META-MUSEUM - Moving Emotions towards confidence in the Transformative Appropriation for a Meaningful Understanding of cultural heritage: a neuroScientific approach to EUropean Museums

Id call: HORIZON-CL2-2023-HERITAGE-01-04 Cultural heritage in transformation – facing change with confidence

Sapienza's role in the project: Other beneficiary

Scientific supervisor for Sapienza: Marco Iosa

Department: Psychology

Project start date: October 1, 2024

Project end date: September 30, 2027

Abstract:

META-MUSEUM aims to create empathic encounters where citizens can understand the Cultural Heritage (CH) transformative nature through active participation, emotional involvement and co-creation; to develop the “TransforMeans theory” and related new professional skills, based on Neuroscience evidence; to provide cultural professionals with principles and tools for designing cultural experiences and to monitoring the effectiveness of communicative/narrative solutions; to reach different segments of citizens included disaffected public and non-public; to foster empathy, confidence and resilience toward contemporary changes; to validate an appropriate measurement of empathic responses, confidence and resilience in CH users, via Neuroscience’s method. META-MUSEUM adopts a transdisciplinary approach and a strict interrelation between theoretical and experimental work. The first one will explore and develop in-depth the “TransforMeans theory” principles, develop stimuli to make people understand the CH transformative nature and encourage co-creation and personal interpretation. The experimental work will measure the audience's cognitive, psycho and neurophysiological responses to stimuli, and interpret indicators related to confidence and resilience (intended as a capacity to positively react to changes). The “TransforMeans theory” principles will be tested in 3 different settings (pilots): 1) traditional cultural setting: museums; 2) non-cultural setting: hospitals (with a focus on the CH power on people particularly lacking in confidence and positive thinking); 3) hybrid setting (physical and virtual), in urban contexts and via social media. The META-MUSEUM objectives mobilise multidisciplinary expertise, provide evidence-based principles and guidelines; promote better and more democratic access to CH, improve personal participation and CH understanding, enhance confidence, and cultural well-being.

Sapienza's Department of Psychology is involved in the META-MUSEUM project because of its expertise in the psychological and physiological assessment of cognitive and emotional neurometric parameters, to be carried out using both portable devices and psychometrically validated questionnaires. Sapienza will contribute by guaranteeing the suitability of the equipment for the experiments and the implementation of the neurometrics. The specific contribution in the experimental phase will allow to test the contents both inside and outside the museum context, defining a model of "trust". Finally, Sapienza will be responsible for bringing cultural heritage into hospitals to help patients through virtual reality tools to promote resilience and trust.