Week 7: Neuroscience and Art

Blog #6: Neuroscience and Art

Gall's 27 compartments
This week’s topic is neuroscience and art. One of the themes that intrigued me was the prevalence of misinformation (and/or lack of information) on this topic. The brain is such a complex organism that we still don’t understand most of its processes, even though we can replicate some of its functions with neural networks and AI. One result of this knowledge gap, and a natural part of the scientific process, is incorrect theories. An example from the lecture is that of phrenology, presented by Franz Joseph Gall. He divided the brain into 27 specific compartments by function, evaluated people’s abilities by their head shape, and laid the foundation for the idea that intelligence is correlated to brain size. He called each compartment an "organ purposed for a certain faculty."

Left brain vs right brain
Another example of an incorrect theory is that of the right brain being used for creativity and the left brain being used for logical and mathematical functions. There has been several studies showing this to be a false concept, including the work of Robert Shmerling of Harvard, who says "the evidence discounting the left brain/right brain is accumulating." However, it remains a powerful metaphor. Both of these incorrect theories interest me because they are so popular with the public that they have endured for decades despite their inaccuracy.

Anther topic I noticed mentioned in this week’s material several times was that of sexuality. Sigmund Freud was adamant about how powerful of a motivator sexuality is, and Timothy Leary endorsed LSD as a powerful aphrodisiac. I think that Jung was correct in his criticism of Freud’s ideas on sexuality because its such a subjective topic — what motivates one person sexually is not guaranteed to translate to anybody else, and some people are not motivated by it whatsoever. The same goes for Leary in regards to LSD.

Timothy Leary
I think that part of the reason art and neuroscience seem to be so closely linked together is that they are both ventures into the unknown. Studying either one requires creativity, thinking outside the box, and not being afraid to make mistakes. It will be very interesting to watch this relationship unfold over the following decades as neuroscience advances more rapidly than in the past.





Works Cited

Jarrett, Christian. “Why the Left-Brain Right-Brain Myth Will Probably Never Die.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 27 June 2012, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brain-myths/201206/why-the-left-brain-right-brain-myth-will-probably-never-die.

Kosner, Edward. “Review: Timothy Leary, 'The Most Dangerous Man in America'.” The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 19 Jan. 2018, www.wsj.com/articles/review-timothy-leary-the-most-dangerous-man-in-america-1516320277.

Lechtenberg, Kendra. “Ask a Neuroscientist: Does a Bigger Brain Make You Smarter?” NeuWrite West, 24 May 2014, www.neuwritewest.org/blog/2014/5/23/ask-a-neuroscientist-does-a-bigger-brain-make-you-smarter.

“Left and Right Hemispheres - The Brain Made Simple.” Hippocampus - The Brain Made Simple, brainmadesimple.com/left-and-right-hemispheres.html.

“Phrenology.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 15 May 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology.

Shmerling, Robert H. “Right Brain/Left Brain, Right?” Harvard Health Blog, 28 July 2017, www.health.harvard.edu/blog/right-brainleft-brain-right-2017082512222.


Vesna, Victoria. Mind Intro, Lecture I-III. N.d. Video. YoutubeWeb. 14 Nov 2013.

Comments

  1. andrewsdesma9May 24, 2018 at 1:07 AM

    Hi, I really liked how you pointed out some of the theories prevalent in society that evidence has been accumulating against. I recently began to hear about evidence debunking left/right brain theories, too. You're right in that the brain truly is a very complex organ whose processes we are only beginning to understand and model. There is so much the brain can do that we understand and apply (we're literally just a body controlled by a brain) yet we don't truly understand it. It's this cycle of logic that's kind of mind boggling. My favorite thought is that the brain named itself. I think like any field of study, neuroscience and understanding the brain will come with time.

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