Weekly Blog: NeuroScience+Art

 This week I learned more about neuroscience. Last quarter I took a class heavily related to neuroscience called "psychobiology". This week's resources were able to revisit the topics taught in that course. Similar to the first lecture video of week class, the first thing that is important to define is consciousness. Consciousness is the act of being aware and being able to comprehend that you are in existence. Consciousness includes the acts of able to feel emotion, form memories, have awareness of surroundings. Scientists have had several questions on how humans consciousness functions, such as how do we actually form memories(Bukeman 2015).



Understanding consciousness is very complex. It needs to the understanding of parts of the brain, and how they all work together to make one conscious being. Different types of the brain are activated depending on the perception(Sohn, 2019).



I myself believed that there was hardly any connection between neuroscience and art. One connection is manifesting emotion to drawings. It is a cliche when you hear in a show where an artist tells a character "release what you feel". A drawing can reveal the thought process and the emotions a person is currently undergoing. In general, a person can have their interpretations of what a sensation is drawn as(Gharib,2020).



Art can be used to demonstrate the parts of the brain. For example, a biologist from University of Belgradewas able to model the perineuronal net. The replica is able to help scientists understand how the scturucte works with brain function. The biologist even said that the perineural net is a natural beauty of architecture. Also, not just models, but also drawings can help show the parts of the brain. Drawings and pictures in different angles can show the brains in specific areas(Leman, 2019)



Leman, Jennifer. “The Brain in Images: Top Entries in the Art of Neuroscience.” Scientific American, Scientific American, 29 July 2019, www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-brain-in-images-top-entries-in-the-art-of-neuroscience1/#:~:text=Art%20and%20neuroscience%20have%20been,of%20our%20most%20vital%20organ.

Gharib, Malaka. “Feeling Artsy? Here's How Making Art Helps Your Brain.” NPR, NPR, 11 Jan. 2020, www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/01/11/795010044/feeling-artsy-heres-how-making-art-helps-your-brain.

“Why Can't the World's Greatest Minds Solve the Mystery of Consciousness? | Oliver Burkeman.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 21 Jan. 2015, www.theguardian.com/science/2015/jan/21/-sp-why-cant-worlds-greatest-minds-solve-mystery-consciousness.

Sohn, Emily. “Decoding the Neuroscience of Consciousness.” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 24 July 2019, www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02207-1.

“Consciousness: The What, Why and How.” New Scientist, www.newscientist.com/round-up/consciousness/.

Psychedelic Treatment for Consciousness Disorders?, Dana Foundation, dana.org/article/psychedelic-treatment-for-consciousness-disorders/.

Brain Scans Decode an Elusive Signature of Consciousness, Science News, www.sciencenews.org/article/brain-scans-decode-elusive-signature-consciousness.

How Close Is Science to Replicating Consciousnesss?, Financial Times, www.ft.com/content/c082aad6-141e-11e9-a581-4ff78404524e.

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