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Research suggests original art elicits 10x the emotion of prints

Image: A respondent with EEG and eye-tracker at Girl with a Pearl Earring (Mauritshuis)

The results of the study have been called “important and relevant for the entire museum sector”

New research on the brain suggests that viewing an original painting may evoke up to ten times the emotional response compared to seeing a print of the same artwork.

Netherlands museum Mauritshuis commissioned neurological research which it claims to show emotional response ten times stronger when viewers are face to face with a painting in the museum.

Researchers used electroencephalograms (EEGs) to reveal that four real artworks, including the well known Girl with a Pearl Earring, elicit a powerful response much greater than the response to reproductions.

Mauritshuis commissioned the study from Netherlands company Neurofactor, who brought in independent consumer neuroscience research agency Neurensics.

Researchers conducted a two-phase study using EEG headsets, eye trackers, and fMRI scans to compare responses to original paintings and reproductions.

Twenty participants viewed paintings at the Mauritshuis museum and their reproductions in varying orders, while an additional 20 subjects underwent fMRI scans while viewing reproductions of the same artworks.

The researchers suggest that looking at art elicits a strong emotional response, which is also affected by the ambience of the setting – including the frame and the lighting.

Eye tracking results from the Mauritshuis comissioned study

The study’s results also suggest that when someone looks at the Girl with the Pearl Earring in particular, a part of the brain known as the precuneus which is involved in one’s sense of self, self-reflection and episodic memories is “by far the most stimulated part”.

 

Erik Scherder at the Girl with a Pearl Earring (Mauritshuis)

Erik Scherder, professor of neuropsychology at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam said: “Watching art stimulates your brain on several levels. It evokes excitement, triggers imagination and makes you think about what you see. It’s an ultimate enrichment, activating your brain to the fullest.”

The museum’s director Martine Gosselink said the study “has shown once and for all that a visit to the Mauritshuis or another museum has much greater emotional value.”

Vera Carasso, director of the Netherlands Museum Association commented on the results:: “An encounter with a real work of art is much more intense than with a copy. How wonderful that this effect has now been scientifically demonstrated and can be seen in brain activity. The results of this new research are important and relevant for the entire museum sector.‘