Week 7 Neuroscience+Art

This week we learned about how medical technologies such as brainbow, pharmaceuticals, and microscopy influence art concepts. Many artists are fascinated with topics about the separation between mind and body, what it means to be conscious, and having control over one's self. Both artists and scientists study consciousness and question if it has emerged before or after animals' evolution and what it will look like in the future. The neuroscience technology boom in the information culture has allowed us to expand our minds by use of man-made herbs, chemical stimulus, and fMRI. From the TED talk by Christopher de Charms, we see that new technology will enable us to see into our own brains and allow us to program and change our characteristics in real time. I’m exited for the time when people will be able to alter their state of pain and reduce it by controlling the parts of the brain that perceive pain and the biological functions that reduce it. 

(A look inside the brain in real time)

(Albert Hofmann quotes)

Humans can perceive language in nanoseconds, invert and process an upside down world, dream in an unconscious state, and alter our reality with neurochemicals - but it is not certain when/how these traits were obtained. Many people have hypothesized and suggested explanations for how we obtain and exhibit human attributes. For example, Jung suggested that individuals each have innate archetypes that put identity, self, and religion into perspective, while Albert Hofmann has influenced society's perception of reality and caused the government to question the effects of controlling people's minds.     

(Phrenology-Franz Joseph Gall in 1796)

One historic idea was phrenology, which was based on the concept that the brain is the organ of the mind, and that certain brain areas have localized, specific functions or modules. This was a huge leap into understanding neuroscience and the progress of human evolution. Phrenologists would feel for lumps on the head, in an attempt to explain a person's attributes. While this notion was incorrect, the idea of localized functions in the brain that cause specific responses is accurate. The central nervous system includes the brain and spinal chord which serves as the processing center that controls all of the workings of the body. Within it, neurons send electrochemical signals that transmit responsive information through tree shapes structures. 

(Phrenology-Franz Joseph Gall in 1796)

(Butterflies of the Soul)

In the nineteenth-century, investigators of the central nervous system had to compensate for a lack of fMRIs, EEGs, and technology with artistic talent. The light microscope was the only way to investigate and illuminate small parts of the brain, which is what Santiago Ramón y Cajal used to find aesthetic fulfillment in depicting natural sciences. He compared himself to an entomologist and described pyramidal cells as “butterflies of the soul” and dendrites as wings and said “only artists are attracted to science.”  

Art and neuroscience coincide in process called ‘brainbow’, which has made a major contribution to the field of connectomics (the study of neural connections in the brain) by visualizing neurons with 90 different colors with microscopy. By using different ratios of color derivatives, neurons in the brain can be distinguished from neighboring neurons using fluorescent proteins, which were originally obtained from jellyfish. Proteins in fluorescent cyan, yellow, and red are taken up in random combination by neurons, which show the complex neural pathways in animals such as the zebra fish larvae.

(Brainbow)

Suzanne Anker is another artist attracted to science who exemplifies the intersection of art with neuroscience. Her new pieces on sea sponges highlight how simple organisms help neuroscientists understand how synapses work in the brain. They lack a nervous system but add to the understanding of the development and origins of complex neurological systems because they possess all of the building blocks used for the development of nerves. This is the ‘Holy Grail’ for stem cell research/understanding neurological disorders/origins of the brain, as 70% of sea sponges’ genes are shared with humans, including several that are associated with disease and cancer. 

Neuroscience inspires artists and art is useful for exploring and facilitating public understanding of science. Artistic representations of personhood, consciousness and behavioral manifestations remind us that these are all polymorphic phenomena shaped by biological substrata, culture, changing social norms and evolving practices. Neurocultural products are presented to society in film, TV, literature, education, entertainment, and visual arts and contribute to the construction and dissemination of brain-based narratives, thus shaping and reconfiguring concepts
of human identity and parameters of social life, such as in healthcare and legal policies.

Neuroscience attempts to answer questions that have engaged artists and scholars since the time of ancient thought. This science will continue to reveal the riddles about the workings of the brain and mind, while the arts will continue to portray and interpret neuroscientific findings, engage the general public, and provoke thoughts and imagination.

(Triangular Relationship Between Scientists, Arts and the Media, and the Public)

Works Cited 

(A look inside the brain in real time)

Christopher deCharms, Christopher. "Christopher deCharms: A look inside the brain in real time." TED: Ideas worth spreading. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. <http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/christopher_decharms_scans_the_brain_in_real_time.html>.

(Albert Hofmann quotes)

Albert Hofmann quotes. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. <http://xalienpunkx.blogspot.com/2013/02/albert-hofmann-quotes.html>.

(Phrenology-Franz Joseph Gall in 1796)

An 1883 phrenology chart. N.d. People's Cyclopedia of Universal Knowledge, 1883. Wikipedia. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.

(Butterflies of the Soul)

University Press Scholarship Online . N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. <http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195392708.001.0001/acprof-9780195392708>.

(Brainbow)

DESIGN, Co. "FastCompany Magazine." Fast Company. Version 1. FAST COMPANY, 4 Mar. 2011. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. <http://blog.fastcompany.com/post/3638690034/heavy-the-human-brain-is-the-most-complex>.

(Triangular Relationship Between Scientists, Arts and the Media, and the Public)

Frazzetto, Giovanni, and Suzanne Anker. "Neuroculture." Nature Reviews Neuroscience 10.11 (2009): 815-821. Print.

U.S National Library of Medicine. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. <http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002311.htm>.

The Beautiful Brain RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. <http://thebeautifulbrain.com/2010/02/exquisite-data-a-review-of-cajals-butterflies-of-the-soul/>.

"Neuroscience+ Art | Lectures." UC Online. Instructor , n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. <https://cole2.uconline.edu/courses/63226/wiki/unit-7-view?module_item_id=970446>.