Healthy VolunteersABCNCT06515041
Effects of Museum Visits on Neurocognitive Well-being
A study testing brain well-being in people with Healthy Volunteers, run by University Hospital, Caen at 1 site in France.
Trial summary
The effects of art on health and well-being have been the subject of increasing exploration in recent years. In 2019, the World Health Organization proposed a literature review analyzing the links between art, health (defined as a state of good functioning) and well-being. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 to 65 yearsHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Healthy Volunteers
- What is being tested?
- brain well-being
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 200 participants
- Where
- 1 siteFrance
- Study dates
- 17 Jul 2024to 30 Jun 2029
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- Not yet: the study is under way
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 to 65 years
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- Adults with good mental and brain health
- Participants (18-65 years old inclusive)
- Good brain health: Having a MoCA score (screening tool for mild neurocognitive impairments) of 26 or above for those over 55 years old.
- Fluent in French (native language)
- Person who has given informed consent to participate in the study
- Declare being able to comfortably view a painting during a museum visit without wearing glasses
- Declare being able to listen to a conversation
Who cannot join
- History or presence of a psychiatric disorder such as mood disorders, psychotic disorders, personality disorders, addictions, that have required or currently require medical follow-up and/or are in an acute phase.
- Mobility difficulties, postural or balance disorders preventing the participant from easily moving around the museum and using stairs
- History or presence of brain injuries such as TBI, stroke, neurological diseases
- Chronic or long-term illnesses that could make standing uncomfortable for the participant
- Taking medication that affects cognitive functioning
- General anesthesia in the past six months
Show all 11Show fewer
- Vision impairment requiring glasses or resulting in poor detail perception at a distance of 2 to 6 meters
- Person who has visited the permanent collection of the Caen Museum of Fine Arts at least once in the past ten years (Participants are thus either first-time visitors or people who visited the permanent collection more than ten years ago)
- Unable to reach the museum independently
- Hearing impairment (decibel level above 20) not using a hearing aid or whose hearing aid does not sufficiently correct the impairment
- Speech disorder with difficulty communicating with others
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country. Contact the study team or a site near you to ask about taking part.
About this study
The effects of art on health and well-being have been the subject of increasing exploration in recent years. In 2019, the World Health Organization proposed a literature review analyzing the links between art, health (defined as a state of good functioning) and well-being. Currently, the majority of research has focused on populations presenting pathologies (somatic, neurological or psychiatric), very often in older adults. Furthermore, exposure to art (unlike the practice of an artistic activity) still remains under-investigated. However, recent publications (review and longitudinal study) suggest that attending museums would be associated with an increase in well-being, in people with or without pathology.
Supported by the Blood \& Brain @ Caen Normandy Scientific Interest Group and the Museum of Fine Arts as part of the Millennium festivities of the city of Caen, the partnership between three Caen laboratories and a Parisian laboratory enabled the drawing of this innovative research which will aim to measure the effects of visiting a museum dedicated to painting on well-being in healthy adults. It will also involve identifying the cerebral, cognitive and socio-emotional processes associated with these effects, via comprehensive and ecologically adapted measurements.
Read more
Through understanding the mechanisms specific to exposure to art which promote well-being, this research could have implications for:
- Promote synergy between cultural and health policies.
- Design museum experiences as close as possible to human functioning.
- Open up to new perspectives such as the role of exposure to art in maintaining good health, with the possibility in the longer term of considering research on other arts, other populations, in a lifespan approach.
- Open up to other studies of the same type involving pairs of patients and caregivers, young people and seniors, etc.
Read the detailed description
- Call for volunteers: An A5 information poster will be distributed in various structures in the Caen region but also through the press. Participants will be able to contact a member of the research team by email. They will then be contacted in response to this email in order to arrange a telephone appointment. The purpose of this preliminary telephone interview will be to ensure the inclusion criteria without collecting the personal data relating to them. This is to avoid unnecessary travel. If the participant can be included, then a physical appointment will be offered to them in order to carry out the inclusion visit.
- Inclusion visit: An inclusion visit will be carried out during which the participant will be informed of the progress of the study, its implications and their right of withdrawal. A test of the different devices (Near InfraRed Spectroscopy (NIRS), eye-tracking glasses, skin conductance bracelet) under the same conditions as those of the study will be carried out. Then, the participant's consent will be collected via a written form. Finally, the participant will fill out an admission questionnaire with socio-demographic questions, questions related to the aforementioned inclusion criteria, and questions about their cultural practices. Only for participants over 55 years old, an assessment via the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA - screening tool for mild neurocognitive impairment) will be carried out. At the end of all these acts, the participant will be assigned an inclusion number. The personal data collected will be stored on a single computer at Cyceron.
- Visit 1 to the Museum of Fine Arts in Caen: Experimental groups Participants in the experimental groups will be randomized into two groups: with or without mediation. Regardless of their group, they will see the same number of tables. The measurements and questionnaires they will answer will be identical. Upon arrival, participants will be welcomed and then:
- ● Guided to a room where they will answer well-being and stress questionnaires, and complete cognitive tasks (executive functions, global/local visual attention, episodic memory, empathy and creativity questionnaire).
- ● Equipped with eye-tracking glasses, the NIRS headband and the bracelet to measure heart rate (electrodermal biosensor bracelets).
- ● Guided to view 6 paintings. For group A without mediation, participants will be brought in front of each painting and will look at it independently for 2 minutes. For group B with mediation, the mediator, equipped with a lapel microphone, will guide them and explain each painting in 2 minutes. The viewing time and distance will be the same for both groups. After each painting, regardless of the group, participants will indicate the emotions felt by responding on an affect grid.
- ● Removal of glasses, headband and bracelet.
- ● After the visit, participants will again answer the questionnaires and the different cognitive tasks, except for the empathy and creativity questionnaires. Control group The participants in the control group will visit the museum according to a pre-established route with the same number of paintings as the experimental groups. The duration of viewing each painting will be controlled to be identical to that of the experimental groups, i.e. 2 minutes. On the other hand, they will not wear any device (NIRS, eye tracking and electrodermal bracelet) and will not have mediation. They will answer the same questionnaires and cognitive tasks as the experimental groups: before and after the visit, as well as the affect grid during the visit.
- Visit 2 to the Museum of Fine Arts in Caen:
For the experimental groups, the changes between visits 1 and 2 will be as follows:
Number of patients
- ● Participants will complete the visit in pairs (composed of 1 member from group A and 1 from group B). These pairs will be divided into two new groups A' (with mediation) and B' (without mediation).
- ● Participants will see 8 paintings (6 paintings already seen during the first + 2 new paintings).
The questionnaires (except empathy and creativity measured only during visit 1), the cognitive tasks and the measurements (oculometric via eye-tracking/ brain activity via NIRS/ cardiac activity (heart rate via the bracelet) will be carried out in the same way as during visit 1.
For the control group:
- ● The procedure for visit 2 will be identical to that of visit 1. As for the experimental groups, only the empathy and creativity questionnaires will not be included in the questionnaires to be completed.
- ● Like the experimental groups, the control group will carry out the visit in pairs (formed from the members of control group C from visit 1).
- Conditions
- Healthy Volunteers
- Being tested
- brain well-being
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
brain well-beingOther
Also called non invasive Near InfraRed Spectroscopy (NIRS), neon invasive Eye tracking glasses, non invasive Heart rate measurement, Well-being scale (list of questions)
Each volunteers will be subjected to an evaluation of his well-being using a previously well established well-being scale, through a list of questions, prior, during and after the visit to the museum. All volunteers will be also equipped with a non invasive NIRS system to measure their emotions (measure of tissus oxygenenation), with a non invasive system of eye tracking glasses to measure where their eyes are looking and with a non invasive system to measure their heart rate.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| MUSEUM VISITS with mediation: group A | Other | This group of volunteers will visit the museum with a mediation (I.E. description of the painting tables by a professional). Receives: Other: brain well-being |
| MUSEUM VISITS without mediation: group B | Other | This group of volunteers will visit the museum without a mediation (I.E. description of the painting tables by a professional). Receives: Other: brain well-being |
| Control group | Other | This group of volunteers will not visit the museum. Receives: Other: brain well-being |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Effect of museum visit on wellbeing
We will use a well established UCL museum wellbeing measures used to assess levels of psychological wellbeing arising from a situation.
Measured: before and after the first visit and the second one
Effect of museum visit on eyes tracking
eyes tracking glasses will be used to evaluate where the volunteers is looking on pictorials
Measured: during each visit, 1 and 2
Effect of museum visit on NIRS
NIRS, non invasive evaluation of frontal brain oxygenation allowing a follow-up of brain emotions
Measured: during each visit, 1 and 2
Effet of museum visit on heart rate
Non invasive evaluation of heart rate
Measured: during each visit, 1 and 2
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted23 Jul 2024
- Study start17 Jul 2024
- Primary completion30 Jun 2028 (estimated)
- Study completion30 Jun 2029 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for Healthy VolunteersStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- More trials run by University Hospital, CaenThe sponsor's other registered studies.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Basic science
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Single blind
- Who is masked
- Participant
- Enrolment
- 200 participants (estimated)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- University Hospital, Caen
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
- Investigators
- Denis Vivien, phD, Principal investigator, Caen Normandie University Hospital
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06515041
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 24-0031
- Acronym
- ABC
- Status last verified
- Jul 2024
- First submitted
- 26 Jun 2024
- Last updated
- 24 Jul 2025
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 24 Jul 2025. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Effects of Museum Visits on Neurocognitive Well-being
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06515041
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- ABC / 24-0031
- Conditions
- Healthy Volunteers
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Recruiting
- Enrolment
- 200 participants (estimated)
- Lead sponsor
- University Hospital, CaenUniversity, hospital or other
- Study start
- 17 Jul 2024 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 30 Jun 2028 (estimated)
- Study completion
- 30 Jun 2029 (estimated)
- First posted
- 23 Jul 2024 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
The effects of art on health and well-being have been the subject of increasing exploration in recent years. In 2019, the World Health Organization proposed a literature review analyzing the links between art, health (defined as a state of good functioning) and well-being. Currently, the majority of research has focused on populations presenting pathologies (somatic, neurological or psychiatric), very often in older adults. Furthermore, exposure to art (unlike the practice of an artistic activity) still remains under-investigated. However, recent publications (review and longitudinal study) suggest that attending museums would be associated with an increase in well-being, in people with or without pathology.
Supported by the Blood \& Brain @ Caen Normandy Scientific Interest Group and the Museum of Fine Arts as part of the Millennium festivities of the city of Caen, the partnership between three Caen laboratories and a Parisian laboratory enabled the drawing of this innovative research which will aim to measure the effects of visiting a museum dedicated to painting on well-being in healthy adults. It will also involve identifying the cerebral, cognitive and socio-emotional processes associated with these effects, via comprehensive and ecologically adapted measurements.
Through understanding the mechanisms specific to exposure to art which promote well-being, this research could have implications for:
- Promote synergy between cultural and health policies.
- Design museum experiences as close as possible to human functioning.
- Open up to new perspectives such as the role of exposure to art in maintaining good health, with the possibility in the longer term of considering research on other arts, other populations, in a lifespan approach.
- Open up to other studies of the same type involving pairs of patients and caregivers, young people and seniors, etc.
Detailed description
- Call for volunteers: An A5 information poster will be distributed in various structures in the Caen region but also through the press. Participants will be able to contact a member of the research team by email. They will then be contacted in response to this email in order to arrange a telephone appointment. The purpose of this preliminary telephone interview will be to ensure the inclusion criteria without collecting the personal data relating to them. This is to avoid unnecessary travel. If the participant can be included, then a physical appointment will be offered to them in order to carry out the inclusion visit.
- Inclusion visit: An inclusion visit will be carried out during which the participant will be informed of the progress of the study, its implications and their right of withdrawal. A test of the different devices (Near InfraRed Spectroscopy (NIRS), eye-tracking glasses, skin conductance bracelet) under the same conditions as those of the study will be carried out. Then, the participant's consent will be collected via a written form. Finally, the participant will fill out an admission questionnaire with socio-demographic questions, questions related to the aforementioned inclusion criteria, and questions about their cultural practices. Only for participants over 55 years old, an assessment via the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA - screening tool for mild neurocognitive impairment) will be carried out. At the end of all these acts, the participant will be assigned an inclusion number. The personal data collected will be stored on a single computer at Cyceron.
- Visit 1 to the Museum of Fine Arts in Caen: Experimental groups Participants in the experimental groups will be randomized into two groups: with or without mediation. Regardless of their group, they will see the same number of tables. The measurements and questionnaires they will answer will be identical. Upon arrival, participants will be welcomed and then:
- ● Guided to a room where they will answer well-being and stress questionnaires, and complete cognitive tasks (executive functions, global/local visual attention, episodic memory, empathy and creativity questionnaire).
- ● Equipped with eye-tracking glasses, the NIRS headband and the bracelet to measure heart rate (electrodermal biosensor bracelets).
- ● Guided to view 6 paintings. For group A without mediation, participants will be brought in front of each painting and will look at it independently for 2 minutes. For group B with mediation, the mediator, equipped with a lapel microphone, will guide them and explain each painting in 2 minutes. The viewing time and distance will be the same for both groups. After each painting, regardless of the group, participants will indicate the emotions felt by responding on an affect grid.
- ● Removal of glasses, headband and bracelet.
- ● After the visit, participants will again answer the questionnaires and the different cognitive tasks, except for the empathy and creativity questionnaires. Control group The participants in the control group will visit the museum according to a pre-established route with the same number of paintings as the experimental groups. The duration of viewing each painting will be controlled to be identical to that of the experimental groups, i.e. 2 minutes. On the other hand, they will not wear any device (NIRS, eye tracking and electrodermal bracelet) and will not have mediation. They will answer the same questionnaires and cognitive tasks as the experimental groups: before and after the visit, as well as the affect grid during the visit.
- Visit 2 to the Museum of Fine Arts in Caen:
For the experimental groups, the changes between visits 1 and 2 will be as follows:
Number of patients
- ● Participants will complete the visit in pairs (composed of 1 member from group A and 1 from group B). These pairs will be divided into two new groups A' (with mediation) and B' (without mediation).
- ● Participants will see 8 paintings (6 paintings already seen during the first + 2 new paintings).
The questionnaires (except empathy and creativity measured only during visit 1), the cognitive tasks and the measurements (oculometric via eye-tracking/ brain activity via NIRS/ cardiac activity (heart rate via the bracelet) will be carried out in the same way as during visit 1.
For the control group:
- ● The procedure for visit 2 will be identical to that of visit 1. As for the experimental groups, only the empathy and creativity questionnaires will not be included in the questionnaires to be completed.
- ● Like the experimental groups, the control group will carry out the visit in pairs (formed from the members of control group C from visit 1).
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Basic science
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Single blind (participant)
- Number of arms
- 3
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| MUSEUM VISITS with mediation: group A | Other | Other: brain well-beingThis group of volunteers will visit the museum with a mediation (I.E. description of the painting tables by a professional). |
| MUSEUM VISITS without mediation: group B | Other | Other: brain well-beingThis group of volunteers will visit the museum without a mediation (I.E. description of the painting tables by a professional). |
| Control group | Other | Other: brain well-beingThis group of volunteers will not visit the museum. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 to 65 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (7 listed)
- Adults with good mental and brain health
- Participants (18-65 years old inclusive)
- Good brain health: Having a MoCA score (screening tool for mild neurocognitive impairments) of 26 or above for those over 55 years old.
- Fluent in French (native language)
- Person who has given informed consent to participate in the study
Key exclusion criteria (11 listed)
- History or presence of a psychiatric disorder such as mood disorders, psychotic disorders, personality disorders, addictions, that have required or currently require medical follow-up and/or are in an acute phase.
- Mobility difficulties, postural or balance disorders preventing the participant from easily moving around the museum and using stairs
- History or presence of brain injuries such as TBI, stroke, neurological diseases
- Chronic or long-term illnesses that could make standing uncomfortable for the participant
- Taking medication that affects cognitive functioning
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| brain well-beingAlso: non invasive Near InfraRed Spectroscopy (NIRS), neon invasive Eye tracking glasses, non invasive Heart rate measurement, Well-being scale (list of questions)Each volunteers will be subjected to an evaluation of his well-being using a previously well established well-being scale, through a list of questions, prior, during and after the visit to the museum. All volunteers will be also equipped with a non invasive NIRS system to measure their emotions (measure of tissus oxygenenation), with a non invasive system of eye tracking glasses to measure where their eyes are looking and with a non invasive system to measure their heart rate. | Other | Control group, MUSEUM VISITS with mediation: group A, MUSEUM VISITS without mediation: group B |
Primary outcome
Effect of museum visit on wellbeing
Time frame: before and after the first visit and the second one
We will use a well established UCL museum wellbeing measures used to assess levels of psychological wellbeing arising from a situation.
Effect of museum visit on eyes tracking
Time frame: during each visit, 1 and 2
eyes tracking glasses will be used to evaluate where the volunteers is looking on pictorials
Effect of museum visit on NIRS
Time frame: during each visit, 1 and 2
NIRS, non invasive evaluation of frontal brain oxygenation allowing a follow-up of brain emotions
Effet of museum visit on heart rate
Time frame: during each visit, 1 and 2
Non invasive evaluation of heart rate
Results and safety
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 24 Jul 2025.
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Screening Protocol
Pain
Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part.
Denis Vivien, phD principal investigator
Caen Normandie University Hospital
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing brain well-being in people with Healthy Volunteers, run by University Hospital, Caen at 1 site in France.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 7 inclusion and 11 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: looking for participants now, as of the sponsor's last update on 24 Jul 2025. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in France. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
Contact Denis Vivien, PhD (0231470166, vivien@cyceron.fr), or a site near the patient. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Effect of museum visit on wellbeing (time frame: before and after the first visit and the second one). The study lists 4 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 24 Jul 2025.