Researchers used electroencephalograms (EEGs) to reveal that real artworks, including Girl with a Pearl Earring, elicit a powerful positive response much greater than the response to reproductions.
The secret behind the attraction of the 'Girl' is also based on a unique neurological phenomenon. Unlike other paintings, she manages to 'captivate' the viewer, in a 'sustained attentional loop.'
This process most clearly stimulates a part of the brain called the precuneus, which is involved in one's sense of self, self-reflection and episodic memories.
Girl with a Pearl Earring wasn't the only painting used in the study, but it produced by far the greatest measurable difference in the viewers' neurologies.
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