Week 7 Neurosci+Art

This week’s discussion is on neuroscience and art. I think there’s a very interesting interrelationship between the brain and the art. The brain perceives and processes art, and most importantly, it creates arts. On the other hand, the arts stimulate the brain, creating mixture of feelings and inspirations.

It is very often that artistic works stimulate certain impulse in people. For example, in Michelangelo’s

Expulsion from Paradise, the fallen-from-grace Adam wards off a sword-wielding angel, his eyes averted from the blade and his wrist bent back defensively. It is a gesture both wretched and beautiful. But what is it that triggers the viewer’s aesthetic response – the same defensive feeling?

Recently, neuroscientists and an art historian asked ten subjects to examine the wrist detail from the painting, and they use a technique called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to monitor what happened in the viewer’s brains. The researchers found that the image excited areas in the primary motor cortex that controlled the observers’ own wrists.

“Just the sight of the raised wrist causes an activation of the muscle,” reports David Freedberg, the Columbia University art history professor involved in the study. This connection explains why, for instance, viewers of Degas’ ballerinas sometimes report that they experience the sensation of dancing. It shows the brain mirrors actions depicted on the canvas.

Therefore, the art can greatly impact the brain and the brain generates arts. I believe more advanced research in neuroscience will bring out more inspiring results about the implication of the art on the brain and vice versa. 

Reference:

Tucker, Abigail. "How Does the Brain Process Art?" Smithsonian.com. Smithsonian Institution, 01 Nov. 2012. Web. 22 May 2017.

“Visceral: Interview with Boo Chapple.” Sciencegallery.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Nov. 2012. <http://sciencegallery.com/blog/2011/01/visceral-interview-boo-chapple>.

Vesna, Victoria. Lecture. “Conscious / Memory (Part 2).” 16 Nov 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Xlg5wXHWZNI>

Vesna, Victoria. Lecture. “Conscious / Memory (Part 3).” 16 Nov 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=E5EX75xoBJ0>

Dunn, Gregory. Greg A. Dunn Design. Web. 16 Nov 2012. <http://www.gregadunn.com/about/>