Art, Emotion and Neuroscience

EDUMCE05 NEUROSCIENCE IN EDUCATIONAL SCIENCESSPRING 2021

ART, EMOTION AND NEUROSCIENCE

by- Yaiza Hernández Escobar

Essay introduction

First I will commence with a brief introduction to the topic of study.

Humanity has been producing art since the prehistoric era. It has come as some sort of natural instinct to portray buffalos in caverns and hunting scenes, to paint human anatomy, to write poems, compose Fur Elise, create dysmorphic figures and a million more self-expressive samples.

What we have to ask ourselves here is, why? Needless to say, “Art is something people do and feel”(Dissanayake, 1988) Because of this, art should also be studied from a developmental, psychological, and neuroscientific point of view.

“According to Susanne Langer, reasoning includes "the process of building up insight into relations too complex to be grasped by direct inspection," and in this way, artworks can lead to knowledge about the patterns of higher cognitive function.” (Watling,1998)

As we can read, art does involve higher cognitive functions, this is because all forms of art (performative, visual, musical, writing…) trigger specific mechanisms in the brain related to emotions and even survival. This is why it should be taken into account in the evolution of humankind to the same level as languages or tool making.

Imagination and creativity

For example, regarding Imagination and creativity, (Geake, 2009,p.95) there are many processes involved in the brain. It’s important to note that creativity comes from the cognitive model based on analogizing, The capacity to create metaphors and analogies of a concept transforming the previous knowledge from the mental models ( Lonka, 2018) and ( J. Bruner) existing in the brain to create new meanings. These capacities for fluid analogizing manifest in the brain in neural activations of bilateral areas in the frontal cortices, but other neural activations in the parietal area also occur. Needless to say that “creative thinking would not be possible without our extensive neural interconnectivity” (Geake, 2009,p.96).

Also, the mental models previously assessed have to be extense and there has to be a large working memory capacity, the more information the brain is capable of managing, the greater amounts of ideas possible. Because of this, neural processing has to be robust to enable the efficacy of information transfer and information gain. Imagination is also about information. It happens thanks to many different neural phenomena. They are distributed throughout the brain and there are many types of imagination. The imagination that involves anticipation ( by using an external reference) usually relies on the lower parts of the frontal cortex, cerebellum, and orbitofrontal cortex (Geake, 2009,p.98).

But there is also another type of imagination, the one where we imagine something without an external reference, this is the type also linked to creativity because memories are still used but transformed in order to imagine something new. This is imagination as a mental process because it creates mental experiences that later can be manipulated and developed in creative thinking and if put into practice in creative making.

Emotions, art, neuroscience.

As it is stated before, Imagination and creativity have very close links to brain functioning and thereby to emotions which also influence the brain.

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First It’s important to note the nature of human emotions. As Antonio Damasio and Gil B.(2013) explain, the survival of humans depends on the correct functioning of the body, a correct homeostatic range, and when this is altered, it also alters the psychological state, creating basic feelings and needs such as hunger, fear or thirst.

Related to the brain, some sectors such as the cerebral cortex, amygdala, and hypothalamus, contribute to the emergence of feelings (there is a link between the amygdala and our ability to decide meaning upon an object or situation as found by Joseph LeDoux, in 1994). Despite this, it has to be taken into account, that feelings truly arise from older regions of the brain, such as the brainstem, this is also why feelings are not exclusive to mammals or humans, they are a natural instinct of almost every living being. This leads us to think that if feelings are natural to humans, and art is linked to feelings ( and has been found since primitive times, for example, the Atapuerca paintings from 800.000 years ago), that artistic expression is also a natural instinct in human beings and helps in their survival.

Complex emotions require higher mental processes (as seen in imagination and creativity) that can be triggered by things like art in all of its forms. What is also interesting about art and emotions, is that it’s universal but individual at the same time because it can be interpreted by many: “just as language expresses ideas of things and events, not their actuality, art expresses ideas of feeling, not the feelings themselves” (Watling,1998). This is why, art and its reactions to it can help humans understand better their mind, Also, because it often mirrors the felt tensions of life which have their physiological and neuronal counterparts. (Watling,1998).

About the complex emotions which lead to complex cognitive processes, it’s important to state that it has been found that through emotional activation in the limbic system (which can be done through art), the activation of somatic markers led to a more functioning and focused attention, which enables higher cognitive functions to proceed ( engaging motivation). This can also be linked to learning.

Educate in art, Why?

With the before stated, complex emotions, are important to regulate, in order to balance learning and decision making. This is due to the fact that emotions also influence decision-making ( M. Huotilainen 2021, lecture about emotions). In the brain, the frontal cortex has deep connections with the “seat of emotions” in the subcortical limbic system. The brain uses emotions from the brainstem to create feelings in the subcortical limbic system and then mediates our decision-making undertaken in the frontal lobes. (Geake, 2009,P. 114). This influences directly the learning processes, (also because the amygdala and the limbic areas have deep connections with the hippocampus, the organ responsible for long-term memory). Thus Emotions and emotion regulation are crucial for learning, this is because, in order to fully engage in the learning process, the learner has to be in a flow state ( M. Huotilainen 2021) and have epistemic emotions ( k.lonka, 2018, p.44) which will allow pupils to develop an intrinsic motivation when learning. This emotion regulation can be done through art. In the study lead by,(Fancourt, D., Garnett, C., Spiro, N., West, R., & Müllensiefen, D. 2019), it is stated that artistic activities do impact our emotions ( thanks to the study of event-related synchronization's which were classified in three categories: avoidance, approach, and self-development). Thereby can also regulate them. This is why it is important to educate in art and to use art as a channel for learning. Also because as it promotes creativity, it allows students to develop creativity in other fields and work on 21 st century skills such as critical-thinking thanks to openmindness.

references

Dissanayake, Ellen. What Is Art For?, University of Washington Press, 1988. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.libproxy.helsinki.fi/lib/helsinki-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4306002.

Lonka, K., Makkonen, J., Berg, M., Talvio, M., Maksniemi, E., Kruskopf, M., ... & Westling, S. K. (2018). Phenomenal learning from Finland. Edita. Watling, C. P. (1998). The arts, emotion, and current research in neuroscience. Mosaic : A Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature, 31(1), 107-124. Fancourt, D., Garnett, C., Spiro, N., West, R., & Müllensiefen, D. (2019). How do artistic creative activities regulate our emotions? Validation of the Emotion Regulation Strategies for Artistic Creative Activities Scale (ERS-ACA). PloS one, 14(2), e0211362.

Geake, J. (2009). The brain at school: Educational neuroscience in the classroom. McGraw-Hill Education (UK). Damasio, A., & Carvalho, G. B. (2013). The nature of feelings: evolutionary and neurobiological origins. Nature reviews neuroscience, 14(2), 143-152.

Videos: The neuroscience of imagination - Andrey Vyshedskiy TED classes. Minna Huotilainen's Lectures on emotions and neuroscience.

Small study / field work

- The power of creativity-

The experience:

-INTRODUCTION-

As we have read in the essay, everything is connected, so this is possible.

I have focused on visual art and have created a fieldwork/ experience based on what I have read.

This experience has been done with the five roommates whom I co-exist with, in Finland. The main objective was to see the differences between creating visual art as an individual, and as a collective and see the emotions transmitted in every experience. Also, music was introduced to be able to see how the boost of two emotion-engaging stimuli can affect the subjects.

As well as the result of the almost intangible "magic" of human relations, also called, the zone of proximal development, by Vygotsky. The concept that by learning and experiencing together, we get to develop ourselves even more, together.

The subjects have been asked to draw about their emotions in the moment of the activity and to do "free art" without any pre-thought realistic and tangible reference.

- "The cell" colaborative work from the experience-

Can art help us understand our emotions better and develop our social skills?

This experience has been done to try and apply neuroscientific and psychological knowledge to real life.

Although the outcomes of it are very subjective and to see a real change in the customs of some of our subjects a more long-term intervention should've taken place, it's also interesting to see the reactions to the experience of this very small sample of population.

I also want to emphasize that they come from different backgrounds so since it's an exchange student group there is maybe more diversity than in a local group, especially with the conception of art, which varies significantly from an occidental culture to another. Despite this, their ages range from 19-31 years old and they all have a university education.

The countries of precedence are stated in the results, this is because the subjects have specific mental models from their background from where they recall their memories and this conditions them.

HOW?

The experience has been done in two hours and fifteen minutes.

Also, music has been taken into consideration and introduced in the small fieldwork. As we have read, it also influences emotions, the brain and thereby social skills. The materials used are watercolour paper, watercolours, colour pencils and charcoal.

work

"Craziness" colaborative

from the experience-

Although, new theoretical models are being presented in how to do artistic interventions/ activities in order to raise experiential, behavioral, or physiological emotional responses to the creative activity, this more simple model is taken as a reference in order to develop this experience.

Four stage model of Goethem and Sloboda : 1. 2. 3. 4. ( In this experience It's music and visual art)

Set the "goal, or expectations" of the creative activity. What are they hoping to achieve?

The "tactic". On what creative activity are they engaging? Is it musical, visual, or performative art? ( in this case, it's visual art)

The ‘strategy’, What mental processes are used to regulate the emotions from the activity? (

Neuroscientific part)

Finally, the "mechanism" which mediates the induction of emotions ( what is the visual imagery, the music).

Reference-----:Fancourt, D., Garnett, C., Spiro, N., West, R., & Müllensiefen, D. (2019). How do artistic creative activities regulate our emotions? Validation of the Emotion Regulation Strategies for Artistic Creative Activities Scale (ERS-ACA). PloS one, 14(2), e0211362.

BASIC SCHEME OF THE EXPERIENCE:

In this experience, the use of questionnaries is very present as a way to recompile thoughts and feelings.

2 H EXPERIENCE

Q1 Q2

Art, 2 days prior to experience

Emotion management, 1 day prior to experience

Q3- Questionnaire about feelings in the START and expectations.

Before the experience two questionnaires have been done

GROUP 2.1 AND 2.2

Experience 1.2 = repeat but with music, Clair de lune- Debussy and SHARED MATERIALS - Experience 2.1 = 20 minutes painting in a group with no music - Description in three words what they are feeling now

- Experience 1.1 = 15 minutes painting individually with no music - Description in three words what they are feeling now

+

INDIVIDUAL 1.1 AND 1.2

Experience 2.2 = repeat but with music, upbeat music. +

Q4 - Questionnaire about feelings in the END and expectations.

Questionary 1:

- Art and Emotions regarding it-

ABOUT:

Twodaysprevioustotheactivity. Thisquestionnaireispartofasmall fieldstudyon5peopleandtheir feelingstowardsart(mainlyvisual, musicalusedasotherstimuli)The questionsarethoughtbyme,withthe aimtohaveasmallinsightonthe relationwithartthattheyhave.

USE: Thiswillbeusefultoseewherethe subjectsstartfromwithrespectto knowledgeandperceptionsinthis field.

INTERPRETATION:

Theinterpretationisdonewithoutany scientificspecificknowledge,but generallycommonsense.

WE CAN OBSERVE THAT ALL OF OUR SUBJECTS STATE THAT ART EDUCATION IN SCHOOL, HASN'T BEEN VERY GOOD.

Questionary 1 subjects:

- ART AND EMOTIONS REGARDING IT-

S-1 S-2 S-3 S-4 S-5

Germany Austria 1 Austria 2 Serbia Kenia

Usually doesn't do art activities, bases her knowledge in facts and data, fells that understands art . But also feels that is not creative, due to a lack of practice and feels a bit incompetent and uncomfortable when doing an art activity

Hasn'thadagoodArteducation, specialexpressive inschool

Has done performative arts (15 years), feels that is lacking knowledge in other forms of art to understand it as also uncomfortable when required to do an art task or refer to it. But also feels that is creative.

Engages in musical art activities, composes and sings, understands art thanks to personal proximity to it. Also feels that is creative, especially in engaging the audience and in class ( is a teacher) . Feels competent in art knowledge, but not in visual art.

Arteducationinschool, hasn'tbroughtmany liberties/choices.or meaningfullearning environment.

Hasn'thadagoodArt educationinschool

Engages in visual and musical art activities, understands art thanks to personal proximity to it. Also feels that is creative, due to experimentation with materials and feelings.Feels competent in art knowledge

Arteducationinschool, hasn'tbroughtmany liberties/choices.Knowledgeis duetointrinsicmotivation.

Usually doesn't do art activities, understands art thanks to art education in high school But also feels that is not creative, due to a lack of practice and feels a bit incompetent.

Arteducationinschool, hasn'tbroughtmany liberties/choicesinpractice buthaslearnedalotof theory

Questionary 2: -Emotions and social skills

ABOUT:

The questions about emotions and social skills are based on Peter Salovey and John Mayer’s conception of emotional intelligence as well as its five components developed by Daniel Goleman in his book "Emotional Intelligence – Why it can matter more than IQ" in 1995.

First a basic definition: It has to be taken into account that this concept has been present in research since 1964, also it's important to not forget Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences, where already this concept was introduced in the interpersonal as well as intrapersonal intelligences.

Peter Salovey and John Mayer, define the concept as: "the ability to monitor one's own and other people's emotions, to discriminate between different emotions and label them appropriately, and to use emotional information to guide thinking and behavior" (Mayer & Salovey, 1997) but in recent years, this definition has changed to a broader one and subdivided among three models, the ability, mixed and trait model.

The inspiration for the questions has been taken from the ability model, in where Salovey and Mayer are its representatives, and the mixed model which Goleman introduces. For the first model, there is the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) and for the second one, Goleman's Emotional competence inventory (self-awareness, self-regulation, social skill, empathy, motivation). These tests are extensive and take time to answer as well as require an expert to interpret them, this is why I have been inspired by them, to create a shorter test with my own questions. Nevertheless, I have also been inspired by Justin Bariso's article in INC, about questions of emotional intelligence. Through these models, social skills and emotions are combined.

Click here to access the questionary

Questionary 2: -Emotions and social skills

USE:

The aim of this short test is to have a small insight into the emotional competencies the subjects start from. Furthermore, it is important to note that the improvement of these competencies, will succeed on a larger scale if enrolled in long-term art therapy/ workshops, not only one isolated activity like this case.

INTERPRETATION:

The interpretation has been done based in the article of Dr David Caruso, Psychologist, and his adapted reading of the MISCEIT.

As well as said before, self interpretations.

It's also important to note that the questionnaire was made to see any anomalies, but since the participants have good emotion management, much of the data is the same for all.

References: -----------------------

- Emotional intelligence. (2021, February 26). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional intelligence

- Bariso, J. (2016). These 81 Questions Will Help You Increase Your Emotional Intelligence. Retrieved 25 February 2021, from https://www.inc.com/justinbariso/81-questions-emotionally-intelligent-people-ask.html

- Mayer, J. D. (2002). MSCEIT: Mayer-Salovey-Caruso emotional intelligence test. Toronto, Canada: Multi-Health Systems.

Questionary 2 subjects:

- EMOTIONS AND SOCIAL SKILLS -

S-1 S-2 S-3 S-4 S-5

Germany Austria 1 Austria 2 Serbia Kenia

Has a high sense of empathy, as well as a good knowledge of emotion management in different social situations ( social skills) and self-knowledge.

Identifies emotions excellently , adapts to change, and has assertiveness when encountered with a difficult situation.

Has a high sense of empathy, as well as a good knowledge of emotion management in different social situations ( social skills) and selfknowledge.

Identifies emotions correctly, has a little trouble adapting to change, and has assertiveness when encountered with a difficult situation.

Has a high sense of empathy, as well as a good knowledge of emotion management in different social situations ( social skills) and self-knowledge.

Identifies emotions excellently , adapts to change, and has assertiveness when encountered with a difficult situation.

Has a high sense of empathy, as well as a good knowledge of emotion management in different social situations ( social skills) and self-knowledge.

Identifies emotions correctly, adapts to change, and has assertiveness when encountered with a difficult situation.

Has a high sense of empathy, as well as a good knowledge of emotion management in different social situations ( social skills) and self-knowledge.

Identifies emotions excellently, adapts to change, and usually has assertiveness when encountered with a difficult situation, except in situations with high pressure that involve others

ABOUT:

Questions inspired in Kristi Lonka's book :" Phenomenal learning from Finland" Phenomenal learning from Finland. Edita. competence 2 - Emotional skills and the "problem-solving sheet" from my course Professor Gagnon, J. (2021). STEP: Support for learning and well-being. Week 5, lecture.

USE: The questions are usually used for managing a challenging situation, but for some of my roommates confronting a blank paper is a challenging situation, this is why I used these sources to create these questions.

Reference---------------------------------

K., Makkonen, J., Berg, M., Talvio, M., Maksniemi, E., Kruskopf, M., ... & Westling, S. K. (2018). Phenomenal learning from Finland. Edita

Questionary 3 subjects:

- EMOTIONS BEFORE THE WORKSHOP -

S-1 S-2 S-3 S-4 S-5

Germany Austria 1 Austria 2 Serbia Kenia

Feels confusion and happiness at the same time, not any particular challenges, and doesn't have a lot of expectations of the activity, is keen of seeing the differences between the various experiences.

feels Gratefulness, comfort, slight discontent, challenged because can't draw on the spot, but also expects to be happy after the experience.

feels happy and relaxed but also challenged for "not being good in art", respects to draw.

Feels at ease, not any particular challenges, and doesn't have a lot of expectations of the activity, but is keen on drawing together, thinks it will be a good experience.

Doesn't feel any particular emotions, feels challenged because she "doesn't know how to draw", and is expecting to draw more than she did for the past 15 years of her life.

Videos experience 1 :

OBSERVATIONS EXPERIENCE 1:

1.1INDIVIDUAL:

When the time that was going to be spent on the drawing was, stated, some subjects thought it was too much, but now they seem to enjoy it.

When the subjects felt more comfortable, they started to share colors as a form of interaction, although it was stated not to share material. Also, some subjects are staring slightly at other's drawings and "comparing " with their own, although it was instructed to fixate on their own.

1.2INDIVIDUAL:

subject-3 Kenia seems a bit tired/ uncomfortable- she started drawing later than the rest, 40 seconds later.

The subjects feel relaxed and freer, this can also be observed because while drawing they were making more lines trying to compass their hand to the music.

-Music used: Clair de lune from Debussy.

The aim of using this music was to see the difference between a piece of slow and solemn music and upbeat soft music and its effects on the subjects.

SMALL INSIGHTS: AFTER EACH 15 MINUTES OF ART ACTIVITY, EACH SUBJECT WAS REQUIRED TO WRITE IN A CARD THREE WORDS CONCERNING THEIR FEELINGS IN THAT MOMENT.

The overall feelings for the first experience are good, but slightly discomfortable due to the tension of the individual work, as well as a little of vulnerability.

The overall feelings of the 1.2 experience are better, with the music, the subjects feel more relaxed, comfortable, and at ease, as well as creative

ART GROUP 2.1

ART GROUP 2.2

OBSERVATIONS EXPERIENCE

2.1 GROUP :

2 :

At first, the subjects were drawing on their own piece of paper but within time, the subjects have started to interact with each other’s drawings.

I have extended the time by +5 mins observing the good interactions between them.

One subject has stated that she doesn't like that although they connected their drawing in the end they ended up painting in their "own" piece of the paper.

2.2 GROUP:

Creativity is flowing at its fullest potential and so are good emotions. The subjects have started experimenting with putting paint on their hands and stamping them on paper. This has started because the subject- 3 Kenia ( who on the individual task, didn't seem engaged) has tried it and the other two have followed. Also, subject- 2 (Austria 1) has started to lose herself and flow with the drawings too.

It's important to note that the subjects asked me if it would be possible to decide on a common theme, the idea was declined, so that the challenge of facing the blank paper was met once again, but this also helped them to engage more in a group flow, when doing the experience.

- Music used:upbeat music mix from youtube. Feelin' good - [upbeat chillhop mix]

SMALL INSIGHTS: AFTER EACH 15 MINUTES OF ART ACTIVITY, EACH SUBJECT WAS REQUIRED TO WRITE IN A CARD THREE WORDS CONCERNING THEIR FEELINGS IN THAT MOMENT.

The overall feelings for the second activity are good, a little chaos is present, as well as a sense of individuality. The overall feelings for the 2.2 activity are explained, they feel that they had a connection with the others as well as having enjoyed, despite this, there is a little bit of confusion due to all of the ideas portrayed in one collective mural.

Click here to access the questionary

Questionary 4:

-Emotions after the workshop Q3.2-

ABOUT:

Questions inspired in Kristi Lonka's book :" Phenomenal learning from Finland" Phenomenal learning from Finland. Edita. competence 2Emotional skills and the "problem-solving sheet" from my course Professor Gagnon, J. (2021). STEP: Support for learning and well-being. Week 5, lecture. USE:

The questions are usually used for managing a challenging situation, but for some of my roommates confronting a blank paper is a challenging situation, this is why I used these sources to create these questions.

Reference---------------------------------

Lonka, K., Makkonen, J., Berg, M., Talvio, M., Maksniemi, E., Kruskopf, M., ... & Westling, S. K. (2018). Phenomenal learning from Finland. Edita

Questionary 4 subjects:

- EMOTIONS AFTER THE WORKSHOP-

S-1 S-2 S-3 S-4 S-5

Feels relaxed, a bit tired and her expectations have been met.

Fells that she had a connection with the group.

Feels grateful, happy, and balanced, Fells that she had a connection with the group. as well as her challenges ( other in life) are more distant and less important.

Feels happy and relaxed in connection with the others.

Feels happy but slightly confused due to the creativity flow and the end result of the mural. her expectations have been met.

Feels relaxed, a bit tired and her expectations have been met.

Germany Austria 1 Austria 2 Serbia Kenia

Overall conclusions:

The study has demonstrated that subjects producing art together, leads to more social understanding as well as better emotions arising. The subjects started a bit uncomfortable and challenged but ended relaxed and happy after the experience. This is why also art is used as therapy on many occasions because it brings natural human instincts together and makes us feel connected.

As we were able to read through this small fieldwork and the essay, art is very helpful for the human brain, in all forms, this is why it's very important to educate in and with it.