PSYC 318
Image, Imaging, and Imagining: The Brain and Visual Arts
Last Offered Fall 2013
Division III
Cross-listed NSCI 318 / INTR 223
This course is not offered in the current 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 create their own artwork in response to the course material, culminating in a class exhibit. The class will include field trips to local museums.
The Class: Format: seminar
Limit: 12
Expected: 12
Class#: 1588
Grading: yes pass/fail option, yes fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: evaluation will be based on a midterm, several presentations, and a final project
Extra Info: satisfies one semester of Division III requirement
Prerequisites: PSYC 101, ARTH 101-102 or permission of instructor
Enrollment Preferences: for registration under INTR, Studio Art majors; for registration under PSYC or NSCI, Psychology majors and Neuroscience concentrators
Unit Notes: meets NSCI Group B and PSYC Area 1 for the concentration or major only if registration is under NSCI or PSYC
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

Class Grid

Updated 7:09 am

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