertheless, their study provides real-time, on-site evidence that the mental/emotional act of art appreciation may be mirrored in the body.
Or — to take the approach of eminent brain researcher Antonio Damasio –perhaps the bodily reaction occurs first, after which our brain scrambles to come up with an explanation of why we responded in that way. Either way, when we say a work of art has stirred our heart, there’s a good chance it’s not simply a metaphor.
Sign up for the free Miller-McCune.com e-newsletter.
“Like” Miller-McCune on Facebook.
Follow Miller-McCune on Twitter.
Add Miller-McCune.com news to your site.
word on the street
more in this section
Help Black Children? Sure! Teens? Not So Much.
Fear Heightens Appreciation of Abstract Art
Oxytocin Levels Predict Longevity of Love Affairs
The Perceived Delicacy of the Female Conductor
Pressure to Conform Can Inspire Creativity
Children’s Books Increasingly Ignore Natural World
Morning People May Be More Creative in the Afternoon
Sex on the Brain Proves Costly for Men
Bitter About Your Life? Blame Facebook
‘Fair Trade’ Chocolate Perceived as Healthier
also by this author
Tom JacobsStaff writer Tom Jacobs is a veteran journalist with more than 20 years experience at daily newspapers. He has served as a staff writer for The Lo...
Explaining Liberals to Conservatives, and Vice-VersaPsychologist Jonathan Haidt can tell you why you feel so righteous about your politics, but will you listen?
Women Eye Dance Moves to Find Thrill SeekersHow to spot thrill-seeking men on the dance floor, “sweet” personalities in public, and bidding fever on eBay.
Does Black History Need More Than a Month?The documentary “More Than a Month” asks: Does Black History Month still inspire reflection, or just Nike sales?
We’re Sorry: Not All Apologies Are ApologiesPoliticians take note: Research shows the fine line between claiming regret and taking responsibility.
Can a Bad Economy Save Your Marriage?Spouses who blame the economy for their woes, rather than pointing the finger at their partner, are more likely to be satisfied with their marriages.
Receive 1 year (6 issues) of our print magazine for just $14.95. Miller-McCune features polished, in-depth reports on research and solutions across the policy spectrum — from health care, education and energy to international affairs, poverty and the global economy. It's a must read for well-informed and solutions-driven individuals.
follow us on:
join our newsletter:
from the source
What makes communities strong and vibrant? Researchers say local schools bring a raft of positives to town — even for the childless — beyond creating an educated populace.
Once seen as non-ideological “universities without students,” the American think tank has, in many cases, become a partisan stalking horse that devalues the sector’s scholarship.
Swiss scientists plan to send a “janitor satellite” into orbit to attempt to clean up space debris.
Turning unloved federal property into homeless services centers has been federal law for a quarter century, but tough times have bureaucrats hoping to shove that tradition into the cold.
A number of folk stories and a few divisive rumors have surrounded the office of the U.S. presidency, and skeptical folks like us check a few of them out.
