ORIGINAL RESEARCH

published: 05 January 2016

doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01951

Aesthetic Emotions Across Arts: A

Comparison Between Painting and
Music
Andrei C. Miu 1 , Simina Pit, ur 1 and Aurora Szentágotai-Tătar 2*
1
Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania,
2
Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Emotional responses to art have long been subject of debate, but only recently
have they started to be investigated in affective science. The aim of this study
was to compare perceptions regarding frequency of aesthetic emotions, contributing
factors, and motivation which characterize the experiences of looking at painting and
listening to music. Parallel surveys were filled in online by participants (N = 971)
interested in music and painting. By comparing self-reported characteristics of these
experiences, this study found that compared to listening to music, looking at painting
was associated with increased frequency of wonder and decreased frequencies of joyful
activation and power. In addition to increased vitality, as reflected by the latter two
emotions, listening to music was also more frequently associated with emotions such
as tenderness, nostalgia, peacefulness, and sadness. Compared to painting-related
Edited by:
Magda L. Dumitru,
emotions, music-related emotions were perceived as more similar to emotions in
Macquarie University, Australia other everyday life situations. Participants reported that stimulus features and previous
Reviewed by: knowledge made more important contributions to emotional responses to painting,
Sascha Topolinski, whereas prior mood, physical context and the presence of other people were considered
University of Cologne, Germany
Elena Alessandri, more important in relation to emotional responses to music. Self-education motivation
Lucerne University of Applied was more frequently associated with looking at painting, whereas mood repair and
Sciences and Arts, Switzerland
keeping company motivations were reported more frequently in relation to listening to
*Correspondence:
Aurora Szentágotai-Tătar
music. Participants with visual arts education reported increased vitality-related emotions
[email protected] in their experience of looking at painting. In contrast, no relation was found between
music education and emotional responses to music. These findings offer a more general
Specialty section:
perspective on aesthetic emotions and encourage integrative research linking different
This article was submitted to
Cognition, types of aesthetic experience.
a section of the journal
Frontiers in Psychology Keywords: aesthetic emotions, painting, music, art education

Received: 19 June 2015

Accepted: 04 December 2015
Published: 05 January 2016
INTRODUCTION
Citation: Emotional responses to art (i.e., aesthetic emotions) have long interested philosophers,
Miu AC, Pit, ur S and
psychologists, and art critics (Robinson, 2004). Theories in psychology and aesthetics (James,
Szentágotai-Tătar A (2016) Aesthetic
Emotions Across Arts: A Comparison
1890/1950; Bell, 1914; Berlyne, 1974) initially focused on positive emotional responses that arise
Between Painting and Music. from the appreciation of the form of expression as beautiful, harmonious, or powerful (Robinson,
Front. Psychol. 6:1951. 2004). Recent studies have found that indeed, emotions (i.e., brief affective states triggered by
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01951 the appraisal of an event in relation to current goals; Scherer and Zentner, 2001) such as awe

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Miu et al. Aesthetic Emotions Related to Painting and Music

(Shiota et al., 2007) and wonder (Zentner et al., 2008) are Zentner, 2001; Lindell and Mueller, 2011) has acknowledged
frequently reported in relation to the contemplation of artworks. that stimulus-driven or “bottom-up” processing interacts with
These emotions typically occur when an object or event is education and psychological characteristics that can influence
appraised as highly complex and novel, and creates a sense of emotional responses to art through knowledge-driven or
being in the presence of something greater than oneself (Keltner “top-down” processing.
and Haidt, 2003). Many studies have therefore examined whether art education
However, it has also been recently emphasized that affective facilitates art-related emotions through a better understanding
responses to art are more diverse (Silvia, 2011) and often include of the formal means of expression in painting or music.
emotions such as sadness (Vuoskoski and Eerola, 2012) and Indeed, students in art history compared to students in other
nostalgia (Barrett et al., 2010), which are also experienced in fields categorize paintings using more criteria and favor style-
other everyday situations that do not involve contemplation related rather than affective criteria (Augustin and Leder, 2006).
of artworks. These emotions may be related to the content Similarly, musicians perceive the links between a musical theme
and personal interpretation of an artwork, rather than its form and its variations better than non-musicians (Bigand and Poulin-
(Robinson, 2004; Silvia, 2011). For instance, one may admire Charronnat, 2006), and describe music using adjectives related
Caravaggio’s skill in David with the Head of Goliath, but to novelty and originality rather than emotional characteristics
also feel disgust at the sight of dripping blood, and sadness (Istok et al., 2009). However, despite these differences in
at the thought that this artwork may express the painter’s processing styles, music-related emotions are not markedly
remorse. Similarly, someone listening to the Adagietto from dissimilar in musicians and non-musicians (Bigand and Poulin-
Mahler’s 5th Symphony may feel blends of awe, tenderness Charronnat, 2006; Baltes et al., 2012) and the same may be
and nostalgia related to the skillful orchestration, on the one true for painting-related emotions. While no study investigated
hand, and knowing that this piece captures the composer’s the influence of visual arts expertise on emotional responses
love for his wife and worries for his deteriorating health, to painting, experimental evidence suggests that providing
on the other hand. Therefore, art contemplation can trigger additional information that facilitates understanding of paintings
multiple emotions, which include aesthetic emotions driven by does not influence preference for paintings (Leder et al., 2006).
positive appraisals of the form of expression, and other positive In addition to art education, other individual differences such as
or negative emotions, driven by appraisals of the content or prior mood may also influence emotional responses to artworks
meaning of artworks (Silvia, 2011). Given the increasing interest (Hunter et al., 2011; Vuoskoski and Eerola, 2011a,b; Baltes and
in affective science (Gross and Barrett, 2013), recent studies Miu, 2014).
have focused on describing emotions associated with aesthetic Situational factors may also modulate art-related emotions.
experiences such as looking at painting and listening to music, For instance, the presence of other people such as in the
and on examining their underlying mechanisms and motivation attendance of live music performance or during a visit to an
(for review see Silvia, 2011; Swaminathan and Schellenberg, art gallery may influence emotional responses to artworks. Field
2015). studies (Juslin et al., 2008) and experimental studies (Liljestrom
Influential theoretical frameworks, which have guided et al., 2013) showed that the presence of the romantic partner
research on preferences for painting (Leder et al., 2004; Lindell or a close friend during music listening increases the frequency
and Mueller, 2011) and emotional responses to music (Scherer of affective states such as happiness-elation, pleasure-enjoyment
and Zentner, 2001), argue that one’s reactions to artworks and admiration-awe. These findings highlight social facilitation
involve an interplay of multiple factors related to stimulus, as one of the factors that may contribute to the increased
person, and situation. The contribution of perceptual features enjoyment of music during live music performance (Lamont,
and formal characteristics conveying style has been pointed out 2011). The influence of context has also been acknowledged in
by observations that aesthetic preferences form very rapidly theories of painting-related emotions (Leder et al., 2004) and
(i.e., in less than 1 s), whether in the form of beauty judgments one study (Pelowski et al., 2014) suggested that social encounters
of graphic patterns (Jacobsen and Höfel, 2003) or emotional in art galleries may be detrimental to aesthetic experience
categorization of music excerpts (Bigand et al., 2005). Indeed, by inducing competition between social awareness and self-
these rapid responses may involve automatic mechanisms focused enjoyment of paintings. However, the influence of social
such as visual disambiguation (Topolinski et al., 2015) and factors and other contextual variables (e.g., location; Scherer and
premotor simulation (Leder et al., 2012; Ticini et al., 2014), Zentner, 2001) needs further research, particularly in the case of
although recent studies also report their interaction with painting-related emotions.
consciously controlled processes such as expectations (McLean In addition to mechanisms, recent studies have also focused
et al., 2015). The relations between the structural characteristics on motivation for exposure to art. The most commonly
of music (e.g., mode, tempo) and emotional responses have reported reason for music listening is “mood repair” or emotion
been systematically investigated (Gabrielsson and Lindstrom, regulation, but social reasons (e.g., alleviate loneliness; keep up
2001; Gomez and Danuser, 2007). Taking a more general with art trends) and self-actualization needs (e.g., explore and
approach, research relevant to painting has mostly focused express identity) are also frequently reported (Lonsdale and
on non-aesthetic stimuli (e.g., geometrical shapes) and broad North, 2011). People use music to manage their mood to a greater
aesthetic preferences instead of specific emotions (Jacobsen and extent than they use other leisure activities such as reading or
Höfel, 2002). Nonetheless, theory in both fields (Scherer and exercising (Lonsdale and North, 2011). However, the tendency to

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Miu et al. Aesthetic Emotions Related to Painting and Music

use music for mood repair may be influenced by music training The surveys were divided into three sections. The first section
considering that musicians use music for cognitive (e.g., attention focused on socio-demographic characteristics: age, sex, education
to structural complexity or performing technique) rather than level, and occupational status.
emotional reasons (Getz et al., 2014). To our knowledge, no The second section surveyed art education, asking
study has yet investigated motivation for aesthetic experience participants whether they had graduated from a high school
with painting. or college in the field of visual arts or music. Participants who
In summary, painting and music-related emotions seem filled in the survey on painting-related experiences were also
to involve a similar interplay of factors related to stimulus, asked to report whether they had knowledge related to painting
person and context. However, any attempt to generalize across or drawing, sculpture, and/or art history. Those who filled in
experience with these arts is currently hampered by the lack of the survey on music-related experiences were asked to report
empirical evidence on certain issues, particularly in the case of whether they had knowledge related to sight reading of musical
painting (e.g., frequency of specific emotions; influence of visual scores, instrument playing and/or musicology. They were also
arts expertise, prior mood and social context; motivation), as well asked to assess how experienced they thought they were in
as the absence of integrative studies systematically comparing looking at painting or listening to music (five-point scale: 1,
the characteristics of aesthetic experience in relation to painting beginner; 5, experienced), as well as the personal importance
and music (but see Rawlings et al., 2000; Cleridou and Furnham, of these art-related activities (five-point scale: 1, not at all
2014). In this study, parallel surveys on the experience of looking important; 5, very important).
at painting and listening to music were filled in online by The third section included questions about frequency of
two samples of volunteers. Self-reported frequency of emotions, art-related emotions, perception of contributing factors, and
evaluation of contributing factors, and motivation in aesthetic motivation for aesthetic experience. Emotional experience was
experience with painting and music were compared between assessed by asking participants to rate the frequency of
samples. In addition, the influence of art education on the several emotions in relation to looking at painting or listening
characteristics of aesthetic experience was also investigated. to music, using a five-point scale (1, never; 2, rarely; 3,
sometimes; 4, frequently; 5, very frequently). The emotion
MATERIAL AND METHODS labels were taken from the 25-item version of the Geneva
Emotional Music Scale (Zentner et al., 2008), representing nine
Participants emotion categories: wonder, transcendence, tenderness, nostalgia
The surveys on looking at painting and listening to music and peacefulness (facets of the more general dimension of
were separately advertised online, mainly through social media “sublimity”); power and joyful activation (facets of “vitality”);
(e.g., Facebook), as part of a psychological study on aesthetic and tension and sadness (facets of “unease”). To our knowledge,
experience. The survey on looking at painting was filled in GEMS is the only standardized instrument covering the whole
by 260 participants, and the survey on listening to music was spectrum of emotional responses to artworks, including both
filled in by 711 participants. The surveys were in Romanian positive aesthetic emotions (e.g., wonder, transcendence), and
and all participants reported Romanian as their first language. other positive (e.g., joyful activation, power) and negative
Table 1 shows the distributions of age, sex, general education, emotions (e.g., nostalgia, sadness) that occur in various
and occupational status, which were not significantly different situations in everyday life. There is no equivalent standardized
between the samples. Participants were informed that they would assessment of emotional responses to painting and developing
answer questions about their experience of looking at painting or such an instrument was beyond the purpose of this study.
listening to music, and signed a consent form before accessing However, we thought GEMS was suitable for this exploratory
the survey. The study followed the recommendations of the study considering the potential similarities between emotional
Declaration of Helsinki regarding participant safety and was responses to music (Zentner and Eerola, 2010) and painting
approved by the Ethics Committee of Babeş-Bolyai University. (Silvia, 2011). The Romanian translation of GEMS was used in
several previous studies (e.g., Miu and Baltes, 2012; Baltes and
Surveys Miu, 2014).
The questions and answer options were equivalent in the two In addition to assessing the frequency of emotions using
surveys. Other than the reference to painting or music, the GEMS, another item asked participants to rate the similarity
phrasing was identical. between everyday emotions and emotional experience with

TABLE 1 | Socio-demographic characteristics of the survey samples.

Age (M ± SD) Sex (%) General education (%) Occupational status (%)

Women Men Primary Secondary Higher Student Employed Unemployed Retired

Looking at painting 30.27 ± 11.53 82.31 17.69 5 30.38 64.62 40.77 52.31 4.23 2.69
Listening to music 28.10 ± 10.17 78.62 21.38 3.94 36.71 59.35 45.15 49.37 3.52 1.96

Abbreviations: M, mean; SD, standard deviation.

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Miu et al. Aesthetic Emotions Related to Painting and Music

painting or music using a five-point scale (1, not at all; 5, very

much).
Participants also rated, on a scale from 1 (not at all) to
5 (very much), the extent to which painting or music-related
emotions involved one of the following factors: (1) structural
features of the aesthetic stimulus, such as form, color, contrasts
and composition for painting, and mode and tempo for music;
(2) physical context (e.g., location); (3) prior mood, immediately
before exposure to artworks; (4) previous knowledge about
artwork and artist (i.e., painter or composer); and (5) presence of
other people, when aesthetic experience occurs in social contexts.
These factors were inspired by previous studies (Scherer and
Zentner, 2001).
Another item focused on motivation, and participants were
asked to rate the importance of five potential reasons in
their aesthetic experience with painting or music: (1) mood
management or relaxation; (2) experiencing new emotions,
which are not typical of everyday life; (3) self-education;
(4) sharing emotions with others; and (5) keeping company
when one feels lonely. These types of motivation were FIGURE 1 | Perceived frequency of emotions in the experience of
looking at painting and listening to music. Error bars indicate standard
also derived from previous literature (Lonsdale and North,
error of the mean. **p < 0.01.
2011).

Statistical Analyses
The main analyses compared self-reported frequency of The frequency of transcendence and tension were not different in
emotions, contributing factors and motivation for the two types the two samples.
of aesthetic experience: looking at painting and listening to The perceived similarity between art-related emotions and
music. Other analyses compared between participants with and everyday emotions was also analyzed. Painting-related emotions
without art education. Considering the unequal sizes of the two (M = 3.25; SD = 0.99) were rated as significantly less similar
samples, as well as of the groups with and without art education, to emotions in other everyday situations, compared to music-
we used analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Welch’s correction related emotions (M = 3.53; SD = 0.97): F(1, 450.29) = 15.89,
for unequal variance, which is a robust method to protect p < 0.001, η2P = 0.02.
against type I errors while conserving power (Kohr and Games,
1974). In addition, we used the Bonferroni method to correct
the threshold of statistical significance for each set of analyses, Perception of Contributing Factors
as follows: p ≤ 0.005 (0.05/9) for self-reported frequency of Figure 2 shows the perceived contributions of several factors
emotions; p ≤ 0.01 (0.05/5) for perceived contributing factors; to art-related emotions. The contributions of stimulus features
and p ≤ 0.01 (0.05/5) for self-reported motivation. Effect sizes [F(1, 624.81) = 56.85, p < 0.001, η2P = 0.04] and previous
are reported as η2P , where an effect of 0.01 is small, one of 0.06 knowledge [F(1, 461.09) = 12.48, p < 0.001, η2P = 0.01] were
is medium, and one of 0.14 is large (Cohen, 1988). All analyses rated at higher levels for painting-related emotions, whereas the
were run in SPSS. contributions of prior mood [F(1, 384.60) = 65.93, p < 0.001, η2P
= 0.08], physical context [F(1, 437.99) = 30.29, p < 0.001, η2P
RESULTS = 0.03], and the presence of others [F(1, 433.12) = 44.99, p <
0.001, η2P = 0.05] were rated at higher levels for music-related
Painting and Music-Related Emotions emotions.
By comparing self-reported frequency of each emotion between
samples (Figure 1), we found that those who described their Self-Reported Motivation
experience of looking at painting reported higher frequencies of Self-reported motivation was also compared between
wonder compared to those who described their experience of participants who described their experience of looking at
listening to music [F(1, 525.29) = 28.49, p < 0.001, η2P = 0.03]. painting and listening to music (Figure 3). Self-education
In contrast, the frequencies of tenderness [F(1, 434.56) = 33.86, was rated as more important for looking at painting
p < 0.001, η2P = 0.04], nostalgia [F(1, 419.57) = 30.09, p < 0.001, [F(1, 481.05) = 48.48, p < 0.001, η2P = 0.05], whereas mood
η2P = 0.03], peacefulness [F(1, 438.95) = 35.83, p < 0.001, η2P = management [F(1, 375.83) = 125.61, p < 0.001, η2P = 0.14] and
0.04], power [F(1, 447.32) = 89.75, p < 0.001, η2P = 0.09], joyful keeping company [F(1, 506.15) = 50.21, p < 0.001, η2P = 0.05]
activation [F(1, 410.84) = 151.69, p < 0.001, η2P = 0.15], and were rated as more important for music listening. Experiencing
sadness [F(1, 501.01) = 43.55, p < 0.001, η2P = 0.04] were higher new emotions and sharing emotions with others were rated at
in relation to listening to music compared to looking at painting. comparable levels for looking at painting and music listening.

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Miu et al. Aesthetic Emotions Related to Painting and Music

p < 0.001, Cohen’s d = 1.02] and the personal importance

of music [t(64.99) = 5.95, p < 0.001, Cohen’s d = 0.65]
were significantly higher for music graduates compared to the
other participants who filled in the survey on listening to
music.
Next, self-reported frequency of emotions, perception of
contributing factors, and self-reported motivation for looking
at painting and listening to music were compared between
participants with and without art education in each sample
(Table 2).
Participants with visual arts education reported significantly
higher frequencies of power [F(1, 106.04) = 10.18, p = 0.002, η2P
= 0.04] and joyful activation [F(1, 120.54) = 17.32, p < 0.001,
η2P = 0.06] in their experience with painting, in comparison to
participants without visual arts education. Frequencies of the
other painting-related emotions were not significantly different
between those with and without visual arts education. Self-
FIGURE 2 | Perception of factors contributing to painting and reported frequencies of all music-related emotions were similar
music-related emotions. Error bars indicate standard error of the mean. in participants with and without music education.
**p < 0.01. Perceived similarity between art-related (i.e., painting or
music) and everyday emotions was not significantly different
in participants with and without art education (i.e., visual arts
education or music education).
Both participants with visual arts education [F(1, 122.63) =
6.81, p = 0.010, η2P = 0.03] and those with music education
[F(1, 46.04) = 23.91, p < 0.001, η2P = 0.03] rated the contribution
of previous knowledge to painting-related emotions and music-
related emotions, respectively, as more important, in comparison
to participants without art education (Table 3).
There were no significant differences related to art education
in self-reported motivation for looking at painting or listening to
music (Table 4).

DISCUSSION
In this study, participants answered surveys on their experience
of looking at painting and listening to music. The main aims
were to compare between perceptions regarding frequency of
FIGURE 3 | Self-reported motivation for looking at painting and emotions, contribution of several factors to art-related emotions,
listening to music. Error bars indicate standard error of the mean. **p < 0.01. and motivation for these two types of aesthetic experience. In
addition, we examined the influence of art education on these
dimensions.
Previous studies identified emotions that are commonly
Art Education experienced by music listeners (Zentner et al., 2008). Aesthetic
There were 69 visual arts graduates in the sample that answered emotions such as awe (Shiota et al., 2007) and other positive
the painting survey, and 42 music graduates in the sample that and negative emotions that occur in various everyday situations
answered the music survey. The majority of visual arts graduates (Silvia, 2011) have also been described in the experience of
reported knowledge about painting (99.65%), sculpture (55.07%), looking at painting. These studies suggested that looking at
and art history (95.65%). The self-reported level of experience painting and listening to music are associated with blends of
with painting [t(258) = 7.53, p < 0.001, Cohen’s d = 1.05), different types of emotions. However, no study has yet compared
and the personal importance of painting [t(258) = 5.04, p < the relative frequency of different emotions in these two types
0.001, Cohen’s d = 0.72] were significantly higher for visual of aesthetic experience. The present results indicate that wonder
art graduates compared to the other participants who filled in may be more frequently experienced while looking at painting
the painting survey. Similarly, most music graduates reported rather than while listening to music. In addition, the experience
knowledge related to sight reading of music scores (92.86%), of looking at painting may be associated with relatively lower
instrument playing (95.23%), and musicology (85.71%). The frequency of vitality-related emotions (Zentner et al., 2008) such
self-reported levels of experience with music [t(51.74) = 7.56, as joyful activation and power. These two emotions were much

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Miu et al. Aesthetic Emotions Related to Painting and Music

TABLE 2 | Perceived frequency of emotions in participants with and without arts education.

Perceived frequency of emotions Similarity

to
emotions
Wonder Transcendence Tenderness Nostalgia Peacefulness Power Joyful Sadness Tension
in other
activation
situations

Looking at Visual arts 11.46 ± 2.24 10.36 ± 2.56 8.3 ± 2.84 10.79 ± 2.57 9.81 ± 2.55 5.88 ± 2.17 10.17 ± 2.43 4.78 ± 2.01 4.26 ± 2.18 3.29 ± 0.98
painting graduates

No formal 11.67 ± 2.12 10.05 ± 2.52 7.89 ± 2.57 10.09 ± 2.72 9.34 ± 2.28 4.94 ± 1.86 8.74 ± 2.44 4.57 ± 1.59 3.6 ± 1.72 3.23 ± 1
visual arts
education

Listening Music 10.9 ± 2.1 10.5 ± 2.57 8.78 ± 2.29 11.54 ± 2.59 10.09 ± 2.03 6.59 ± 1.86 10.85 ± 2.24 5.42 ± 1.66 3.57 ± 1.43 3.36 ± 1.2
to music graduates

No formal 10.73 ± 2.50 9.98 ± 2.53 9.11 ± 2.48 11.3 ± 2.4 10.49 ± 2.24 6.54 ± 1.93 11.32 ± 2.18 5.47 ± 1.89 3.53 ± 1.51 3.54 ± 0.95
music
education

Values in cells are means and standard deviations.

TABLE 3 | Perception of factors contributing to art-related emotions in participants with and without arts education.

Perception of contributing factors

Stimulus features Physical context Mood Previous knowledge Presence of other

people

Looking at painting Visual arts graduates 4.51 ± 0.76 3.35 ± 1.27 3.55 ± 1.15 3.57 ± 1.2 2.57 ± 1.30
No formal visual arts education 4.36 ± 0.78 2.93 ± 1.22 3.63 ± 1.11 3.12 ± 1.23 2.25 ± 1.23

Listening to music Music graduates 4.29 ± 0.94 3.4 ± 1.14 4.21 ± 0.84 3.83 ± 1.24 2.74 ± 1.08
No formal music education 3.9 ± 1.06 3.54 ± 1.18 4.24 ± 0.89 2.86 ± 1.21 2.94 ± 1.17

Values in cells are means and standard deviations.

TABLE 4 | Self-reported motivation for looking at painting and listening to music in participants with and without arts education.

Motivation

Mood Experiencing Self-education Sharing emotions Keeping company

management new emotions with others

Looking at painting Visual arts graduates 3.43 ± 1.27 3.22 ± 1.32 4.14 ± 1.01 3.23 ± 1.33 2.13 ± 1.32
No formal visual arts education 3.37 ± 1.2 3.04 ± 1.31 3.76 ± 1.11 3.04 ± 1.31 1.99 ± 1.26

Listening to music Music graduates 3.86 ± 1.29 3.62 ± 1.39 3.64 ± 1.24 3.38 ± 1.36 2.6 ± 1.43
No formal music education 4.35 ± 0.9 3.22 ± 1.31 3.28 ± 1.14 3.24 ± 1.22 2.72 ± 1.42

Values in cells are means and standard deviations.

more frequently (i.e., large or medium effect size) reported in in limited contexts (e.g., contemplation of artworks or nature
relation to listening to music, which suggests that “vitality” may scenes; Shiota et al., 2007) that create the sensation of being in the
best distinguish emotional responses to music and painting. presence of something greater than oneself (Keltner and Haidt,
Other emotions (i.e., tenderness, nostalgia, peacefulness, sadness) 2003). The reduced vitality of emotions associated with looking
were also more frequently reported in the experience of listening at painting may also contribute to the impression that they are
to music compared to looking at painting, but to a lesser degree, different from emotional experience in general.
that is, with small effect sizes. These results also indicate differences in the perception of
Painting-related emotions were perceived as less similar to factors that may contribute to art-related emotions. Participants
emotions experienced in other everyday life situations compared rated stimulus features and previous knowledge as making more
to music-related emotions. This perception may be connected important contributions to emotional responses to painting
to the relatively higher frequency of wonder associated with than to music. These impressions are in line with theories
looking at painting, considering that this emotion is experienced (Berlyne, 1974) and experimental evidence (Jacobsen and Höfel,

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Miu et al. Aesthetic Emotions Related to Painting and Music

2002; Leder et al., 2012; Ticini et al., 2014; McLean et al., graduates reported increased levels of art-related knowledge—
2015; Topolinski et al., 2015) that support the relation between although note that this type of knowledge was not limited to
perceptual features of paintings and their emotional impact. The those with formal training—, as well as increased experience
present observations do not exclude the contribution of these with and personal importance of art, these differences may have
factors to music-induced emotions, which is well documented driven the present observations on the influence of formal art
in the literature(Gabrielsson and Lindstrom, 2001; Gomez and training.
Danuser, 2007), but merely suggest that people perceive them This study has at least two main limitations. First, being based
as weighing more in the experience of looking at painting. on surveys, these findings describe how art-related experience
In addition, the perception that previous knowledge plays an is perceived by people, and may thus be subjectively biased.
important role in painting-related emotions was corroborated For instance, all art graduates reported that increased levels of
by another observation in this study (see below), namely art knowledge would enhance art-related emotions, but only
that the frequency of certain painting-related emotions was visual arts education seemed to influence emotional responses
higher in visual art graduates, who reported higher levels to painting. Second, we assessed emotional experience using
of art knowledge. In a complementary way, the influence a scale that focuses on emotions which are common in the
of prior mood, physical context, and the presence of other experience of listening to music. There is no similar scale for
people were rated as more important in relation to music- painting-related emotions, so the only available options for
induced emotions. These subjective evaluations are also in this study were measures focused on music-induced emotions
line with previous evidence showing that indeed, both mood such as GEMS (Shiota et al., 2007) and general measures such
prior to music exposure, whether in laboratory (Hunter as PANAS (Watson and Clark, 1994). We chose the former
et al., 2011; Vuoskoski and Eerola, 2011b) or concert hall option considering that GEMS, which was developed through
(Vuoskoski and Eerola, 2011b; Baltes and Miu, 2014), and a factorial approach based on self-reported experience of music
the presence of others, particularly close persons (Juslin et al., listeners (Zentner et al., 2008), may offer a more specific
2008; Liljestrom et al., 2013), influence emotional responses to assessment of aesthetic emotions, leaving out emotions that
music. are not representative for the experience of music listening
Experiences of looking at painting and listening to music were and may be equally unrepresentative for the experience of
also differentiated by self-reported motivation. Relatively more looking at painting. Previous studies suggested some similarities
participants reported that self-education motivated them to look between emotional responses to painting and music (Shiota
at painting. In addition, relatively more participants reported et al., 2007). In addition, GEMS and PANAS partially overlap,
that mood repair and keeping company drove their experience with emotions like wonder, power, joyful activation, tension,
of listening to music. These motivational differences may be and sadness from the former scale paralleling emotions like
supported by many factors, including the wider accessibility serenity, self-assurance, joviality, hostility, and sadness from
of music on portable devices, which may increase its use for the latter scale. Notwithstanding these reasons in favor of
everyday life needs such as mood repair (Lonsdale and North, our approach, it is possible that we did not assess emotions
2011), and the relatively higher vitality of emotional responses that are more specific to looking at painting and are not
to music, which may contribute to increasing function in covered by GEMS. For instance, recent studies identified so-
everyday life. Pending on replication of these results, future called “knowledge emotions” such as surprise, interest and
research could examine why people use the experience of confusion in the experience of looking at painting (Silvia,
looking at painting and listening to music for relatively different 2011). Therefore, the specificity of painting-related emotions
reasons. may have been underestimated in this study. Future research
Visual arts graduates reported higher frequencies of power may identify other specific aspects of emotional responses to
and joyful activation in their experience of looking at painting. painting.
Considering that these emotions had the lowest frequencies In conclusion, our results highlighted multiple differences in
in the overall sample that answered the painting survey, this the perceived qualities of looking at painting and listening to
indicates that visual arts formal training has a significant impact music: emotional responses to painting may be characterized by
on emotional responses to painting and may specifically enhance higher levels of wonder and lower vitality, and are perceived
vitality-related emotions. In contrast, music formal training had as less similar to emotions in other everyday life situations,
no significant effect on the frequency of music-related emotions, compared to music-induced emotions; people outweigh the
which is in line with previous evidence (Bigand and Poulin- contributions of stimulus features and previous knowledge
Charronnat, 2006; Baltes et al., 2012). These findings suggest in relation to emotional responses to painting, and the
that painting-related emotions may involve knowledge-driven contributions of prior mood, physical context, and the presence
or top-down information processing to a larger extent than of others in relation to emotional responses to music; looking at
music-related emotions. However, both visual arts and music painting is driven by self-education motivation, whereas listening
graduates rated the contribution of previous knowledge (e.g., to music is associated with emotional and social motivation; and
information about artwork and artist) to emotional responses at formal art training influences emotional responses to painting
higher levels than participants without formal art training. No (e.g., by increasing vitality), but not to music, which suggests that
differences in motivation for looking at painting and listening the former may depend more on knowledge-driven information
to music were linked to formal art education. Given that art processing. We hope this study will encourage the integration

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Miu et al. Aesthetic Emotions Related to Painting and Music

of theories and approaches in research on painting and music, ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

which have largely developed in parallel until now, and stimulate
future research that could give a more detailed perspective We thank the Editor and the two reviewers for helping us
on common and specific aspects of aesthetic experiences with to improve this manuscript. We are particularly grateful to
different forms of art. Reviewer 1 for detailed and constructive comments.

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