Electrophysiological correlates of looking at paintings and its association with art expertise

This study investigated the electrocortical correlates of art expertise, as defined by a newly developed, content-valid and internally consistent 23-item art expertise questionnaire in N=27 participants that varied in their degree of art expertise. Participants viewed each 50 paintings, filtering-distorted versions of these paintings and plain colour stimuli under free-viewing conditions whilst the EEG was recorded from 64 channels. Results revealed P3b-/LPC-like bilateral posterior event-related potentials (ERP) that were larger over the right hemisphere than over the left hemisphere. Art expertise correlated negatively with the amplitude of the ERP responses to paintings and control stimuli. We conclude that art expertise is associated with reduced ERP responses to visual stimuli in general that can be considered to reflect increased neural efficiency due to extensive practice in the contemplation of visual art.