Week 7: Neuroscience and Art

The topics of consciousness and perception have fascinated artists and scientists. The brain is responsible for creating and perceiving scientific and artistic projects. This makes the brain an important connection between science and art.

The Brainbow is a good example of a neuroscience technique that could also be considered art. This technique makes neurons create random amount of colored proteins which allows researchers to visualize neurons ("The 100 Colours of the Brainbow").The result of this technique is very beautiful and can help people think about the complexity of the brain in different ways much like a work of art.

I always knew about the effect that mind altering drugs like shrooms or LSD had on popular culture, but I didn’t know about how much the fascinated the scientific community. The first person who self-experimented extensively with LSD was in 1943 by a Swiss scientist named Albert Hoffman. He had a remarkable experience and believed that it could possibly be used in psychotherapy ("April 19th, 1943: "Bicycle Day"” ). In the 1960s, Harvard psychology professor Timothy Leary played a huge role in popularizing LSD in the United States. He did many experiments with LSD on prisoners to see if the drug could influence re-offense rates. The prisoners in his study had a lower re-offense rate and also scored better on personality assessments. ("Timothy Leary - Alcohol Rehab")  Leary also advocated the use of LSD by his students. He believed that LSD helps people think in alternative ways and encouraged young people to question authority. He ended up playing a huge role in the development of the counter-culture of the 60s (Precourt). 

The history of LSD showed me how neuroscience and culture can influence one another.

Works Cited

"April 19th, 1943: "Bicycle Day"” Magic Bus San Francisco. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 May 2015. <http://magicbussf.com/today-is-the-day/>.

Precourt, Annie. "Timothy Leary and Psychedelic Drugs in the 60s” Cold War Museum. Ed. Jeremy Simmons. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 May 2015. <http://www.coldwar.org/articles/60s/timothyleary60s.asp>.

Sante, Review L. "The Nutty Professor." The New York Times. The New York Times, 24 June 2006. Web. 18 May 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/25/books/review/25sante.html?pagewanted=all>.

"Timothy Leary - Alcohol Rehab." Alcohol Rehab. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 May 2015. <http://alcoholrehab.com/drug-addiction/timothy-leary/>.

"The 100 Colours of the Brainbow." Neurophilosophy. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 May 2015. <http://scienceblogs.com/neurophilosophy/2007/10/31/the-100-colours-of-the-brainbow/>.