Art and MRI Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Can the Art and MRI be related?

Can this technology shape how art is created?

The technology behind Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has resulted in creating a great deal of interest in how we are processing art.  It is able to “map” or identify the locations in our brains that show activity when we view art.

It appears that the amygdala or amygdaloid body is one area of the brain that is involved in processing art. We know that this area of our brains is a hub for emotional behaviour and motivation.

This is where we determine possible threats and apparently is involved in our response to fear, aggressive behaviour and where we store memories of anxiety. We review our surrounding environment within this area of the brain for anything that might threaten our survival…

Could this be is a biological prediction of where contemporary art is going?

Another area that has been identified as relevant in art review is the orbitofrontal cortex, which serves to process both taste and smell.  It is the area where we review the reward value of many of our senses and is where we receive visual information about objects from other areas of the brain.

This area is activated by touch, both pleasant and painful and reviews some abstract behaviour such as winning or losing. Other information that is reviewed within the orbitofrontal cortex includes information about faces, and damage to the orbitofrontal cortex can impair identification of the expressive values of both face and voice.

Is this where we review the expressive values of art?

Furthermore, evidence shows that the orbitofrontal cortex is involved in learning and correcting reward-related and punishment-related behaviour, and thus in motivational, emotional and social behaviour. [1]

Now that we can clearly identify the areas in which biological processes occur in the brain upon viewing a work of art, will artists change the way they deliver their message in an effort to gain patronage?

I guess the real question is, will technology affect art and if so, how?  Is art immune to marketing?

[1] US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health