Scientists Unravel a Famous Painting's Magic

Neuroscientists may have figured out why some viewers of Johannes Vermeer's "Girl With a Pearl Earring" become so entranced upon seeing it—especially the original. In their study, researchers had volunteers look at five paintings, as well as reproductions of the same paintings, while wearing contraptions that mapped their brain activity, explains Smithsonian Magazine. Key points:

• Originals better: Participants' reactions to seeing the originals at the Mauritshuis museum in the Netherlands were roughly 10 times stronger than when they looked at posters of the same paintings in the gift shop, reports AFP. In short, a real painting "activates the brain differently," as a museum news release puts it.

• Vermeer's work: The researchers found that the reaction to the Vermeer masterpiece was most pronounced, and they chalked it up to what they called a "sustained attentional loop." They discovered that viewers' eyes were drawn to the girl's eyes, then the earring, then her mouth in a continuous pattern, a credit to the artist's use of light, per the Art Newspaper. Those who want to fully deconstruct the experience should know this "pearly triangle" lit up a part of the brain known as the precuneus, associated with memories and self-reflection, per the newspaper.
• Takeaway quote: The Vermeer painting "evokes more brain attention than something that is a potential danger," says Martin de Munnik, a co-founder of the neuromarketing firm Neurensics, which conducted the study. "It demands your attention and, whether you want to or not, makes you look for longer."

(More art stories.)