“Aesthetic experience” refers to a set of physical and mental activities engaged in the relationship with an artwork. In recent years, a great deal of experimental evidence has analysed the properties of specific stimuli in the art field, validating their attribute as “supernormal stimuli”, which are those stimuli capable of activating an individual more than the norm. Many of these studies have focused on the formal characteristics of the artwork, although it is now known that high-level factors such as expectations, context or cultural beliefs can also contribute to the aesthetic experience and judgement of the beholder.

In the context of the exhibition Superstimolo (2021/2022) at MAXXI Museum, Roma, we focused on the influence of authorship declaration on aesthetic appreciation of artworks, by manipulating the information about “who made the artwork” before exposing it to participants. In particular, we compared the electrophysiological, cerebral and physical responses, and the explicit judgements of visitors when confronted with the same artworks declared to have been made by an artificial intelligence or a human being. 
The results of this experiment are currently being analysed.