Telling someone that a beautiful painting is fake will alter the way their brain responds to the picture, even if it is a genuine classic.

That’s what scientists have found by scanning the brains of 14 people. The volunteers were shown various paintings by Rembrandt, some that were real and some that were high-quality fakes.

When told that a painting was genuine, the volunteers’ brains showed increased activity in the region that usually deals with rewards, such as winning a bet or eating your favourite food.

However, if they were told that a picture was fake, a totally different part of the brain lit up in the scans. This area is associated with planning new strategies. The volunteers all said that they were trying to work out why the picture was fake.

The researchers say the results show that there isn’t just one area of the brain that deals with our impressions of art or beauty.