In a recent issue of the American Psychological Association’s magazine Monitor on Psychology, which I regularly follow, I discovered an interesting article1 about the surprising and profound effects of art on psychological well-being.
For example, the article cited a review by the World Health Organization which found that listening to music could promote new neural pathways after having a stroke or that art therapy decreased cognitive decline, to name a few benefits.
Given the importance of art, it is no surprise that researchers have begun to try to construct frameworks about art engagement to facilitate scientific inquiry. For example, Pelowski and colleagues, through interviewing hundreds of museumgoers, have categorized interactions with art into five different categories–no emotional connection, negative/positive emotional response, or big/small transformation (the extent to which the art challenged their worldview)2. Interestingly, those who experienced big transformations also tended to feel negative emotions as a result of a drastic shift in worldview. On the contrary, those who experience small transformations, such as learning something interesting, tend to feel positive emotions, suggesting this is the optimal zone for boosting well-being.
Edward Vessel, a computational cognitive neuroscientist at the City College of New York, theorizes that the reason for art’s benefits comes from the derivation of personal meaning from art. His research showed that upon viewing art, the default mode network–a network of brain regions active in introspective tasks–is activated, indicating that people experience personal connection when viewing art3.
In an increasingly divided world, art can also encourage people to have more empathy for other people who are struggling. In a study conducted by Ellen Winner, professor emerita at Boston College, participants read either a literary memoir by an undocumented immigrant or an objective expository essay on the same topic. At the end, participants who read the memoir felt significantly greater empathy toward the immigrant community, even if they were initially unsympathetic.
As researchers seek to learn more about the arts and how they affect human emotions and judgement, there is a lot to be done to build frameworks that harness art for public good where people will enjoy viewing arts and making arts as well.
- Art and the Mind, Weir, K.Monitor on Psychology,September 2025
- Empirical Studies of the Arts, Vol. 45, No. 2, 2025
- Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, Vol. 6, No. 66, 2021: PNAS, Vol. 116, No .38, 2019
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