The neural time course of art perception: An ERP study on the processing of style versus content in art

• Published in: Neuropsychologia 2011-06, Vol.49 (7), p.2071-2081
• Main Authors: Augustin, M. Dorothee, Defranceschi, Birgit, Fuchs, Helene K., Carbon, Claus-Christian, Hutzler, Florian
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Applied psychology; Art perception; Arts. Literature; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; Brain - physiology; Cognitive processing; Contingent Negative Variation - physiology; Data Interpretation, Statistical; EEG; Electroencephalography; Electrophysiology; Evoked Potentials - physiology; Female; Functional Laterality - physiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Learning - physiology; LRP; Male; N200; Perception - physiology; Photic Stimulation; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychomotor Performance - physiology; Time course; Visual Perception - physiology; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0028-3932; 1873-3514
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2011.03.038

► Style and content: key features to study processes of art perception. ► Style: art-specific, content: similar to “normal” object and scene perception. ► Current study shows: style follows content in terms of underlying neural processes. ► Style available for classification at ca. 224ms or between 40 and 94ms after content. ► Paradigm employed is promising to further uncover the time course of art perception. A central prerequisite to understand the phenomenon of art in psychological terms is to investigate the nature of the underlying perceptual and cognitive processes. Building on a study by Augustin, Leder, Hutzler, and Carbon (2008) the current ERP study examined the neural time course of two central aspects of representational art, one of which is closely related to object- and scene perception, the other of which is art-specific: content and style. We adapted a paradigm that has repeatedly been employed in psycholinguistics and that allows one to examine the neural time course of two processes in terms of when sufficient information is available to allow successful classification. Twenty-two participants viewed pictures that systematically varied in style and content and conducted a combined go/nogo dual choice task. The dependent variables of interest were the Lateralised Readiness Potential (LRP) and the N200 effect. Analyses of both measures support the notion that in the processing of art style follows content, with style-related information being available at around 224ms or between 40 and 94ms later than content-related information. The paradigm used here offers a promising approach to further explore the time course of art perception, thus helping to unravel the perceptual and cognitive processes that underlie the phenomenon of art and the fascination it exerts.