Week 7 - Neuroscience & Art

I thoroughly enjoyed this week's topic. Examining and analyzing the conscious and unconscious fascinated me deeply, especially with the addition of exploring the work of Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud. The perspectives of these well respected psychoanalysts varied greatly. Jung believed the unconscious was a creative expression while Freud focused on sexuality of the unconscious. Jung also came up with the idea of Archetypes, which are patterns of thoughts that are created at birth instead of being learned over time.

The TED Talk by Vilayanur Rakmachandran discusses relationship between the mind and body and the three different ways to understand gangs. Throughout his talk he also talked about the Capgras syndrome and delusion, as well as the phantom limb and synesthesia. After analyzing these three concepts, I was reminded how self-awareness is the key to neuroscience and the connection between the mind and body truly portray human functions. Franz Gall created phrenology, which was a model used to determine mental functions and how specific characteristics were located in certain parts of the brain.

The topic this week is important because it pertains to everyday life as the brain is the main organ we use each and every day. It is important to consider that our brains control the thoughts and actions of our life. The interesting topic of neuroscience can be shown in any artistic way. There are a a number of ways neuroscience can act as a medium to which art is expressed: brainbow, scientific organization, phrenology, or analyzing the psychedelic experience of drugs like LSD or acid. No matter what your viewpoint may be in regard neuroscience and art, they is no denying that these two topics are relevant in our daily lives.

Sources: 

Audrius V. Plioplys. Artistic Explorations of Thought. Web. 17 May 2015. <http://www.plioplys.com/index.php>

Brainbow, http://cbs.fas.harvard.edu/science/connectome-project/brainbow ,web. 

Bear, Mark F., Barry W. Connors, and Michael A. Paradiso, eds. Neuroscience. Vol. 2. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2007.

Vesna, Victoria. “Conscious / Memory (Part 1).” Lecture. 17 May 2015. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DLVQIwOn7o8>

Vesna, Victoria. Lecture. “Conscious / Memory (Part 2).” 17 May 2015. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Xlg5wXHWZNI>