This is the Brain on Art

Maybe it’s just all in your head.  Art.  Beauty.  Why you like what you like may be in fact a biological function of your brain.  Semir Zeki, professor of neuroaesthetics (yes, it is a real thing) at University College London, was involved in one recent study to find out what brain functions are involved in the aesthetic experience.  In the study, people were placed in a brain scanner and shown various images while researchers recorded their brain’s reactions.  Researchers reviewed the scans to identify the works that each individual liked best, and they succeeded.

These results are undeniably fascinating and demonstrate that there is a biological reaction to art, and may even indicate that we have an artistic instinct.  After all, every society has produced art across all of human history. 

Not everyone is singing the same song when it comes to what the study of neurons tells us about our response art.  The philosopher and former clinical scientist, Raymond Tallis says, “Works of art are not merely sources of stimuli that act on bits of brain.  More than anything else, they engage us as human beings.”  Tallis believes that what we think about art is dynamic experience, and what we think about it is influenced by time, place, and personal experience. 

Even though there are disagreements about what the study actually reveals about the way in which our brains process the artistic experience; some principal players in the art world are using the study to try to enhance our aesthetic experience.  Several organizations, including the National Gallery in London and several galleries in the U.S., are applying the science of the brain in their determination of how they light spaces and arrange paintings. 

Artists are also jumping on the brain bandwagon.  Professor and artist Bevil R. Conway, utilizes recent research findings in his work.  He uses the way our eyes and brains process information to enrich certain aspects in his work.  He states, “We know right at the outset in the retina that visual information is coded as spots of light and dark. . . . if I wanted to make read look really red, then I would put it on a green background, because lots of psychophysical work has shown that that kind of color contrast makes things really stand out.” 

It is no surprise that the brain is big business.  Just last year President Obama pledged one hundred million dollars for the Brain Research Initiative.  This collaborative research initiative will work to aid us in understanding how the brain works as well as find new ways to treat and cure illnesses like epilepsy, autism, Alzheimer’s as well traumatic brain injury.  There is a similar venture in Europe known as the Human Brain Project.  Click here: to read more about the U.S. Brain Research Initiative.

It is fascinating that some of the people in the art world have incorporated brain research into their work.  It does appear that neuroaesthetics provide some validity to the physical and emotional relationship that humans have with art; but it can also be said that this research could prove to be unrewarding because so much of what humans deem as “art” is personal, subjective and intangible. 

Even with recent scientific discoveries, the questions about art and beauty remain.  While, our appreciation of art may be partly biological, human creativity is not just the work of the individual brain, but also of a collective human society, culture, and history.

E.H.