Week 7 Neurosci + Art

       As a psychology major, neuroscience is anything but unfamiliar, but I had never thought about how neuroscience can have anything to do with art.

       One of the first things I learned in neuroscience is neurons as the basic unit of neural networks. The technology of using florescent proteins to distinguish individual neurons and map out neural connections more clearly turns out to be an amazing tool for artistic creation as well. This technique, Brainbow, was first invented by Jeff Lichtman and Joshua Sanes, and it really struck me how these pure scientists created such fascinating pictures of art.



A picture from the Brainbow project

The neural system demonstrated in the Brainbow project might have been selected in evolution because its layout facilitates the effectiveness of neural communications and information processing through shortening distances between neurons and strengthening their connections. This effective arrangement might require lining up neurons and other specific structures that then make our neural system aesthetically appealing. Therefore, the Brainbow project provides yet another example of how math and art are connected with each other.



A picture of a computer simulation of neural structures


           Thinking about how Freud argued that we have unconscious, repressed desires, how we can have dazzling, vivid hallucinations by taking substances such as LSD, and how we can adjust to an inverted world like the subjects in Mark Cohen’s experiments did, I am fascinated by the capacities of our brains which are simply composed of neurons like the Brainbow shows. Brains are definitely essential to human beings for processing information and guiding behaviors, but do they define who we are? According to “Neuroculture” by Giovanni Frazzetto and Suzanne Anker, the term brainhood is used to support the view that brains are the only organ in our body that we need to be ourselves. If that is the case, it would also indicate that mind control is inevitable like professor Vesna suggested in the introduction for this week’s lecture. In addition, imagine that an individual has his or her brain taken out and connected to a robotic body just like how individual bodies of an alien species are connected to their human owners’ brains in the movie Avatar, would human beings live for much longer and even become immortal? The moral issues related to brains and their functions may call for artists to raise public awareness through their works connecting art and science.




An alien body connected to a human’s brain by the machine behind him in Avatar




Works Cited

Frazzetto, Giovanni, and Suzanne Anker. “Neuroculture.” Nature Reviews Neuroscience 10.11 (2009): 815-21. Web.

Nmid. Active nerve cell in human neural system. N.d. Web. 20 May 2017. <https://www.fotolia.com/id/120431557>.

Twentieth Century Fox. The future of intergalactic/interspecies brain-control from the movie 'Avatar.' Um, we're not quite there yet. N.d. Man-to-Machine Brain Control Goes International With Robot Avatar Bodies. Web. 20 May 2017. <http://www.pcworld.com/article/258874/man_to_machine_brain_control_goes_international_with_robot_avatar_bodies.html>.

Vesna, Victoria. “Mind intro” Uploaded by uconlineprogram, 26 Mar. 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RF0Qt7L2-kM#action=share.

Vesna, Victoria. “Neuroscience-pt1.mov.” Uploaded by uconlineprogram, 17 May 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzXjNbKDkYI#action=share.


Weissman, Tamily. BRAINBOW. MOUSE HIPPOCAMPUS. N.d. Brainbow 101. Web. 20 May 2017. <https://igtrcn.org/brainbow-101/>.

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