Of Photos & Paintings: What Constitute As Art, According To Human Brains

What do we consider art? Many will tell us that it is difficult to interpret, but one thing is for sure: art is subjective, especially when a plain white canvas could sell for hundreds and thousands of dollars. Still, this does not explain why human brains seem to think that photos are not nearly as artistic as paintings.

Until now. The Economic Times reported that considering an image as artwork changes people's responses at both a neural and behavioral level, meaning that our brains automatically up- and down-grade emotional responses according to how we think they should be understood at face value, and whether or not we should interpret it as art.

Over 200 years ago, philosopher Immanuel Kant put forth the aesthetic theory involving "reflective judgment." According to Kant, we need to emotionally distance ourselves from an artwork in order to better appreciate it, and today, it seems that his stance still proves true. In a study made by Erasmus University, researchers found that our brains deal with artwork differently.

For their study, twenty-four student volunteers were asked to evaluate a series of pictures while using an electroencephalogram to measure brain activity - half of the photos were pleasant, and the other half, less so. The subjects were told that the pictures were either works of art or photographs of real events, and at the end of the trial, they were asked to rate each image. By the end of the study, the researchers were able to see that the stimulus was greater when the participants were told that the photo was real, as opposed to works of art. However, when questioned, most rated art more likeable than real pictures.

Lead researcher Noah van Dongen said, "When we think we are not dealing with reality, our emotional response appears to be subdued on a neural level. This may be because of a tendency to 'distance' ourselves from the image, to be able to appreciate or scrutinise its shapes, colours, and composition instead of just its content."