The perception of emotion plays a significant role in the experience of art, to such an extent that it is believed that the most important aim of any art expression is actually the emotional experience induced in spectators. Recent scientific hypotheses have shown that aesthetic perception activates regions of the brain commonly associated with the experience of emotion. Nowadays art is commonly experienced also in the digital domain, with new technologies, such as Virtual Reality, enabling rich and deep experiences of cultural resources. However, in both cases the emotional response is hardly ever taken into account, except as a side effect of the experience. To date, the relationship between art and emotion has been investigated with the primary objective of understanding the underlying mechanisms, with no known attempts of exploiting these findings to deliver cultural experiences. The objective of this proposal, building on the existing knowledge in Neuroaesthetics and on partners expertise in Neuroscience, cultural Heritage and Marketing is to improve the emotional experience of real cultural assets. This objective will be achieved through the development and validation of a device aimed at quantifying the emotional engagement during the experience of cultural heritage and at improving, based on this information, the flow and the perceptual quality of the museum and/or theatrical experience. To this aim, cost-effective instruments and procedures will be developed to measure the emotional experience of people by monitoring internal neurophysiological parameters, and build cultural Heritage experiences aiming at soliciting an emotional and perceptual engagement of persons attending museums etc. Novel technological-based cultural experiences will be developed and demonstrated allowing to modulate the fruition of real art collections or events with the affective state of the users, with the possibility of suggesting custom-tailored paths resonant with their feelings
Emotions constitute an extremely living matter. This statement is witnessed by the wide research activity but also, and importantly, from a popular point of view, like in books, movies and also in cartoons (e.g. Inside Out, Pixar, 2015). These premises make the outcome of this project (the low cost system for measurement of art appreciation) a potentially appealing addition in museums, cultural sites and for stage shows.
In fact, one of the main novelties of the project consists in measuring the cerebral reactions during cultural experience performed in real sites (museums, art gallery, theaters). In order to provide neurophysiological descriptors of the brain processes underlying emotional engagement in humans, EEG, GSR and ECG measurements will be correlated with the appreciation of the proposed artworks, through the use of the AWI, CE and EI metrics already validated in other scientific works previously.
All the significant neurophysiological measurements will be combined into a unique mix of AWI, CE and EI that will be able to describe the internal experience of the subject in terms of aesthetic engagement. The use of objective measurements, instead of self-report judgements during the exposure to the artistic experience will allow to state the subject¿s reaction to artistic assets under different exposure conditions.
The neurophysiological variables correlated to cognitive and emotional processes of humans will be recorded during visits and during performances in important cultural museums and theatres in Italy. This integration of the measurement into a meaningful summary of the beholder¿s state provides a powerful tool to investigate and understand the meanings that cultural activities hold for people.
The project will also lead to the development of a low cost prototypal tool able to assess the emotional state of visitors during the experience of cultural heritage such as tours in museums, visits in archaeological sites as well as churches and historical buildings. In addition, the device will be also used to assess the emotional experience of public during a theatrical performance.
To the best of our knowledge, this project will be one of the first ones where measures of brain activity will be used to promote both the appreciation of cultural heritage and to enhance the fruition of the theatrical performances in stage and shows.
This is extremely important, as the young generation will be engaged by the use of advanced technology to be used in conjunction with the fruition of artistic experience, and they will be more motivated to attend to art exhibitions and other cultural theatrical experiences.
Teamwork quality
It is important to note that all the partners of this project have already cooperated in joint projects (also under the same funding scheme here presented to the University of Rome) and then have already development a smooth cooperative work. In particular, prof. Babiloni has joint publications with all the components of the research group. The smoothness of the research work is then assured.
This project needs several distinct research parts to be logically covered:
1) A technological and neuroscientific counterpart for the measurements of the emotion during art perception: such area is covered by the research group of prof. Fabio Babiloni (which has an expertise in neuroscience ) and dr. Pietro Aricò (biomedical engineering)
2) A literature and theatrical counterpart, to provide access to museums, actors on stage, shows in theatres: such important area of the project will be covered by the prof. Paolo Canettieri and prof. Mariella Combi, They are with the Dept. of Studi Europei, Americani e Interculturali, that is grounded with museums, Italian national facilities to run movies and theatrical rehearsal (Cinecittà). Based on their expertise, they could select the museums, the artworks on stage to be covered by the measurements of the emotion by the technologic counterpart.
3) A marketing strategy for the device to be realized: this area of the project will be covered by the expertise of prof. Fabio Babiloni, that is also prof. of Neuroeconomy and neuromarketing at the University Sapienza of Rome. His expertise in the project will open the cooperation with external companies potentially interested in the use of the prototypal device to be generated by the project. In addition, prof. Babiloni will generate a possible business plan for the commercialization of the measurement tool in museums as well as important artistic institutions in Italy. This will be developed in conjunction with the BrainSigns, the university of Sapienza spin-off that will actively participate to the research.
The involvement of all the partners will be immediate from month 1 of the project, each one in the respective areas of involvement.