Sample abstract paintings by Duke University doctoral alumna Sharda Umanath viewed by participants during studies examining how personal memories shape aesthetic experience. (Courtesy of Anna Smith.)
When Abstract Art Moves You, Your Memories May Be Why
Why does a splash of color on canvas sometimes stop us in our tracks while other abstract paintings leave us cold? A new study from Trinity College researchers suggests the answer may lie in how viewers draw on their own life experiences.
“Abstract art leaves more room for people to generate their own interpretations,” said Anna Smith, a cognitive psychologist who led the research as part of her doctoral work at Duke. “Without a clear scene or object to focus on, viewers may rely more on their own experiences and memories to make sense of what they’re seeing.”
In a series of experiments, the team found that people felt significantly more emotionally “moved” by abstract paintings when the images spontaneously triggered autobiographical memories from their lives. The work brings together psychology and philosophy to better understand how people experience art.
“We were interested in what the building blocks of interpreting art might be,” Smith said. “If interpreting art is a generative process — where we construct meaning — then those building blocks may come from our past experiences and memories.”
The study grew out of a collaboration between Smith and Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience Elizabeth Marsh, who studies memory, and Professor of Philosophy Felipe De Brigard, who researches the mind and cognition. Together, they set out to examine how personal memory might shape aesthetic experience.
Memory research has traditionally focused on individuals recalling information in isolation, often using simple stimuli like word lists. But Marsh says that doesn’t reflect how memory operates in everyday life.
“A lot of our memories aren’t retrieved in a vacuum,” Marsh said. “They’re cued by the world around us — conversations, books, movies, and even paintings. Thinking about how our internal memories interact with things in the external world made this project exciting.”
To explore that interaction, the team designed three experiments using abstract artwork. The researchers deliberately chose abstract images rather than recognizable scenes.
“If we showed people paintings with obvious subjects — like a horse or a landscape — it would be hard to know whether they were responding to the image itself or to something personal it reminded them of,” Smith explained.
Participants viewed a series of unfamiliar abstract paintings for eight seconds each. Afterward, they rated how “moved” they felt by the artwork on a scale ranging from “unmoved” to “deeply moved.” The researchers defined being moved as feeling that a work was beautiful, compelling or powerful, even if it was unusual or unsettling.
The paintings used in the study were created by artist and Duke doctoral alumna Sharda Umanath, ensuring participants had never seen them before.
Across all three experiments, a consistent pattern emerged: Participants reported stronger emotional reactions to paintings that reminded them of a specific moment from their lives.
But there was an important twist. In one experiment, participants were instructed to deliberately generate a personal memory for every painting they viewed. In that case, the effect weakened.
The finding suggests that spontaneous memories may play a unique role in aesthetic experience.
“In daily life, a lot of autobiographical memories simply pop into mind,” Marsh said. “When you deliberately try to retrieve one, the process is different. It becomes more like completing a task.”
That difference may shape how people interpret their emotional reactions. When a memory surfaces naturally while looking at a painting, viewers may attribute that emotional response to the artwork itself.
The project also highlights how insights from philosophy can sharpen psychological research. Philosophers have long debated questions about beauty and aesthetic judgment — topics that helped the team frame their experiments.
“The philosophical question asks ‘what makes something beautiful?’,” said De Brigard. “The psychological question is different: ‘what makes people judge something as beautiful or moving?’ Our work focuses on that second question.”
Philosophical perspectives also helped the team think more carefully about the language and concepts used in the study.
“A philosopher makes you be a lot more careful with your language,” Marsh said. “It forces you to think more deeply about what you mean by certain ideas.”
Smith says the collaboration demonstrates the value of interdisciplinary research for tackling complex cognitive questions. “Aesthetic experience draws on so many different systems — memory, emotion, perception,” she said. “It reminds you that the brain is a very integrated processor.”
For De Brigard, the study also illustrates something fundamental about studying the mind. “Sometimes the best way to study the brain isn’t by looking directly at the brain,” he said. “It’s by studying behavior.”
And that behavior — like unexpectedly recalling a childhood moment while staring at an abstract painting — may help explain why certain works of art resonate so deeply.
“When a painting suddenly reminds you of something meaningful from your life,” Smith said, “that may be what makes the experience feel powerful.”
