Week Seven: Neuroscience and Art


This week’s material discussed neuroscience and art. These topics stem from  consciousness, dreams, remembering, mental states, optical illusions, and more. I did not know very much about these topics, so I thought the material was fascinating.

Neuroscience studies how the nervous system and the brain function (Nordqvist). The brain impacts cognitive functions and people’s behavior. As Professor Vesna notes, neuroscience does not only regard the brain, but it also includes how the brain functions when it is altered, by psychiatric disorders, the influence of drugs, and optical illusions (Vesna).



A drawing of the brain by Ramón y Cajal (Smith)

Santiago Ramón y Cajal, a pioneering neuroscientist, is considered the “father of modern neuroscience” (Vesna). He contributed to the microscopic structure of the nervous system and brain, and discovered evidence for the “neuron theory.” He also won a Nobel Peace Prize for his contributions and work regarding the structure of the nervous system (“Santiago Ramón y Cajal”). He said neurons were the “mysterious butterflies of the soul” (Vesna). He wanted to be an artist and said that only artists are attracted to science. He also created drawings of the brain, so he exemplifies the intersection of art and science.


Anker’s FMRI butterfly (“Suzanne Anker, MRI Butterfly”)


Similarly to Ramón y Cajal’s quote about the butterfly, Susan Anker created an FMRI butterfly, a brain scan with an overlay of a butterfly (Vesna). It is an optical illusion as the butterflies look different in each scan, but she used the same one.


​​A photo of the “Facing-Right Illusion” (Stewart)

Optical illusions are great examples of the connection with neuroscience and art as these pieces alter what the viewers’ brains think they are seeing. In the article regarding the best optical illusions, the “Facing-Right Illusion” is a sculpture of a bird that, even when turned 180 degrees to face left, seems to be facing with its head to the right (Martinez). This piece involves math, neuroscience, and art.

After attending the lecture with Ann McCoy, dreams and the unicorns have been very interesting to me. Professor Vesna said about 95% of what we dream is forgotten (Vesna). At first glance, this percentage seemed large, but it makes sense after thinking that I normally do not remember my dreams. Carl Jung created the ideas of the personal unconscious and the collective unconscious as well as the ideas of archetypes, which was good background when reading “The Spiritual Problem of Modern Man” where he discusses the issues in modern people’s spiritual lives (Jung).


Works Cited

Jung, Carl. “The Spiritual Problem of Modern Man.” Collective Works of C.C. Jung, vol. 10.

Martinez, Susana. “Vote Now for the Best Illusion of the Year!” Scientific American Blogs, 11 December 2019, https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/illusion-chasers/vote-now-for-the-best-illusion-of-the-year/. Accessed 11 May 2022.

Nordqvist, Christian. “About Neuroscience.” Department of Neuroscience Georgetown University, https://neuro.georgetown.edu/about-neuroscience/. Accessed 11 May 2022.

“Santiago Ramón y Cajal.” Nobel Prize, https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1906/cajal/biographical/. Accessed 11 May 2022.

Smith, Roberta. “A Deep Dive Into the Brain, Hand-Drawn by the Father of Neuroscience (Published 2018).” The New York Times, 18 January 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/18/arts/design/brain-neuroscience-santiago-ramon-y-cajal-grey-gallery.html. Accessed 11 May 2022.

Stewart, Jessica. “Spellbinding Winners of the 2019 Best Illusion of the Year Contest.” My Modern Met, 17 December 2019, https://mymodernmet.com/optical-illusion-contest/. Accessed 11 May 2022.

“Suzanne Anker, MRI Butterfly.” artcritical, 26 April 2012, https://artcritical.com/2012/04/26/suzanne-anker/suzanne-anker-mributt3/. Accessed 11 May 2022.

Vesna, Victoria. (2022). “Neuroscience and Art.” DESMA 9. Class lecture at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, May 2, 2022.

Comments

  1. Megan RonanMay 14, 2022 at 5:36 PM

    Hi Hailey! I really enjoyed reading your blog this week. I found the optical illusion super interesting as I did not write a lot about that this week. It's crazy how our minds can see so differently with a slight change in an angle or vantage point. Your comment on dreams resonated with me as well because I can never remember my own dreams and always wonder about the subconscious side of sleep. Good Job!

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  2. Quinn Winter Desma 9May 15, 2022 at 8:42 PM

    Hi Hailey, great blog post this week I think you added great points to the topic of discussion. I especially liked how you brought up optical illusions as an example for the connection between neuroscience and art. I hadn't thought much about that connection before but it is a perfect example showing how everyone's brains interpret images differently. The idea of personal unconscious is interesting to me as well and I find it so odd that we cant remember most of our dreams. Great post!

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