5 Insights from Your Brain On Art

Anna, at the launch of Creative Places Ballaghaderreen. Photo by Marek Petrovic.

Art, Design & Well-Being: Insights from Your Brain On Art

Today’s essay draws on the research in Your Brain On Art by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross, a book that is rapidly becoming foundational in the emerging field of the neuroarts.

Back West performing at Katie’s Claddagh Cottage. Photo by Anna King

People often describe creative activities, painting, singing, dancing, as profoundly therapeutic. What is fascinating is that science is beginning to explain why.  Researchers in neuroaesthetics argue that arts-based experiences can influence our bodies, brains and behaviour in measurable and transformative ways.

Art Can Enhance Health

In their groundbreaking book, Magsamen and Ross gather an extraordinary body of research showing that just twenty minutes of an aesthetic experience can begin to change our biology. They present evidence that art can prevent disease, support emotional and physical health, and act as a powerful blueprint for future approaches to community and healthcare design.

Whether we are navigating pain, anxiety, depression, cognitive decline, grief or chronic illness, the authors show that “acts of art” can help us heal and thrive. Around the world, healthcare practitioners are now prescribing museum visits; hospitals are integrating arts therapies; and architects and designers are rethinking the built environment in response to this growing research.

Five key insights from Your Brain on Art

William Merrigan. Live music at Annaghdown Well, by the Whileaways. Photo by Anna King. An art project to celebrate the role of Wells in modern community life. 

1. Awareness, Attention & the Senses

Magsamen and Ross emphasise that the transformative potential of an art experience begins with awareness – a practice remarkably similar to mindfulness:

• paying attention

• noticing the present moment

• being attuned to the environment

• sensing what the body is registering

Understanding how our senses work is central to understanding how art affects us.

“All stimuli that we encounter – visual, auditory, somatosensory, gustatory, olfactory, and others – change the structure and function of cells within our brains and bodies.” (p.99)

Our brains are constantly processing sensory input at extraordinary speed. Thanks to modern imaging technologies, scientists can now observe how light, sound, taste and other sensations trigger neurobiological cascades that shape our thinking and emotions.

Art (whether painting, literature, dance or theatre) influences us through these sensory channels.

A Simple Example

Our response to music is shaped by memory, culture and personal association, but not only that. Certain frequencies affect the human nervous system in similar ways across individuals, for example: Slow rhythms tend to support rest and sleep. This aligns with long-standing contemplative traditions that use sound, such as a Tibetan singing bowls, to shift the nervous system from alertness to calm.

2/ Making art can physically affect neuroplasticity

PLACEWAYS - Creative Places Ballaghaderreen project with Anna & St. Nathy’s College. 

When we learn, or when something captures our interest, our brain cells communicate with other cells in a process known as synaptic transmission. New circuits form; existing circuits strengthen. As the saying goes, “when cells fire together, they wire together.” Over time, our brains physically change in response to what we think, feel and do. This is neuroplasticity.

Magsamen and Ross emphasise that these neural connections are reinforced – or not – depending on the intensity of the sensory stimuli and the quality of the experience (p.12). Art, they argue, has a particularly significant effect on neuroplasticity. This is based on imaging studies showing how the brain responds to aesthetic stimuli and how those responses shift over time.

These insights hold profound implications for fields such as education and healthcare. For example, people living with severe memory loss sometimes recall forgotten experiences when they hear familiar music; a reminder of how deeply art is woven into our neurological patterns.

3/ Self Expression Through Art

Another important insight in Your Brain On Art is that creative expression supports both individual and collective well-being. Self-expression through art helps people move through difficult emotions such as grief, trauma and loneliness. By working with abstract forms – paint, music, sculpture, movement – we access and release feelings that may be difficult to articulate in words.

Art can also activate the relaxation response, lowering stress and anxiety. Over time, this supports better mood regulation and emotional resilience.

Contemplative Walks, with Artist Researcher, Anna King

4/ Art Spaces Within Community

It is well recognised that meaningful social engagement improves mental and emotional health. One reason for this is that self-expression is a fundamental human need. When communities have welcoming spaces for creativity: places where people can be seen, heard and valued, individuals who may feel marginalised or isolated have opportunities to reconnect.

This aspect of Magsamen and Ross’s work is especially important. It offers practical ways forward at a time when loneliness and disconnection are becoming pressing social issues.

The arts empower us to reimagine, re-envision and reconnect – opening pathways toward more vibrant, resilient communities (p.227).

5/ Our Built Environment -

For centuries, architects such as Christopher Alexander have recognised that our built environment profoundly shapes our well-being. Alexander wrote:

“The specific patterns out of which a building or a town is made may be alive or dead. To the extent they are alive, they let our inner forces loose and set us free; but when they are dead, they keep us locked in inner conflict.”

— The Timeless Way of Building (1979, x)

Magsamen and Ross build on this lineage, offering a contemporary blueprint for how art and design can be integrated into our homes, workplaces and public spaces in ways that support both individual and community health.

My next blog will explore artistic spaces within community in more details. Keep an eye on instagram for updates: Contemplative Art

Heritage Exhibition - Creative Places Ballaghaderreen curated by Anna, Eithne Gallagher & community.

References:

Magsamen, S and Ross, I. (2023) Your Brain On Art. Canongate.

Alexander, C. (1979) The Timeless Way of Building. New York: Oxford University Press.