Neuromarketing Research on Individual Responses to Artwork: Implications for Galleries

Abstract

This paper reports the results of neuromarketing research for artworks. It was conducted among young people, students of non-art specialties, for nine different widely known art pieces with the help of eyetracking and emotional scanning equipment.The aim of the experiment is to determine (1) whether viewers concentrate more on the representational art compared to abstracts art, (2) whether any correlation between the viewing time and the evoked emotions exists, and (3) whether there is any difference between the monitored emotions and those people articulate (in other words, to what extend artwork viewers tell the truth).The result demonstrates a slightly higher preference in looking at the representational paintings. But we do not notice any correlation between the subjective liking of the painting and the time spent looking at it. An essential difference is recorded for the emotions fixed technically and those reported by the viewers.The paper also suggests several implications for gallery marketing. JEL сlassification: M31, Z11