Online art viewing can improve our mood and well-being: Study
Washington (US), May 6: Art has the power to change our minds. But does this hold true while viewing artwork on a screen? This topic was chosen to study by an international research team led by the University of Vienna, the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen, and the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics (MPIEA) in Frankfurt am Main.
The findings of the study have also been published as an open-access publication in the journal Computers in Human Behaviour.
A Google Arts and Culture interactive Monet Water Lily art exhibition was viewed by 240 participants.They submitted information about their mental state, how much joy they felt when looking at the art, and how meaningful they thought the event was by filling out a questionnaire. After only a few minutes of watching, the results showed considerable changes in mood and anxiety.
The study also discovered that certain people were more open to art than others, and thus benefited more. This benefit can be estimated using a criterion known as "aesthetic responsiveness."
"Aesthetic responsiveness describes how people react to diverse aesthetic stimuli, like art and nature. The results showed that individuals with high levels of art and aesthetic responsiveness benefit more from online art viewing due to having more pleasurable and meaningful art experiences," Edward A. Vessel of MPIEA, developer of the Aesthetic Responsiveness Assessment (AReA), adds.
This study's findings are especially relevant for persons who are unable to attend museums in person, such as those with health issues. Furthermore, the findings imply that interactive art exhibitions and similar online experiences should be created with individual variances in aesthetic sensibility in mind.
Thus, the study adds to our understanding of the benefits and limitations of art in digital media while also pointing the way towards expanding the wellness potential of online art.
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- ANI
