PSYC 318
Image, Imaging, and Imagining: The Brain and Visual Arts Spring 2016
Division III
Cross-listed NSCI 318 / INTR 223
This is not the current course catalog

Class Details

This course will study the intersections of neuroscience and art. The brain interprets the visual world and generates cognitive and emotional responses to what the eyes see. It is also responsible for creating mental images and then directing the artist’s motor output. We will first examine the neural mechanisms of how we perceive what we see. We will investigate how visual artists have used or challenged perceptual cues in their work. Understanding how the brain perceives faces will be used to analyze portraiture. We will consider the influence of neurological and psychological disorders on artistic work. We will examine neuroimaging studies questioning whether the brains of visual artists are specialized differently from non-artists. Finally, we will explore how contemporary artists are using brain images in their artwork, and how “outsider” artists have portrayed brain syndromes and mental states. Students will conduct an empirical laboratory project that will explore their own experimental question in response to the course material. The class will include field trips to local museums.
The Class: Format: seminar and empirical lab course
Limit: 12
Expected: 12
Class#: 3791
Grading: no pass/fail option, no fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: evaluation will be based on a midterm, participation in class discussions, and a poster presentation of the empirical project
Extra Info: satisfies one semester of Division III requirement
Extra Info 2: may not be taken on a pass/fail basis; not available for the fifth course option
Prerequisites: PSYC 101, an ARTH or ARTS course, or permission of instructor
Enrollment Preferences: Studio Art majors; Psychology majors and Neuroscience concentrators
Distributions: Division III
Notes: This course is cross-listed and the prefixes carry the following divisional credit:
NSCI 318 Division III PSYC 318 Division III INTR 223 Division III
Attributes: NSCI Group B Electives
PSYC Area 1 - Behavioral Neuroscience
PSYC Empirical Lab Course

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