Page 6 - ChildArt July-Sept 2017 Your Brain on Art

4 CHILDART ICAF.ORG

FRONTAL LOBE
Cognitive functions
of reasoning, executive
function, parts of speech,
voluntary movement,
emotions and problem
solving

CORPUS CALLOSUM
The corpus callosum
is made up of neural
tissue, and it helps the
two brain hemispheres
communicate with each
other via signals sent
through neural pathways
The arts have a profound and often instant-
aneous impact on sculpting our brains.
When you are creating the arts (the maker)
or experiencing the arts (the beholder),
your brain is running at full speed receiving TEMPORAL LOBE
and processing new information.
Try to imagine a clear sky on a cool Memory and perception
summer night. The sky is filled with an as well as speech and
infinite number of stars above you in many auditory functions (pitch,
configurations. Your brain is just like that. tone, selective listening)
It is the most complex and agile structure
known to humans. At birth, a baby’s brain
contains all the neurons he or she will ever
have. In the first year of life, that child’s
brain will double in size and by age three,
the brain will have reached 80 percent of
its adult size.
The human brain contains 100 billion
neurons. Each one of those 100 billion
neurons can connect to up to 10,000
other neurons. Synapses enable these
connections to happen—they are small
gaps between neurons that allow inform- is constantly responding to its internal and
ation to flow from one neuron to another external environment and experiences.
neuron. In the process, synapses form The fact that the human brain can Emotions are an important
billions of neuronal circuits. literally change neural pathways based
Neurotransmitters help carry inform- on experiences means it is never too late part of brain development
ation across the synapses from one neuron to sculpt and heal your brain (though early and learning. Researchers
to another. Neurotransmitters are made up childhood is still essential for building have recently discovered that
of very specific chemicals that are involved foundational systems). This agility of the emotions, related to reward
in different brain functions. A person’s brain underlies our ability to learn, and pleasure, are productive
brain is constantly changing how it passes remember and heal.
information between its neurons (its neural As you will read in the stories through- for higher level learning.
pathways). This process is called brain out this Arts + Mind edition of ChildArt
plasticity and it happens because the brain Magazine, you’ll discover that interacting