Week 7 Neuroscience+ Art

This week's topic switches gear from physical art to mental art. And both scientists and artists devote plenty of time and energy into the exploration of the relationship between neuroscience and art. And this topic must link to Psychology and undoubtedly connects to Aristotle, the father of Psychology. He believed that it is the heart that controls human thought and emotion, and the purpose of brain was solely to cool down blood and emotional conflicts (Vesna Lec 1). To start the trip of neuroscience and art, it is crucial to recognize the structure of the brain. This is well explained by Franz Joseph Gall, who introduced the concept of grey matter and white matter, which are imperative parts of the brain to store memories. Not to mention more scientists, such as Camillo Golgi and Santiago Cajal. I love one of Cajal's statements: neurons are the butterflies of the soul, and Cajal is regarded as the first perfect combinator of neuroscience and art. Small neurons help scientist to visualize how synapsis and nervous systems work.

The next subtopic is the unconsciousness, which is the processes of the mind which are not available to consciousness, and this term was coined by a German romantic philosopher Friedrich Schelling. Unconsciousness, in my opinion, also includes dream and imagination. There are hot debates over the significance and existence of consciousness. Nowadays, there are plenty of abstract arts to test peoples' unconsciousness. For instance, what do you see? A creepy face or the word "liar"? For the second one, do you see a romantic date or a horrifying skull? The second picture can also intuitively express how love can also be painful and may even lead to death through the perspective of art.

The concepts of imagination and art reminds me of the horror night of Universal studio, which scared the hell out of me during this Halloween. Universal studio is an expert at extracting the scary elements that freak visitors out psychologically. And this great success should be primarily rewarded to the application of neuro-knowledge. Without psychological experts' designing of the scary themes and adventures, universal studio would not be able to create such a realistic horrifying and addicting atmosphere, which is another way of art expression.

There are definitely more creatures intertwining neuroscience and art, aforementioned are just to name a few. I am always interested in Biology and neuroscience, which is a complicated but attractive field to explore.

Sources:

1. Evil Takes Root as Halloween Horror Nights Begins This Week. N.d. Photograph. Best of Orlando, Orlando. Web. 13 Nov 2013. <http://www.bestoforlando.com/articles/evil-takes-root-as-halloween-horror-nights-begins-this-week/>.

2. Love of a Pierrot. 2009. Photograph. Optical-IllusionistWeb. 14 Nov 2013. <http://www.optical-illusionist.com/imagefiles/pierrot.jpg>.

3. Some tricky images for you - ENJOY. N.d. Photograph. n.p. Web. 13 Nov 2013. <http://www.angelfire.com/space2/successfulldreams/trickyimages/trickyimages.html>.

4. The Sensational Brain. N.d. Photograph. Brown University, Oklahoma. Web. 13 Nov 2013. <http://www.sflorg.com/sciencenews/scn030507_01.html>.

5. Vesna, Victoria. "Lecture II." Neuroscience Art | Lectures. uconline.edu. Los Angeles. . Lecture.