Emotion, Embodiment, and Aesthetic Appraisal: The Impact of Interoceptive Abilities and Art Type

Abstract

Emotions are considered important in aesthetic experience. Given that emotions have bodily dimensions, it follows that interoception—the ability to perceive bodily signals accurately—may play a role in experiences of art. This raises the intriguing question of whether variation in interoceptive abilities relates to differences in art experience. We addressed this possibility across two studies that employed objective and subjective measures of interoceptive abilities. In Study 1, we examined the impact of objective interoceptive accuracy (IAc) and bodily changes (heart rate and skin conductance) while viewing art on participants’ appraisal and emotional response to abstract and representational artworks. IAc was positively related to participants' subjective emotional reactions to art, particularly in response to representational paintings, while no relationship was found for art appraisal. We also observed that heart rate change was higher for representational art. Moreover, for the first time, we found that skin conductance response was positively related to art appraisal and emotional response and did not differ by art type. In Study 2, we assessed the role of individual differences in self-reported interoception and emotion in participants’ experiences of art. As in Study 1, we found that individual differences were mainly related to ratings of emotional response, particularly for representational artworks. All in all, we propose that an interplay between artwork type, emotions, and interoceptive abilities plays a crucial role in the experience of art.