Neuroscience + Art - Week 7

The mysteries of the human brain remind me of the ocean because we have explored and understand so little about it. To this day, we have explored less than 5 percent of the ocean. The human brain reminded me of this because of the overwhelming majority of information we do not know about it. The brain itself is far and away the most complex and high functioning machine on earth. One single synapse, which is like a microprocessor in the brain, of which there are over 125 trillion, "has more switches than all the computers and routers and internet connection on Earth" (Moore, 2010).

So by sheer complexity, we will never truly understand our own brains in their entirety, but that hasn't stopped humankind from trying. Aristotle first attributed the function of the brain to a secondary organ whose purpose was to cool the heart, where he believed all thought occurred. A Roman physician by the name of Galen came along and asserted that the brain was in fact the location where mental activity occurred, 

however he was pretty wrong in saying that the brain formed of sperm. The study of the brain branched into art however when Santiago Ramon Y Cajal established the Neuron Theory which showed how you can read the connection patterns between neurons by simply looking at their shape. Javier DeFelipe went on to write in Cajal's Butterflies of the Soul how the neurons in the brain are like mysterious butterflies of the soul. I believe that humans have a fascination with the concept of randomness. This is why I think that neuron maps of the brain sparked the artistic connection to neuroscience because of how beautiful the controlled chaos appears. For example, look at the success of Fish and Chips; drawings generated by firing goldfish neurons. The immense complexities of the brain and its web of beautiful neuron maps are intrinsically entangled with art.

Hallucinogenic Art

LSD was a fascinating topic to me because it gives users an idea of how capable our brain is, which also started a whole new genre of hallucinogenic art. But all of the hallucinations and emotions that come with the experience of a "trip" are not produced by the drug, but rather the brain. The drug simply stimulates the brain in a unique way, but everything experienced is done by the brain; which truly amazes me because it open a door to the endless functions of the mind that we had no idea are possible. We still barely understand dreams, and this idea of "endless possibilities" is at the root of art and neuroscience which is why there are so integrally connected.

Sources

 "How Much of the Ocean Have We Explored?" National Ocean Service. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Web. 14 May 2016. <http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/exploration.html>.

 

 Moore, Elizabeth Armstrong. "Human Brain Has More Switches than All Computers on Earth." CNET. 17 Nov. 2010. Web. 14 May 2016. <http://www.cnet.com/news/human-brain-has-more-switches-than-all-computers-on-earth/>. 

 "A History of the Brain." Stanford University. Web. 14 May 2016. <https://web.stanford.edu/class/history13/earlysciencelab/body/brainpages/brain.html>.

 

 DeFelipe, Javier, and Santiago Ramón Y Cajal. Cajal's Butterflies of the Soul: Science and Art. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2010. Print.

"MEART." MEART. SymbioticA. Web. 07 May 2016. <http://www.fishandchips.uwa.edu.au/>

Victoria, Vesna, narr. "Neuroscience + Art I-III" N.p. web. 14 May 2016.

Images

http://c.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/codesign/imagecache/1280/Fly-Neuron-Art.jpg

http://www.frontiersin.org/files/Articles/11693/fnhum-06-00005-r2/image_m/fnhum-06-00005-g002.jpg

http://d3ehrfioloeo7j.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/InTheMake-KelseyBrooks11.jpg