The Lions of Venice Arsenal: a neuroscientific approach to Cultural Heritage

In this contribution, the authors discuss the preliminary outcomes of a neuroscience research project conducted during the Summer School in Digital and Public Humanities 2022 organized by the Venice Centre for Digital and Public Humanities (VeDPH). The research was based on a series of experiments combining electroencephalography (EEG) and eye tracking to investigate the perception of Cultural Heritage (virtual and real), in this case, the statues of lions in the Venice Arsenal. Particular attention was given to the Piraeus Lion, today at the main entrance to the Arsenal, noteworthy for having been inscribed in the second half of the 11th century AD by Varangian mercenaries with three runic inscriptions, today heavily eroded due to weathering and air pollution. This lion was originally located in the port of Piraeus (Athens) and dates back to the 4th century BC. It was stolen as war booty by a famous Venetian naval commander, Francesco Morosini in 1687 during the Ottoman Venetian war.Among neuroimaging techniques, EEG is used to detect specific states of mind, such as mental alertness, cognitive distraction and learning ability in normal and virtual reality conditions. Specifically, in cultural sectors eye tracking technology is useful to investigate actual involvement in sites of cultural interest.The data analysis showedchanges in the perception of the artifact among different audiences, i.e. women and men, residents and tourists, people with and without previous knowledge on the artifact's historical background. This entails a new method of interactions between a single person, the artifact and the environment. Indeed, this experiment may indicate diversified and accelerated learning and processing, a deep immersiveness of information and different levels of feedback.