Can Exposure to Inclusive Virtual Art Decrease Pain and Social Disconnection?

The US has a well-described public health crisis of inappropriate pain management and prescription drug abuse. The proposed study addresses this knowledge gap by creating an experimental intervention to test for the palliative effects of exposure to art by means of virtual museum tours. In the present online experiment, the PIs will manipulate art exposure/no art exposure such that research participants will visit a virtual museum with or without art using their computer browser. Before touring a virtual museum that features or lacks artwork, participants will receive either a secure attachment or an avoidant attachment prime. Participants will be recruited through a 6-week social media recruitment campaign conducted by StudyPages. After recruitment and informed consent are provided, participants will fill out pre-intervention scales (pain intensity and unpleasantness; perceived social disconnection) along with demographic information. Participants will then log in from their browser and tour an art museum gallery. In the artwork present condition, the gallery will feature Google Arts & Culture paintings as part of an exhibition. In the artwork absent condition, paintings will be removed. To prime secure attachment, participants will be asked to reflect and write about a situation in which they felt more socially connected to others. Participants in the avoidant attachment condition will instead reflect and write about a situation in which they felt more socially disconnected from others. Pre-intervention scores for pain intensity, pain unpleasantness, and perceived social disconnection will be compared to post-intervention scores. Behavioral metrics of museum engagement (e.g., clicks, cursor position, distance between user avatar and artwork) will also be considered in the analysis.