DECIDING ABOUT A PAINTING AS QUICK AS A FLASH. In this post from earlier this year, I took note that people are reported to take on average only 11 seconds to look at the Mona Lisa. I also said: “A lot of conceptual art bears only a few moments of looking. If you watch people at an exhibit of conceptual art, they will glance at a work for a few moments, take in the concept and move on.â€
This article by Robert Lee Hotz in the Wall Street Journal (December 7) about neuroscience research into art appreciation seems to provide support for this haste. Hotz says: “Shown an artwork for the first time…people usually make a snap judgment of its aesthetic appeal. Brain-wave recordings suggest that the neural calculation takes 200 to 330 milliseconds, about as long as a photo flash.”