Neurophysiological Correlates of the Aesthetic Judgment Formation in Conditions of Joint Paintings Perception

The article is devoted to the study of neurophysiological correlates of art work (paintings) perception under the conditions of conscious (implicit) formation of the evaluative opinion about them. Participants (24 subjects, 18–60 years old, median 22.5 years, 6 male, 18 female) visited the exhibition of modern artists and in pairs viewed the paintings selected by each other and shared their opinions on the selected paintings. For each participant, the spectral powers of the EEG were compared in the states of “viewing your own choice” and “viewing the painting selected by the partner in the pair”. According to the EEG spectral analysis, a group of subjects can be divided into 2 subgroups, between which there were no differences when viewing a self-selected painting, but there were different reactions when viewing paintings that were chosen by a partner. In the first subgroup (14 people), lower power values (theta (4–8 Hz), alpha-1 (8–10 Hz) and alpha-2 EEG bands) were obtained during perception of the own chosen painting while in the second subgroup (9 people), lower power values (in delta (1.6–4 Hz), theta (4–8 Hz), beta-1 (13.7–18 Hz) and beta-2 (13–30 Hz) EEG bands) were observed when viewing the paintings chosen by the partner. We can assume a difference in the strategies for evaluating a painting chosen by another person.