PERIODIC AND APERIODIC SPECTRAL SIGNATURES OF BEING MOVED BY ART
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) June 23, 2026 Deysha Poyser, Eugenio Rodríguez
Intense aesthetic experiences involve distinct neural states rather than simply stronger versions of ordinary responses. Electroencephalography recordings from 22 Chilean participants viewing 113 artworks revealed threshold-specific neurodynamics: beta-band power and its interaction with the aperiodic 1/f exponent predicted the transition to the most intense response during viewing, while the aperiodic exponent alone predicted the shift from very low to higher intensity after viewing. Individual differences in alpha and gamma activity improved predictive performance, indicating meaningful neural variability in aesthetic processing. These findings support the hypothesis that being intensely moved constitutes a qualitatively distinct neural state.