Your Brain on Art (with Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross)

The Doctor's Art

Henry Bair and Tyler Johnson

Medicine, Society & Culture, Health & Fitness, Philosophy

5 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 6 February 2024

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

There is an increasing body of scientific evidence demonstrating a phenomenon humans across cultures have long known intuitively: we are biologically wired for art. Engaging in the arts transforms our neural circuitry in deep ways that we are only beginning to uncover, and studies are showing how the arts can help us live longer, stave off cognitive decline, reduce our stress hormones, nurture the development of young minds, reduce the impacts of PTSD, and more.

Joining us in this episode are two individuals at the forefront of the movement to translate this groundbreaking research to medicine, public health, education, the workplace, and other real world applications. Susan Magsamen is the director of the International Arts and Mind Lab at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where her research focuses on how our brains respond to artistic experiences. Ivy Ross is an acclaimed jewelry designer and Vice President of hardware design at Google. Together, they coauthored the 2023 New York Times best seller Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us.

Over the course of our conversation, Susan and Ivy discuss the emerging field of neuroaesthetics, how the arts can make us healthier, smarter and happier, and how we can incorporate more art into our everyday lives.

In this episode, we discuss:

2:40 - How Susan and Ivy’s paths led them to neuroarts

7:46 - What does it mean to be in a “flow state”?

15:12 - An introduction to neuroaesthetics and neuroarts

18:33 - Surprising impacts the arts have on health

25:58 - The health benefits of creating art in community

29:51 - What “aesthetics” means in the context of Susan and Ivy’s studies

33:53 - The science behind how the arts support healing

39:45 - Practical tips for someone who wants to begin engaging with art

46:32 - Dispelling the myth of “high art vs low art”

Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross are the co-authors of Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us (2023).

Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross can be found on Instagram at @yourbrainonartbook.

Visit our website www.TheDoctorsArt.com where you can find transcripts of all episodes.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review our show, available for free on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you know of a doctor, patient, or anyone working in health care who would love to explore meaning in medicine with us on the show, feel free to leave a suggestion in the comments or send an email to [email protected].

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Henry Bear.
0:03.0	And I'm Tyler Johnson.
0:05.0	And you're listening to The Doctors Art, a podcast that explores meaning in medicine.
0:09.0	Throughout our medical training and career, we have pondered.
0:13.2	What makes medicine meaningful?
0:15.1	Can a stronger understanding of this meaning create better doctors?
0:18.8	How can we build health care institutions that nurture the doctor-patient connection.
0:23.0	What can we learn about the human condition
0:24.8	from accompanying our patients in times of suffering?
0:28.0	In seeking answers to these questions,
0:30.0	we meet with deep thinkers working across health care,
0:33.0	from doctors and nurses to patients and health care
0:35.4	executives, those who have collected a career's worth of hard-earned wisdom.
0:40.1	Probing the moral heart that beats at the core of medicine, we will hear stories that are by turns heart-breaking, amusing, inspiring, challenging, and enlightening.
0:49.0	We welcome anyone curious about why doctors do what they do.
0:52.8	Join us as we think out loud about what illness and healing can teach us
0:57.1	about some of life's biggest questions.
0:59.3	There is an increasing body of scientific evidence demonstrating a phenomenon humans across cultures have long known intuitively.
1:10.0	We are biologically neurolog biologically wired for art.
1:15.0	Engaging in the arts transforms our neural circuitry in deep ways we are only beginning to uncover,
1:21.0	and studies are showing how the arts can help us live longer,
1:24.8	stave off cognitive decline, reduce our stress hormones,
	...

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