While flipping channels trying to find something to watch other than CSI or Law and Order...our defaults when nothing else seems to be on (and those shows are ALWAYS on), I ran across a news show that did a small piece on mirror neurons in the brain. I have a fascination with all things Science, so I was immediately drawn in. When you are performing an action, let just say bouncing a ball, certain neurons in your brain fire. Scientists discovered that if you watch someone else bouncing a ball, some of the same neurons still fire and if you even hear the sound of a bouncing ball those 'mirror' neurons fire in response. Our brains seem to be forming a simulation of the action in our minds. We experience it almost as if we were actually doing it. It's also been shown that if you watch someone getting poked with a needle, that this mirror system in the brain can cause neurons associated with pain to fire. You didn't actually get stuck. It may be all in your mind, but it causes a real physical response.
So what does this have to do with art. Many researchers now believe that the mirror neurons are responsible for our ability to empathize. Empathy is defined as the identification with and understanding of another's situation, feelings and motives. You saw someone stuck with a needle and feel badly for them and the pain they had to experience. I think that without empathy, art wouldn't have the impact it does. Great works of art can certainly run you through a whole gamut of emotional responses. Bold brush stroke or vivid colors in an abstract might make you identify with the artist and imagine them angrily painting. If the work is figurative, the facial expression or pose of the figure will cause you to identify with the subject of the painting rather than the artist.
The next time you are at admiring a piece of art, thank those mirror neurons.
About the Painting:-click here to learn more about this painting
"Wednesday's Child"
Acrylic on Board
16" x 24"
note: dimensions are unframed size
comes framed
$795
See all of Rebecca's art at www.rebeccazook.com
Read more blogs by Rebecca at rebeccazook.blogspot.com
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