Week 7: Neuroscience and Art

A lot of this week’s works reminded me of things I learned in Psych 115: Behavioral Neuroscience, where I was first introduced to the work of Santiago Ramon y Cajal and to the “Brainbow” (Vesna). Thanks to the work of Ramon y Cajal, the foundation for brain imaging was laid, and many people have since taken artistic approaches to drawing the brain. 

Ramon y Cajal's drawing of the brain

While I was doing my midterm project, I found a Brain Art Exhibition from NeuroBureau, which took submissions of artists’ renderings of the brain. Each rendition is very unique and focused on different aspects of the brain, demonstrating just how complex our minds are in their ability to replicate and interpret themselves! In the reading this week, I was struck by how Frazzetto and Anker noted that in our “neuroculture,” we see the brain as a main component of our identities. Indeed, without our own experiences and memories, all of which are stored in our brains, it would be difficult for us to know who we really are. In some ways, the art submitted to the Brain Art Exhibit touches on this, with each artist taking their own perspective on the brain, and putting a little bit of their own identity onto the canvas.


An abstract work very different from either Ramon y Cajal or Drinker's interpretations of the brain

I also was very interested in Mark Cohen’s work with the monocle that eliminated our brain “flipping” the upside-down image on our retina, causing the wearer to exist in an upside-down world. The brain’s ability to train itself to live in an upside-down world reminds me of perceptual learning, which is an “increase in the ability to extract information from the environment as a result of experience and practice” (Gibson). I have recently been working in a lab at UCLA studying perceptual learning, and I think that it is amazing how well our brains are able to adapt to new patterns and situations.


As a Cognitive Science major with a big passion for how cool brains are, I love art that involves the brain. Each connection and chemical is so critical to making the whole organ function, and I am constantly in awe of how many little things had to come together for humans to have such high level thinking. The ability to create, appreciate, and ponder art is remarkable in and of itself, and the fact that the brain can reflect itself onto another surface is incredible.

Works Cited
Badhwar, Amanpreet, and Estrid Jakobsen. “The Interplay between Neuroscience and Art.” Organization for Human Brain Mapping, 3 June 2017, www.ohbmbrainmappingblog.com/blog/the-interplay-between-neuroscience-and-art.
Drinker, Will, director. 3 Min Self Reflected Draft 4. 4 May 2017, youtu.be/fhzPfEM-1aI.
“Neuroscience-Mark Cohen.mov .” Performance by Mark Cohen, 12 May 2012, youtu.be/eDq8uTROeXU.
Frazzetto, Giovanni, and Suzanne Anker. "Neuroculture." Nature Reviews Neuroscience 10.11 (2009): 815.
Gibson, Eleanor Jack. "Principles of perceptual learning and development." (1969).
Ramon y Cajal, Santiago. “Drawing of Brain.” About - Weisman Art Museum, wam.umn.edu/calendar/cajal/.
Vesna, Victoria, director. Neuroscience-pt1.Mov. 17 May 2012, youtu.be/TzXjNbKDkYI.
Warren, Holly. “The Divergent Thinker.” NeuroBureau, www.neurobureau.org/galleries/brain-art-competition-2017/#jp-carousel-2593.


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