Neurophysiological effects of museum modalities on emotional engagement with real artworks

Museums increasingly rely on digital content to support visitors’ understanding of artworks, yet little is known about how these formats shape the emotional engagement that underlies meaningful art experiences. This research presents an in-situ EEG study on how digital interpretive content modulate engagement during art viewing. Participants experienced three modalities: direct viewing of a Bruegel painting, a 180° immersive interpretive projection, and a regular, display-based interpretive video. Frontal EEG markers of motivational orientation, internal involvement, perceptual drive, and arousal were extracted using eyes-open baselines and Z-normalized contrasts. Results show modality-specific engagement profiles: display-based interpretive video induced high arousal and fast-band activity, immersive projections promoted calm, presence-oriented absorption, and original artworks reflected internally regulated engagement. These findings, relying on lightweight EEG sensing in an operational cultural environment, suggest that digital interpretive content affects engagement style rather than quantity. This paves the way for new multimodal sensing approaches and enables museums to optimize the modalities and content of their interpretive media.

💡 Research Summary

This paper presents an in‑situ electroencephalography (EEG) investigation of how three museum presentation modalities—direct viewing of a Pieter Bruegel the Elder painting, a 180° immersive projection, and a conventional screen‑based interpretive video—affect visitors’ emotional engagement. Twenty healthy adults were recruited and equipped with a lightweight Muse S Athena headband (four frontal‑temporal electrodes). After a baseline eyes‑open recording, participants first viewed the original “Winter Landscape with Skaters and a Bird Trap” in the gallery, then experienced either the immersive projection or the planar video (randomly assigned). EEG data were band‑pass filtered (0.5–50 Hz), notch‑filtered at 50 Hz, and cleaned using device quality flags, movement thresholds, amplitude limits, and independent component analysis to remove ocular and motion artifacts. Spectral power was computed for delta (0.5–4 Hz), theta (4–8 Hz), alpha (8–13 Hz), beta (13–30 Hz), and gamma (30–50 Hz). Two primary engagement indices were derived: frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA), calculated as ln(Right α) – ln(Left α) to index approach‑withdrawal motivation, and an arousal index defined as the beta‑to‑alpha power ratio. Both indices were normalized to the eyes‑open baseline. Results showed no significant modality effect on FAA, indicating that overall motivational orientation remained stable across conditions. However, the arousal index and high‑frequency (beta, gamma) power were significantly higher for the screen‑based video than for the immersive projection (Welch’s t, p = 0.026). Low‑frequency (delta, theta) activity was relatively elevated during the immersive condition, suggesting a more internally focused, calm state of presence. The original artwork elicited a balanced pattern of low‑ and mid‑frequency activity, interpreted as internally regulated engagement where viewers actively construct meaning. The authors conclude that digital interpretive content does not simply amplify emotional intensity but reshapes the style of engagement: planar videos drive externally oriented arousal, immersive projections foster tranquil, presence‑based absorption, and original works support reflective, self‑regulated immersion. The study demonstrates the feasibility of lightweight EEG in operational museum settings and paves the way for multimodal neuro‑physiological monitoring (e.g., fNIRS, eye‑tracking) to inform evidence‑based design of museum media.