0186 Experimental Sleep Restriction Affects Artwork Perceptions

Abstract Introduction Sleep deprivation is known to detrimentally affect attention, memory, and other cognitive processes. Less is known about whether and how sleep loss influences perception, such as the aesthetic experience of viewing art, which serves as a conduit for social bonding, creative expression, and life enrichment. In the current work, we tested perceptions of abstract artwork after normal sleep and sleep restricted periods. Methods Sixty-four young adults (mean age=19.98, 53.2% female, 54.8% non-Caucasian) were enrolled in a cross-over designed, in-laboratory study. Following an adaptation night, participants were randomly assigned to undergo two nights of sleep restriction (1:30 AM – 7:00AM) or two nights of normal sleep (10:00 PM – 07:00AM), with polysomnography recordings. In the morning, participants viewed 12 abstract paintings, each for 15 seconds coupled with a female artist’s name or male artist’s name (randomized across paintings). After each painting, participants rated the painting's beauty, colorfulness, skillfulness, creativity, and how much they liked it overall. During the next week, participants completed the other sleep condition (order counterbalanced) with a new set of abstract paintings and artist names. Results We conducted a series of 2 (sleep condition) x 2 (artist gender) x 2 (participant gender) ANOVAs. Males tended to favor male artwork, and females tended to favor female artwork, but gender effects were not statistically significant (ps>.10). Interestingly, sleep restriction significantly reduced how much participants rated liking the artwork (p=0.009) and tended to reduce perceptions of the beauty of the artwork (p=.051). Perceptions of colorfulness, skillfulness, and creativity were not significantly affected (ps>.10). Conclusion Sleep loss can subtly affect perceptions of artwork, generally by dampening the aesthetic experience. Future work should investigate economic and cultural impacts of sleep loss, and how short sleep in artists affects their creative output. Support (if any) Support provided by the National Science Foundation (1920730).