Neuroscience + Art





Phrenologists representation of the brain

 What a difference technology can make. In the 19th century Francis Joseph Gall collected brains and imagined the brain as a set of different organs governing different faculties of the body. Phrenologists then believed they could read different personalities from feeling the different organs through the skull. At the turn of the twentieth century the microscope allowed Santiago Ramon y Cajul to observe and draw beautiful images of neurons.  
Cajul's image of neurons


Today we have even more beautiful images of neurons created through the use of florescent staining. Art and science seem to be completely joined here.  This is an image of neurons by Greg Dunn a brain artist. 

Artistic representation of neurons


Today MRI scans can record and picture the electrical activity in different parts of the brain and so accurately identify which parts of the brain control different human functions – thought, emotion, visual and motor. MRI scans can record and  
Ramachandaran in his TED talk describes how he managed to remove the pain of a phantom limb using a mirror box that tricked the visual part of the brain into believing that the limb was no longer paralyzed. 

MRI scan of though, emotion, visual and motor... 


 But though the images are beautiful and our knowledge of the working of the brain is now much more accurate, they really only increase the sense of mystery. They show us ourselves from the outside but do not explain the consciousness that allows us to see this. As Ramachandaran puts it the brain is a 3lb lump of jelly that can contemplate the whole universe and infinity as well as contemplate its own contemplation. It is this self-consciousness that makes us more than a computer and remains mysterious. Freud divided this into conscious, pre-conscious and unconscious. We tend to think of the self in terms of conscious plans and goals but most of what we do - seeing, hearing, understanding, speaking, feeling is just taken for granted – and happens with little effort or awareness. And then there are things like our dreams and their strange images and puzzles. The Greeks long ago recorded myths that seemed to describe universal experiences and themes that are universal to human life. Carl Jung likewise argued that there is some sort of collective unconscious made up of archetypal images – masculine, feminine, which shape human thought and conduct. Bateson spoke of 'our collective knowing' being 'the glue holding everything together'. So perhaps the image of an individual brain is misleading and perhaps in some way my individual consciousness is joined to others like the neurons and synapses within the brain itself. 


References:

"Monoskop." Monoskop. N.p., 21 Apr. 2017. Web. 21 May 2017.
Gregory Bateson, Mind and Nature: a necessary unity 

Ramachandran, VS. "3 Clues to Understanding Your Brain." VS Ramachandran: 3 Clues to Understanding Your Brain | TED Talk | TED.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 May 2017.


The Father of Modern Neuroscience Was an Athlete and Artist. N.d. Psychology Today. By Christopher Bergland. Web. 21 May 2017.


Dazzling Images of the Brain Created by Neuroscientist-Artist. N.d. LiveScience. By Tanya Lewis. Web. 21 May 2017.


Size Does Matter: Gall's Achievements and the Emergence of Phrenology. N.d. Franz Josef Gall. Web. 21 May 2017.



"MRI Scanner Sees Emotions Flickering Across an Idle Mind." Duke Today. Duke Research, n.d. Web. 21 May 2017.

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