A Study of EEG Characteristics of Aesthetic Perception and Assessment of Painting Works during Museum Visits: Neuroaesthetic Study

Overall, 28 participants took part in a comparative neuroaesthetic study in the conditions of a visit to the mono-exhibition of M. Vrubel (Russian Museum, St. Petersburg) (30–70 years old, 12 men, and 16 women; 10 artists and 18 non-artists). During the visit (~60 min), electroencephalograms (EEGs) were recorded. From 30 s to 3 min subjects examined each of the painting and by series of clicks (from 1 to 10) on the mark button evaluated the subjective aesthetic “attractiveness” of the canvases. Spectral power in the α1 (8–10 Hz), α2 (10–13 Hz), β1 (13–18 Hz), and β2 (13–30 Hz) EEG bands was analyzed during viewing the most famous paintings by M. Vrubel (“Bogatyr,” “Swan Princess,” “Sitting Demon,” “Demon Flying,” “Pan,” etc.); and event-related EEG synchronization/desynchronization regarding subjective emotional-aesthetic assessment of canvases by artists and non-artists were analyzed. Artists had lower EEG spectral power values in α1 (F3, C3, T4, Pz leads) and α2 (F3, Fz, F4, C3, Cz, C4, P3, Pz, P4 leads) frequency bands in the frontal, central, and parietal regions. Also, artists revealed lower power values in β1,2-frequency bands in the frontal (F3, F4, C3) and larger ones in the occipital (O1, O2—β1, β2) and posterior temporal regions (β2) of the cortex when compared with a group of subjects without special art education. The decision on the high emotional and aesthetic attractiveness of the paintings among artists compared to non-artists was accompanied by an increase in the event-related EEG synchronization in the frequency band of 11.5–27 Hz in the frontal and central cortex regions 580–360 ms before the answer (1st button press). Whereas a low emotional and aesthetic assessment was characterized in artists by a greater desynchronization of the EEG compared to non-artists in the frequency band of 9–27 Hz, starting 60 ms before the start of the response and lasting up to 440 ms after it in the posterior temporal and parietal regions. Differences in the frontal cortex zones can be associated with a greater involvement of the reward system in the perception of aesthetically pleasing canvases, and differences in parietal and posterior temporal zones with ongoing visual synthesis and reanalysis (longer visual attention) in the perception of subjectively less attractive paintings by artists compared to non-artists.