THE NEUROSICIENCE OF BEING INSPIRED BY ART
Suzanne Jacquot
Joan Mitchell, River, Oil on canvas, 1989
Do you recall a time when a work of art really touched you? Did you think what brilliant technique, what profound inspiration? Was it an experience that touched your soul, or stayed in your thoughts about it all day long? Did witnessing a great work of art make you feel an upswell of emotion, gain an epiphany, or even contemplate society?
Now, for the first time, scientists believe that they may have found a new clue to the actual processes that happen in the brain when we experience this sensation of being inspired.
Our brains react to the art and emit certain brain waves.
In a scientific article by Ryan Standifird, scientists at the Breda University of Applied Sciences and Tilburg University in the Netherlands, as well as the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics (MPIEA) in Frankfurt, Germany conducted a series of experiments on subjects whose brains were being monitored by an electroencephalography (EEG) cap.
During the experiments, these subjects were shown pieces of artwork, and then were asked to rate how appealing the art piece was to them.
The result?
The more appealing a work of art, the more gamma brain waves were created!
It actually took a second or two for the viewer to process the image and extract the underlying meaning behind it. It’s that deeper meaning that scientists believe is the cause of these brain waves, which leads to the conclusion that this phenomenon is tied to processing and interpreting this deeper, complex meaning.
"We don't just passively perceive art, but engage in a process of discovery that can last several seconds,” said Edward A. Vessel, research associate at the MPIEA and co-author of the study. “We try out different interpretations and meanings. This process takes time to develop, and can continue for many seconds as a viewer savors the feeling of engaging with art."
Gamma waves have historically been shown to help people experience:
More tendency towards kindness and understanding
Enhanced peace and stability
Powerful feelings of oneness
Feelings of bliss and joy
Recent studies out of MIT have even shown that exposure to gamma waves resulted in reduced amyloid brain plaque in subjects. The accumulation of this brain plaque is believed to play a major role in the onset of cognitive disorders like dementia and Alzheimer’s.
During the artwork experiment mentioned above, the scientists made another interesting discovery:
Alpha brain waves were also seen to spike on pieces of art that were…
…either very appealing or very unappealing!
Alpha waves are the brain waves of focus and concentration, so their presence indicates that the more someone liked or disliked a piece of art, the more they focused on it.
If we really like something, we focus on it and appreciate it.
But what some might find surprising is that…
…if we really dislike something, we also tend to focus on it.
The evidence of these alpha spikes when we interact with things that we really like and things that we really don’t like are echoed in how we live our lives.
Centerpointe’s late founder, Bill Harris, used to say:
“Your focus determines what happens in your life.” ~Bill Harris
WHAT ART IMAGE INSPIRES YOU?!
Thanks to Centerpointe for sharing the neuroscience of art.
Let me know your thoughts and experiences on being inspired by art! Thank you for reading my BLOG.
Suzanne