Week 7: Neuroscience + Art


After watching the lectures and reading this week's articles, it seems to me that neuroscience is an art itself. It is so interesting the ways in which everyone's minds are so similar, yet so different. In recent history, as technology developed, so did the ability to see more and more into the mind and how it works. One of the studies that caught my attention was the one done at UCLA, from the article "How to build a bigger brain" (Wheeler). This study used MRI scans to test the neurological benefits of meditation and how it changes the brain. By looking at specific areas of the brain that are associated with emotions, they found that regardless of the types of meditation, the meditators always had more gray matter there, meaning that they had better control of their emotional responses to things (Wheeler). 
Photo from http://synchronicity.org/free-infographics/effects-of-meditation-on-the-brain

Another level that adds to the complexity of the mind is the research done using psychedelic drugs. People like Aldous Huxley, Humphrey Osmond, and Timothy Leary were all pioneers in this field of research. Although these drugs are now illegal, their experiments were intriguing due to their positive results. For example, Leary's success rates in preventing repeat offenses by giving them drugs. Despite the fact that drugs like LSD are not necessarily safe for recreational use, I think it would be really interesting if research in a controlled environment were still continued today because of the ways in which technology has developed since the 1900s.
Photo from https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/oct/05/healing-trip-psychedelic-drugs-treat-depression
Photo of Timothy Leary from https://alchetron.com/Timothy-Leary-822196-W


Sources:
Gardner, Howard. Art, mind and brain: a cognitive approach to creativity. New York: Basic , 1998. Print.

MIND AND NATURE by Gregory Bateson. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 May 2017. <http://www.oikos.org/mind&nature.htm>.

Penrose, Roger. The Third Culture - Chapter 14. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 May 2017. <https://www.edge.org/documents/ThirdCulture/v-Ch.14.html>.

Varela, Francisco J., Evan Thompson, and Eleanor Rosch. The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience. N.p.: The MIT Press, 1993. Print.

Wheeler, Mark. "How to build a bigger brain." UCLA Newsroom. N.p., 12 May 2009. Web. 19 May 2017. <http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/how-to-build-a-bigger-brain-91273>.

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