Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Week 7: Neuroscience + Art


This week I learned that neuroscience is very closely related to art because of the things scientists come up in order to explore the brain on how it works and why gets more advanced. In Neuroculture, by Giovanni Frazetto and Suzanne Anker, neuroscience gives the individual emotions, consciousness, why we make desicions, and more. There are plenty of tools and concepts of how we think the brain works such as electric microscopes where it first searched where the brain started and phrenology were explored being the different parts of the brain explained in Professors Vesna's lecture video. For example, Mark Cohen explains numerous amounts of devices that measure the brain or brain activity, for example, he talks about phrenology and how people will feel bumps on the brain to tell what actions an individual was involved with and a lens device that made you see everything upside down messing with what you actually see. For example, in the music video Fearing by Amygdaloids, it proves that we discovered with tools or devices that the Amygdola gives you the capability for an immediate response when there is a time of danger recognizing when your body needs to go to survival mode in order to protect yourself from danger. In Jungs, The Spiritual Problem of Modern Man, he explains how the modern man is in the immediate present and is fully conscious of the present and being in danger gives you the ability to become more aware of your surrounding helping you to be in the present moment.


Drugs are a topic in which it disrupts the normal flow of the brain and creates certain feelings, images, actions, etc. due to what type of drug you intake. For example, In Professor Vesna's lecture videos, she explains how neurochemicals are used to alter mental states which were Cocaine and LSD. This topic interested me because it is very fascinating how drugs are able to make you feel a certain way and see things that aren't real due to chemicals being understood by your brain making you see it. For example, LSD puts you in a dreamlike state which makes you see and feel intense, pictures, shapes, and makes sounds become images to you once heard. The field of vision was wavered and it is safe to say that if you didn't know what you took then you would probably believe you were going insane. There are many of artist, musicians that take drugs because it brings out the creativity out of them, therefore, are high when recording a song or writing a song or painting, I find that so crazy. Neuroscience has many studies on why all of this happens to to figure it out little by little makes it that much more interesting and extraordinary. 

          

Sources: 
Cohan, Mark. Lecture. 16 Nov 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=eDq8uTROeXU>

Frazzetto, Giovanni, and Suzanne Anker. "Neuroculture." Nature Reviews Neuroscience Nat Rev Neurosci 10.11 (2009): 815-21. Web.

Jung, C.J."The Spiritual Problem of Modern Man." Collected Works of C.G. Jung, Volume 10: Civilization in Transition (n.d.): n. pag. Web.

Theamygdaloids. "Fearing - The Amygdaloids." YouTube. YouTube, 14 July 2010. Web. 11 May 2016.

Vesna, Victoria. “Conscious / Memory (Part 1).” Lecture. 16 Nov 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DLVQIwOn7o8>

 Vesna, Victoria. Lecture. “Conscious / Memory (Part 2).” 16 Nov 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Xlg5wXHWZNI>

 Vesna, Victoria. Lecture. “Conscious / Memory (Part 3).” 16 Nov 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=E5EX75xoBJ0>
 




 


2 comments:

  1. Hi Christian,

    I very much enjoyed reading your blog post. You touched upon a wide range of topics, but your insight into Jung's "The Spiritual Problem of Modern Man" stood out as it helped me understand his piece more thoroughly. I also liked what you said about LSD. With you making that connection, I remembered that many artists are inspired by their personal experiences with the effects of drugs as they portray in their works. Also, I would have liked for you to expand on why you think it is crazy.

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  2. Your post was very interesting. Especially touching on the topic of drugs and neurochemicals altering the brain, I believe that aspect of subject really integrates science to art in terms of expression. Although I would not personally recommend drugs to people, I have heard from my art school friends that their professor would state something like "Sometimes doing drugs can make you even more creative, I would even suggest experimenting it". Although it was humorously shocking that a professor would suggest doing drugs to his students, I found it fascinating and relatable to your topic as neurochemicals are known substances that can alter images, sounds, and interpretations seen through the human brain. To add on to your blog, these days there is technology and gadgets that you can wear that essentially give you the similar visual effects as doing certain drugs. This is where technology can come into the picture with science and art as well!

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