This week's topic is about the relationship between neuroscience and arts. It seems to be that one of the biggest similarity shared by neuroscience and arts is that they both focus heavily on human perceptions and their mental responses to (both psychological and artistic) stimulations. And with the booming of digital technologies like Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, the intersection between neuroscience and arts has become unprecedentedly huge, making the intermediate fields like cognitive science and UI/UX to grow at an accelerated rate.
“10th April: The Neuroscience of Art – How the Arts Transform Us.” How To Academy, howtoacademy.com/events/the-neuroscience-of-art-how-the-arts-transform-us/. Accessed 13 May 2024.
One major aspect that neuroscience centers around is the study of brain, which as underlined by the article "Art and brain: insights from neuropsychology, biology and evolution" shares inspiring insights when combined with arts. The article discusses 3 facets of brain functions that has been proven to be affected by arts: the pathways linked to local brain regions, the mating and courtship behaviors, and the evolutionary support in language and social echelons stimulated by by the symbols and patterns in artistic works.
A Neural Symphony: Revolutionizing Neuroscience
through Art and Music, Emmanuel Gorrin, 2019
Another interesting interaction between arts and neuroscience/cognitive science is the prevalence of art therapy. According to the article "Where art meets neuroscience: a new horizon of art therapy", the utilization of art work on top of the regular medical therapies has been widely associated with recovery and reestablishment of defected brain regions and neurons. However, the article also mentions that in order for the effectiveness of art therapy to be scientifically validated, more thorough experiments and testing processes need to be run and examined by the professionals and authorities.
Shima Rastegarnia, The fADe, Interalia Magazine, Dec 2018.
In summary, the relationship between neuroscience and arts is mutually fostering, with increasingly promising discoveries and utilizations communal to both fields. With these exciting perspectives, I'm optimistic that we are going to be seeing more and more innovations combining neuroscience and arts in the future.
Reference List:
1. Smith, Colleen, “Neuroaesthetics: How Art Is Scientifically Proven to Help Brain Health.” Art & Object, www.artandobject.com/articles/neuroaesthetics-how-art-scientifically-proven-help-brain-health#:~:text=An%20art%20break.-,%E2%80%9CArt%20can%20create%20new%20neuropathways%20in%20the%20brain%20because%20this,our%20brain%2C%E2%80%9D%20she%20added. Accessed 13 May 2024.
2. Zaidel, Dahlia W. “Art and Brain: Insights from Neuropsychology, Biology and Evolution.” Journal of Anatomy, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Feb. 2010, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2815940/.
3. Pepperell, Robert. “Connecting Art and The Brain: An Artist’s Perspective on Visual Indeterminacy.” Frontiers, Frontiers, 30 July 2011, www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2011.00084/full.
4. Jill Suttie, “What Art Does for Your Brain.” Greater Good, greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/what_art_does_for_your_brain. Accessed 13 May 2024.
5. Konopka, Lukasz M. “Where Art Meets Neuroscience: A New Horizon of Art Therapy.” Croatian Medical Journal, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Feb. 2014, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3944420/.
6. Rastegarnia, Shima. “Making Art with Neuroscience.” Interalia Magazine, 26 Feb. 2019, www.interaliamag.org/interviews/shima-rastegarnia/.
Hi Tiffany, nice post! I am also interested in just how affect art therapy is and continues to be. It is something that is easy to resonate with, as everyone shares a collective appreciation for art is some shape or form. Regardless of exactly what artform appeals to the individual, it has the same positive affect on individuals. Even when you think about things like slime that people enjoy creating, which also have positive neurological effects, simple things like this continue to have a great effect on people.
Hi Tiffany, I truly learned so much from your post! This week's topic was so interesting because I find the brain to be very fascinating. Additionally, I had previously taken a psychology class and I had found that art helps relieve stress. So learning about this again in DESMA was fun. You touched on "art therapy" in your post which was one of the most fascinating parts of this week. When I think of therapy its talking to someone but, art truly does help heal people. The emotions attached to a piece can translate to the viewer which is very beautiful.
Hi Tiffany, I definitely agree with you about seeing how art therapy works and is effective. As someone who often uses creative outlets as something to keep my mind at peace, I definitely think looking into art, creation, and expression can be a helpful intersection with how it affects our mind and thinking. Seeing art therapy in hospitals whether it be through music and medicine, or artworks, enhances the point you make.
This week, we focused on discussing the intersected relationship between the field of medicine/medtech and arts, which is highlighted by their shared nature of creativeness and abundance of pioneers that help push forward and evolve their respective fields. One example of such intersection is the concept of design thinking, which stems from the creative process of art making, but has also been more and more widely used in the field of medtech to improve user-friendliness in the medical devices that are been developed. Moreover, there has been a stronger emphasis on the aesthetics of these devices, making them less intimidating and thus easier for the patients to use them. The influence of arts is not only shown in the improvement of medical devices, but also the increased effectiveness in patient treatments. Arts therapy, for example, is a well established phychological treatment through which the patients’ emotional and cognitive traumas are relieved. Additionally, ...
This week's topic is about the relationship between robotics and art as well as the societal impact of industrialization, which is argued by Walter Benjamin in his inspiring work, "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction", in which he propounded the theory that "mechanical reproduction strips the 'aura' from an artwork —its unique presence in time and space" (Benjamin, 1935). His perspective is thought-provoking, especially with the advancement of technologies such as artificial intelligence, and makes me ponder: does the occurrence and development of industrialization and robotics reduce the sparks and creativity in art? One example of such consequence is represented by the movie Ex Machina, in which the main character, a humanoid girl, creates an amazing drawing, indicating the potential future where robots participate in and alter the landscape of artistic creation. Such instances challenge the future of art in terms of originality and i...
Hi Tiffany, nice post! I am also interested in just how affect art therapy is and continues to be. It is something that is easy to resonate with, as everyone shares a collective appreciation for art is some shape or form. Regardless of exactly what artform appeals to the individual, it has the same positive affect on individuals. Even when you think about things like slime that people enjoy creating, which also have positive neurological effects, simple things like this continue to have a great effect on people.
ReplyDeleteHi Tiffany, I truly learned so much from your post! This week's topic was so interesting because I find the brain to be very fascinating. Additionally, I had previously taken a psychology class and I had found that art helps relieve stress. So learning about this again in DESMA was fun. You touched on "art therapy" in your post which was one of the most fascinating parts of this week. When I think of therapy its talking to someone but, art truly does help heal people. The emotions attached to a piece can translate to the viewer which is very beautiful.
ReplyDeleteHi Tiffany, I definitely agree with you about seeing how art therapy works and is effective. As someone who often uses creative outlets as something to keep my mind at peace, I definitely think looking into art, creation, and expression can be a helpful intersection with how it affects our mind and thinking. Seeing art therapy in hospitals whether it be through music and medicine, or artworks, enhances the point you make.
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