Week 7: Nueroculture

A collection of neurons

Until this week, I had hardly considered neuroscience to be a part of my life or something I thought of/encountered frequently. However, after reading the article by Frazetto and Anker, I can clearly how nueroculture has infiltrated society in many ways. Our infatuation as a society with what it means to “be” and how the brain plays into this has brought many aspects of neuroscience into our every day lives, especially in art forms, reflecting its relative importance.

Several of my favorite movies have been hugely influenced by nueroscience, although it was not immediately apparent to me before. Inception, for example, is a movie that discusses the idea of stealing thoughts from unconscious individuals and dealing with what it truly means to unconscious versus conscious. This movie, in a way questions a lot of our scientific discoveries in terms of the brain and it predicts a time when we may go too far (ethically) in terms of manipulating the mind. Another common pop culture film, 50 First Dates explores the idea of amnesia and its implications for our day-to-day lives. In this way, the art genre of film questions a lot of nueroscientific discoveries as Frazetto and Anker anticipated.

Inception

Fifty First Dates

Art and neuroscience continue to collide through the experimental use of drugs. Individuals in the past, such as Huxley and Hoffman experimented with drugs and documented the effect it had on their mind and body. Similarly, artists today are taking various drugs and drawing self-portraits of themselves while the effect of the drug is active. Bryan Lewis Sanders, over the course of several weeks took a new drug each day (i.e. cocaine, Zoloft) and documented each experience through his artwork.

Two of Sander's Self Portraits

The last example I will share that exemplifies this idea of a nueroculture in art is the somewhat new practice of art therapy. Scientists are currently experimenting with the effects that both creating and viewing art can have for individuals suffering from psychiatric medical conditions like Schizophrenia. Through fMRI data it appears plausible that art may be able to alleviate some of these conditions. Furthermore, art is currently used as a therapy for children down syndrome (a brain disorder) as a coping strategy. Clearly, art and nueroscience come together in many surprising and unexpected ways.

Art Therapy

References

[1]Anthony, Robert. “Artist Creates Self-Portraits on Different Drugs, And The Results Are Insane.” Elite Daily. 30 Jan. 2014. Web. 16 May 2015. <http://elitedaily.com/envision/artist-creates-self-portraits-on-different-drugs-and-the-results-are-insane-photos/>.

[2]Beckett, Donnette. “Art Therapy Becomes Outlet for Autism.” Herald Review. 14 May 2015. Web. 15 May 2015. <http://herald-review.com/news/local/art-therapy-becomes-outlet-for-autism/article_cd172b53-0ceb-578c-9bd5-cf4bea4b50aa.html/>.

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

[4]Konopka, Lukasz. “Where Art Meets Nueroscience: A New Horizon of Art Therapy.” Croatian Medical Journal. Croatian Medical Schools, 1 Feb. 2014. Web. 16 May 2015. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3944420/>.

[5]Torgovnick, Kate. “9 Classic Movies about Memory Manipulation, and How They Inspired Real Nueroscience.” TED Blog. 15. Aug. 2013. Web. 16 May 2015. <http://blog.ted.com/8-classic-movies-about-memory-manipulation-and-how-they-inspired-real-neuroscience/>.

[6]Vesna, Victoria. Lecture. DESMA 9. Web. 30 Oct. 2012.