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The description of a painting directly affects how children look at that artwork. This was discovered by psychologist Francesco Walker in the Rijksmuseum. Another finding of the study is that giving children information intended for adults has the same effect as giving them no information at all.

Many museums offer educational programs for children, says Leiden University psychologist Francesco Walker. But the descriptions of artworks available in the gallery are nearly always written for an adult audience. This is presumably why so many children simply "zap through" the artworks, without really looking at them attentively. Would it make a difference if the information available in the gallery was more accessible?

Walker collaborated with the Rijksmuseum to investigate the effect of different types of information. The research team also included students from Leiden University and researchers from VU Amsterdam, the University of British Columbia and Attention Architects.

Research design

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