Week 7: Neuroscience + Art

Brainbow
(from Google images)

When I was in high school, I took a course in neuroscience, and my impression on neuroscience was all about the complicated structures of human brain and neural system, while it had absolutely nothing to do with art. However, after this week’s lecture, I realized that neuroscience is actually the origin of art in that any art is created by thinking. What Ramon y Cajal did was to visualize the relation between neuroscience and art by referring to neurons as the mysterious butterflies of the soul. Also, the FMRI butterfly created by Suzanne Anker and the Brainbow project are aesthetically pleasing and successfully develop Cajal’s notion.

After I knew about the close relation between neuroscience and art, I became curious about what is actually happening in my brain when I am playing the piano. It turns out that our brain structure and music are influential to each other. Scientists Gaser and Schlaug compared brain structures of professional musicians with non-musicians and discovered gray matter volume differences in motor, auditory and visual-spatial brain regions. The reason for this is the long-term acquisition and repetitive practice of musical skills. On the other hand, absolute pitch, an ability which I admire so much, is a gift from the brain. Absolute pitch is the ability to identify the pitch of a musical tone without the use of an external reference pitch, and it is thought to be a key aspect of extraordinary musical ability. Famous composers such as Beethoven, Mozart and Bach were all said to have had this talent. Recently, neuroscientists in Switzerland have discovered that this rare gift may be due to a functional link between the brain’s auditory cortex and frontal lobe.

Perfect pitch (or absolute pitch)
(from Google images)

The relation between neuroscience and music is more than that. In the lecture, it was mentioned that scientists were eager to find and use drugs as psychedelic psychotherapy. In fact, music can also be an effective “drug” for neural diseases. Mona Lisa Chanda, PhD, found that music improves the body’s immune system function and reduces stress. Also, research of Lauren K. King found that short-term use of vibroacoustic therapy, which involves the use of vibrating low frequency sound, can help release symptoms of Parkinson’s disease patient.

Vibroacoustic therapy
(from Google images)

Neuroscience is a new scientific area and full of potentials. Aside from medical aspects, further discovery in this area may even help trace the origin of human world and bring about breakthroughs in philosophic field. As long as inhuman experiments (like those mentioned in the lecture) are avoided, I believe humans are going to obtain considerable benefits and get answers to unsolved problems from the development of neuroscience.

Sources:

The Journal of Neuroscience, University of Zurich. “Brain Study Explores Gifts of Perfect Pitch”, The Hearing Review, 14 Jan 2015. <http://www.hearingreview.com/2015/01/brain-study-explores-rare-gift-perfect-pitch/>. Accessed 17 May 2017. Web.

Wikipedia. “Cognitive neuroscience of music”, 13 Apr 2017. Accessed 17 May 2017. Web.

Youtube. “Neuroscience-pt1.mov”, uconlineprogram, 17 May 2012. Accessed 17 May 2017. Video.

DeFelipe, Javier. “Cajal’s butterflies of the soul”, OUPblog, 9 Nov 2013. <https://blog.oup.com/2013/11/cajal-butterflies-of-the-soul-cerebral-cortex/>. Accessed 17 May 2017. Web.

Novetney, Amy. “Music as medicine”, American Psychology Association, Nov 2013. <http://www.apa.org/monitor/2013/11/music.aspx>. Accessed 17 May 2017. Web.