Week 7: Neuroscience and Art

This week, we started to submerge ourselves in the world of the mind and human perceptions. Neuroscience is a intricate and complex study, and it continually tries to engage itself with the public on a regular basis. Neuroscience attempts to study and our individual minds, and evaluates our brains.

Are the color dots blinking, or are still?


Art often tries to take advantage of perception to create new works. In some cases, optical illusions can affect how we perceive these creative works by confusing our brain. In this example, our eyes try to trick our brain into thinking that the color dots are moving, or blinking, when they are actually staying still. The black and white spiral confuses our brain into trying to pinpoint the colored dots, and thus creates an illusion that makes us think harder than necessary.

LSD Painting
Professor Vesna talked a lot about hallucinogens used to create art by affecting our senses. This includes LSD, stimulants, and many other drugs, and they alter an individual's perception of the world around them. Many instances of using hallucinogens include impaired judgement, blurring visions, and color shifts, however these are just limited things I read through research.

"Beauty" on the Left, Beauty on the Right.

I think the most influencial perception we have in our lives is beauty. Today, the media plays a huge role in shaping our brains to think a certain way, and setting rules for "beauty". However, this ideal is wrong. We grow up in different environments, and our experiences shape our depiction of what beauty is. 

Citations:
"Acid Trip 1." Acid Trip 1. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. <http://www.cowboybooks.com.au/html/acidtrip1.html>.

"Beauty Perception." Beauty Perception. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. <http://beauty-perception.tumblr.com/page/2>.

"Neuroscience-pt1.mov." YouTube. YouTube, 17 May 2012. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzXjNbKDkYI>.

"Neuroscience Pt3." YouTube. YouTube, 16 May 2012. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5EX75xoBJ0>.

"How LSD Works." HowStuffWorks. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. <http://www.howstuffworks.com/lsd.htm>.
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1 comment:

  1. UnknownNovember 22, 2013 at 2:12 PM

    Beauty is really important, and like you said, it should be shaped by our perspectives. While the media does a big job by causing us to think as society would, we all have different neurological impulses and that causes us to view things differently.

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