The power of something new: The novelty effect on decreased engagement with artworks

In museums and art galleries, visitors become less engaged per object over time. This study, comprising a pre-study (N = 31) and a main study (N = 73) in both laboratory and online settings, explores habituation as a potential cause. The primary aim is to reveal the underlying mechanism and propose strategies for its mitigation. Two research questions were set: (1) Is habituation one of the mechanisms behind the decline in engagement? (2) Can inducing novelty into the presented stimulus sequence counteract this decline? In our experiments, we prepared two sequences of art presentations. In one sequence, artworks were presented in sequential blocks by art category, introducing novelty when a shift between blocks occurred. In the other sequence, different categories were presented successively, introducing novelty within blocks. Each sequence was set as the BC (high between-novelty condition) and the WC (high within-novelty condition). Participants were randomly assigned to either one of the conditions. Participants’ engagement level was evaluated via viewing time for each stimulus. We found (1) no evidence for habituation as an underlying mechanism and (2) a mixed impact of introducing novelty between the two studies. Limitations and future directions are discussed.