“The blend of science and art is called neuroarts or neuro-aesthetics. The new book, ‘Your Brain On Art: How The Arts Transform Us,’ shows both the growth and importance of the field that connects the arts and our health. Jeffrey Brown of PBS visited the Johns Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore to see the progress for our arts and culture series, CANVAS.”
Susan Magsamen, Director, Center for Applied Neuroaesthetics:
“The arts are becoming more incorporated into medicine, and of a growing understanding of how art can literally reshape or rewire our brains. It connects different circuits, connects different systems and different mechanisms within the brain.
Magsamen is co-author with Ivy Ross, vice president for design at Google, of the new book “Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us.” She gave Jeffrey Brown a day’s tour of ongoing examples at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where she directs the International Arts and Mind Lab.
Mr. Brown was introduced to Dr. Alexander Pantelyat, a neurologist and himself a violinist who’s studying the potential for improving memory loss experienced by Alzheimer’s patients and others.
Dr. Pantelyat, Co-Founder and Director, Johns Hopkins Center for Music & Medicine:
“And we know that music impacts multiple networks in the brain simultaneously. Simply listening to a song can activate much of the brain at once.”
Susan Magsamen: “The fact that there is science that’s really beginning to show the neuroplasticity, the changes in neurotransmitters, the physiological structural changes in the brain, and also the impact on the body, I think we’re starting to be able to provide an evidence base. We are really evolutionarily wired for the arts. And I think that, as the science continues to grow, I think we will have more applications and more ways to see that show up in our daily lives.”
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-a-blend-of-science-and-art-is-improving-neurological-health
