Most empirical aesthetics research strips away the environments and experiences that art viewers commonly enjoy. These restrictions can be important to study specific aesthetic features (e.g., symmetry and contrast), but experimental limitations may inhibit viewers’ ability to engage with artworks on a deeper level. We sought to explore how a typical experimental design impacts the art-viewing experience, in comparison to a museum visit. We focused on the exhibition Take Your Time, at M Museum in Leuven, which centered around a dialogue between past and present. The artworks were either viewed in person at the museum or on a computer in the laboratory. Participants either followed a free-viewing (self-selected order, unlimited time, and unrestricted distances/angles) or a rigid-viewing protocol (predetermined order, 10 s presentations, and restricted distances/angles). In total, 162 participants had their eye movements tracked and provided pleasure and interest ratings for each artwork, as well as their overall impressions of the entire exhibition. Exhibition pleasure and interest ratings did not differ between conditions; however, other exhibition-wide ratings (i.e., seeing connection between artworks, typicality, expectation match, and being more than sum of its parts) were higher in the museum, irrespective of viewing constraints. Participants’ preexisting art style preferences were the strongest predictor of responses to individual works. Viewing behaviors (dwell time and fixation counts) also positively correlated with aesthetic appraisals. These findings suggest that the context in which we study art perception matters, particularly for in-depth appraisals, though this context may matter less for simple appraisals
大多数经验美学研究往往剥离了艺术观众在真实观展过程中通常能够享有的环境条件与体验因素。尽管这种控制性限制对于研究某些特定的审美特征（如对称性与对比度）具有重要意义，但实验条件的约束也可能抑制观众更深层次地参与艺术作品的能力。基于此，我们旨在考察：与博物馆中的真实观展体验相比，典型实验设计会如何影响个体的艺术观看体验。本研究以鲁汶M博物馆（M Museum Leuven）的展览“Take Your Time”为对象，该展览围绕过去与当下之间的对话展开。艺术作品分别在两种情境下呈现：其一为博物馆现场观看，其二为实验室中通过计算机观看。参与者被进一步分配至两种观看模式之一：自由观看条件，即观看顺序由参与者自行选择、观看时间不受限制，且观看距离与角度不加约束；以及严格观看条件，即作品呈现顺序预先设定、每件作品呈现10秒，且观看距离与角度受到限制。
研究共纳入162名参与者，对其眼动行为进行追踪，并收集其对每件作品的愉悦感与兴趣评分，以及对整个展览的总体印象评价。结果显示，不同条件下，参与者对展览整体的愉悦感与兴趣评分并无显著差异。然而，其他展览层面的整体评价指标——包括作品之间关联性的感知、展览的典型性、与预期的契合程度，以及“整体大于部分之和”的感受——在博物馆情境中均显著高于实验室情境，且这一效应不受观看限制条件的影响。此外，参与者既有的艺术风格偏好是预测其对单件作品反应的最强因素。观看行为指标，如凝视时长与注视次数，也与审美评价呈正相关。上述发现表明，艺术知觉研究所处的情境具有重要影响，尤其是在涉及更深层次评价时更是如此；而对于较为简单的评价而言，情境因素的作用可能相对有限。
