The element of surprise distinguishes beauty from pleasure and interest in visuo-tactile perception of art

This study investigated how tactile exploration of visually similar but materially different artwork pairs, i.e., congruent (matching tactile properties) or incongruent (mismatching tactile properties), influences aesthetic evaluation, embodied experience, and neural processing. We examined how prediction errors during incongruent trials relate to beauty, pleasure, and interest ratings, as well as mismatch negativity (MMN), associated with sensory surprise. Sixty-six participants explored eight artwork pairs, while EEG was recorded and were asked to rate artworks on various dimensions. Results showed that congruent artworks were rated significantly higher on beauty, pleasure, and interest, supporting the idea that sensory harmony enhances the aesthetic experience. However, the MMN analysis revealed a more complex interplay. Stronger MMN amplitudes were associated with higher beauty ratings, suggesting perceptual surprise may enhance aesthetic appreciation under certain conditions. Pleasure moderated this relationship, with stronger MMN-beauty associations coinciding with lower pleasure ratings, pointing towards the role of metacognitive awareness in the experience of beauty. Measures of intimacy and embodiment did not differ significantly between congruent and incongruent trials. Our results demonstrate that MMN can serve as a neural marker of prediction error in tactile art (i.e., art that is intended to be touched) perception, and that beauty may reflect metacognitive appraisal processes as incongruence in visuo-tactile interactions is resolved.