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Showing posts with label research. Show all posts
Showing posts with label research. Show all posts
Thursday, March 5, 2009
exhibition catalogues
The Strand has a big collection of museum exhibition catalogues (which I am going to have to make).
I bought a couple random ones that I just liked the design of.
BUT, I was totally nerding out when I found these two catalogues and snatched them up so fast.
The Responsive Eye
from 1965 at The Museum of Modern Art, New York
The Art of the Real: USA 1948-1968
from 1968 at The Museum of Modern Art, New York
These were really important exhibitions.
ESPECIALLY The Responsive Eye!!!
It is basically what introduced the world to Op Art and artists like Frank Stella, Victor Vasarely, Bridget Riley and Getulio Alviani, amongst others.
Here are some photos I found online of the catalogue..
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I bought a couple random ones that I just liked the design of.
BUT, I was totally nerding out when I found these two catalogues and snatched them up so fast.
The Responsive Eye
from 1965 at The Museum of Modern Art, New York
The Art of the Real: USA 1948-1968
from 1968 at The Museum of Modern Art, New York
These were really important exhibitions.
ESPECIALLY The Responsive Eye!!!
It is basically what introduced the world to Op Art and artists like Frank Stella, Victor Vasarely, Bridget Riley and Getulio Alviani, amongst others.
Here are some photos I found online of the catalogue..
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Monday, February 2, 2009
presentation 1/29/09
These slides are from my brief thesis proposal presentation for my first thesis class this week.
(I tried to keep them as straight forward as possible because I believe slides are supposed to ENHANCE the presentation, not, BE the presentation.)
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(I tried to keep them as straight forward as possible because I believe slides are supposed to ENHANCE the presentation, not, BE the presentation.)
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Sunday, October 26, 2008
Visual Perception + Neuroscience x4
The Neural Correlates of Desire
by Hideaki Kawabata and Semir Zeki
Abstract:
In an event-related fMRI study, we scanned eighteen normal human subjects while they viewed three categories of pictures (events, objects and persons) which they classified according to desirability (desirable, indifferent or undesirable). Each category produced activity in a distinct part of the visual brain, thus reflecting its functional specialization. We used conjunction analysis to learn whether there is a brain area which is always active when a desirable picture is viewed, regardless of the category to which it belongs. The conjunction analysis of the contrast desirable > undesirable revealed activity in the superior orbito-frontal cortex. This activity bore a positive linear relationship to the declared level of desirability. The conjunction analysis of desirable > indifferent revealed activity in the mid-cingulate cortex and in the anterior cingulate cortex. In the former, activity was greater for desirable and undesirable stimuli than for stimuli classed as indifferent. Other conjunction analyses produced no significant effects. These results show that categorizing any stimulus according to its desirability activates three different brain areas: the superior orbito-frontal, the mid-cingulate, and the anterior cingulate cortices.
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The Encoding of Temporally Irregular and Regular Visual Patterns in the Human Brain
by Semir Zeki, Oliver J. Hulme, Barrie Roulston, Michael Atiyah
Abstract:
In the work reported here, we set out to study the neural systems that detect predictable temporal patterns and departures from them. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to locate activity in the brains of subjects when they viewed temporally regular and irregular patterns produced by letters, numbers, colors and luminance. Activity induced by irregular sequences was located within dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, including an area that was responsive to irregular patterns regardless of the type of visual stimuli producing them. Conversely, temporally regular arrangements resulted in activity in the right frontal lobe (medial frontal gyrus), in the left orbito-frontal cortex and in the left pallidum. The results show that there is an abstractive system in the brain for detecting temporal irregularity, regardless of the source producing it.
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Seeing without Seeing? Degraded Conscious Vision in a Blindsight Patient
by Morten Overgaard, Katrin Fehl, Kim Mouridsen, Bo Bergholt, Axel Cleeremans
Abstract:
Blindsight patients, whose primary visual cortex is lesioned, exhibit preserved ability to discriminate visual stimuli presented in their “blind” field, yet report no visual awareness hereof. Blindsight is generally studied in experimental investigations of single patients, as very few patients have been given this “diagnosis”. In our single case study of patient GR, we ask whether blindsight is best described as unconscious vision, or rather as conscious, yet severely degraded vision. In experiment 1 and 2, we successfully replicate the typical findings of previous studies on blindsight. The third experiment, however, suggests that GR's ability to discriminate amongst visual stimuli does not reflect unconscious vision, but rather degraded, yet conscious vision. As our finding results from using a method for obtaining subjective reports that has not previously used in blindsight studies (but validated in studies of healthy subjects and other patients with brain injury), our results call for a reconsideration of blindsight, and, arguably also of many previous studies of unconscious perception in healthy subject
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The Golden Beauty: Brain Response to Classical and Renaissance Sculptures
by Cinzia Di Dio, Emiliano Macaluso, Giacomo Rizzolatti
Abstract:
Is there an objective, biological basis for the experience of beauty in art? Or is aesthetic experience entirely subjective? Using fMRI technique, we addressed this question by presenting viewers, naïve to art criticism, with images of masterpieces of Classical and Renaissance sculpture. Employing proportion as the independent variable, we produced two sets of stimuli: one composed of images of original sculptures; the other of a modified version of the same images. The stimuli were presented in three conditions: observation, aesthetic judgment, and proportion judgment. In the observation condition, the viewers were required to observe the images with the same mind-set as if they were in a museum. In the other two conditions they were required to give an aesthetic or proportion judgment on the same images. Two types of analyses were carried out: one which contrasted brain response to the canonical and the modified sculptures, and one which contrasted beautiful vs. ugly sculptures as judged by each volunteer. The most striking result was that the observation of original sculptures, relative to the modified ones, produced activation of the right insula as well as of some lateral and medial cortical areas (lateral occipital gyrus, precuneus and prefrontal areas). The activation of the insula was particularly strong during the observation condition. Most interestingly, when volunteers were required to give an overt aesthetic judgment, the images judged as beautiful selectively activated the right amygdala, relative to those judged as ugly. We conclude that, in observers naïve to art criticism, the sense of beauty is mediated by two non-mutually exclusive processes: one based on a joint activation of sets of cortical neurons, triggered by parameters intrinsic to the stimuli, and the insula (objective beauty); the other based on the activation of the amygdala, driven by one's own emotional experiences (subjective beauty).
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by Hideaki Kawabata and Semir Zeki
Abstract:
In an event-related fMRI study, we scanned eighteen normal human subjects while they viewed three categories of pictures (events, objects and persons) which they classified according to desirability (desirable, indifferent or undesirable). Each category produced activity in a distinct part of the visual brain, thus reflecting its functional specialization. We used conjunction analysis to learn whether there is a brain area which is always active when a desirable picture is viewed, regardless of the category to which it belongs. The conjunction analysis of the contrast desirable > undesirable revealed activity in the superior orbito-frontal cortex. This activity bore a positive linear relationship to the declared level of desirability. The conjunction analysis of desirable > indifferent revealed activity in the mid-cingulate cortex and in the anterior cingulate cortex. In the former, activity was greater for desirable and undesirable stimuli than for stimuli classed as indifferent. Other conjunction analyses produced no significant effects. These results show that categorizing any stimulus according to its desirability activates three different brain areas: the superior orbito-frontal, the mid-cingulate, and the anterior cingulate cortices.
___
The Encoding of Temporally Irregular and Regular Visual Patterns in the Human Brain
by Semir Zeki, Oliver J. Hulme, Barrie Roulston, Michael Atiyah
Abstract:
In the work reported here, we set out to study the neural systems that detect predictable temporal patterns and departures from them. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to locate activity in the brains of subjects when they viewed temporally regular and irregular patterns produced by letters, numbers, colors and luminance. Activity induced by irregular sequences was located within dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, including an area that was responsive to irregular patterns regardless of the type of visual stimuli producing them. Conversely, temporally regular arrangements resulted in activity in the right frontal lobe (medial frontal gyrus), in the left orbito-frontal cortex and in the left pallidum. The results show that there is an abstractive system in the brain for detecting temporal irregularity, regardless of the source producing it.
___
Seeing without Seeing? Degraded Conscious Vision in a Blindsight Patient
by Morten Overgaard, Katrin Fehl, Kim Mouridsen, Bo Bergholt, Axel Cleeremans
Abstract:
Blindsight patients, whose primary visual cortex is lesioned, exhibit preserved ability to discriminate visual stimuli presented in their “blind” field, yet report no visual awareness hereof. Blindsight is generally studied in experimental investigations of single patients, as very few patients have been given this “diagnosis”. In our single case study of patient GR, we ask whether blindsight is best described as unconscious vision, or rather as conscious, yet severely degraded vision. In experiment 1 and 2, we successfully replicate the typical findings of previous studies on blindsight. The third experiment, however, suggests that GR's ability to discriminate amongst visual stimuli does not reflect unconscious vision, but rather degraded, yet conscious vision. As our finding results from using a method for obtaining subjective reports that has not previously used in blindsight studies (but validated in studies of healthy subjects and other patients with brain injury), our results call for a reconsideration of blindsight, and, arguably also of many previous studies of unconscious perception in healthy subject
___
The Golden Beauty: Brain Response to Classical and Renaissance Sculptures
by Cinzia Di Dio, Emiliano Macaluso, Giacomo Rizzolatti
Abstract:
Is there an objective, biological basis for the experience of beauty in art? Or is aesthetic experience entirely subjective? Using fMRI technique, we addressed this question by presenting viewers, naïve to art criticism, with images of masterpieces of Classical and Renaissance sculpture. Employing proportion as the independent variable, we produced two sets of stimuli: one composed of images of original sculptures; the other of a modified version of the same images. The stimuli were presented in three conditions: observation, aesthetic judgment, and proportion judgment. In the observation condition, the viewers were required to observe the images with the same mind-set as if they were in a museum. In the other two conditions they were required to give an aesthetic or proportion judgment on the same images. Two types of analyses were carried out: one which contrasted brain response to the canonical and the modified sculptures, and one which contrasted beautiful vs. ugly sculptures as judged by each volunteer. The most striking result was that the observation of original sculptures, relative to the modified ones, produced activation of the right insula as well as of some lateral and medial cortical areas (lateral occipital gyrus, precuneus and prefrontal areas). The activation of the insula was particularly strong during the observation condition. Most interestingly, when volunteers were required to give an overt aesthetic judgment, the images judged as beautiful selectively activated the right amygdala, relative to those judged as ugly. We conclude that, in observers naïve to art criticism, the sense of beauty is mediated by two non-mutually exclusive processes: one based on a joint activation of sets of cortical neurons, triggered by parameters intrinsic to the stimuli, and the insula (objective beauty); the other based on the activation of the amygdala, driven by one's own emotional experiences (subjective beauty).
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Saturday, October 18, 2008
Don't say I didn't warn you.
I scanned most of my long-hand notes so far.
If you are really bored and want to look at all 47 pages, click here to see a pdf.
As I said, these are my notes. I do not always indicate whether something is a quotation or summarization, they are informally structured for my personal use. The only reason I even scanned them is to send them to my teachers to show my progress. And if anyone else finds them at all beneficial, the more the merrier.
They may take a bit to load, there are 47 scans after all.
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If you are really bored and want to look at all 47 pages, click here to see a pdf.
As I said, these are my notes. I do not always indicate whether something is a quotation or summarization, they are informally structured for my personal use. The only reason I even scanned them is to send them to my teachers to show my progress. And if anyone else finds them at all beneficial, the more the merrier.
They may take a bit to load, there are 47 scans after all.
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Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Academic journal articles and such
While I obviously like books, I prefer getting research from academic journals, newspapers, etc. They usually keep things more to the point, do less over-summarization, and make it easier to get more up-to-date info. There is also a nice range of short summaries for jumping-off points, or in-depth studies with lots of clinical results.
I have a big batch of articles I read before I left for London, but I still need to find where I put those pdfs on my computer to provide that info here.
But anyway, here is round two! I am not going to link to the actual pdfs cause I got them through my school's electronic library so I don't think that'd be quite kosher, but if anyone is interested in reading any, email me (kailesmith@gmail.com) and I will gladly send you whatever you want to read...
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Art in Its Experience: Can Empirical Psychology Help Assess Artistic Value?
Rolf Reber
LEONARDO, Vol. 41, 2008
The Mind's Eye
Steve Herman
Global Cosmetic Industry, Mar 2005
Seeing without Objects: Visual Indeterminacy and Art
Robert Pepperell
LEONARDO, Vol. 39, 2006
Drawn to a primitive urge: ART
Gabriella Coslovich
The Age, Jan 2008
In search of the big picture: Can neuroscientists help us understand how and why we appreciate art?
John Hyman
New Scientist, Aug 2006
Science, Trying to Pick Our Brains About Art
Blake Gopnik
The Washington Post, Jan 2004
Measuring the beautiful brain: To what extent do works of art
unconsciously imitate the workings of the mind
Roger Highfield
The Daily Telegraph, Nov 2007
Abstraction and idealism: From Plato to Einstein: how do we acquire knowledge?
Prof. Semir Zeki
Nature, Apr 2000
Artistic Creativity and the Brain
Prof. Semir Zeki
The International Journal of Humanities and Peace, 2005
The mind in pictures: perceptual strategies and the interpretation of visual art.
Mark Rollins
The Monist, Oct 2003
Blinded By Blindsight?
Prof. Semir Zeki
The Times Higher Education Supplement, Mar 2002
Seeing Invisible Motion: A Human fMRI Study
Konstantinos Moutoussis and Semir Zeki
Current Biology 16, Mar 2006
Effect of Background Colors on the Tuning of Color-Selective Cells in Monkey Area V4
Makoto Kusunoki, Konstantinos Moutoussis, and Semir Zeki
J Neurophysiology, Vol 95, May 2006
The Neurology of Ambiguity
Semir Zeki
Consciousness and Cognition 13, 2004
Creativity Versus Skepticism within Science:
V.S. Ramachandran
Skeptical Inquirer, Nov 2006
Evolutionary Neurobiology and Aesthetics
C. U. M. Smith
Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, vol 48, 2005
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I have a big batch of articles I read before I left for London, but I still need to find where I put those pdfs on my computer to provide that info here.
But anyway, here is round two! I am not going to link to the actual pdfs cause I got them through my school's electronic library so I don't think that'd be quite kosher, but if anyone is interested in reading any, email me (kailesmith@gmail.com) and I will gladly send you whatever you want to read...
___
Art in Its Experience: Can Empirical Psychology Help Assess Artistic Value?
Rolf Reber
LEONARDO, Vol. 41, 2008
The Mind's Eye
Steve Herman
Global Cosmetic Industry, Mar 2005
Seeing without Objects: Visual Indeterminacy and Art
Robert Pepperell
LEONARDO, Vol. 39, 2006
Drawn to a primitive urge: ART
Gabriella Coslovich
The Age, Jan 2008
In search of the big picture: Can neuroscientists help us understand how and why we appreciate art?
John Hyman
New Scientist, Aug 2006
Science, Trying to Pick Our Brains About Art
Blake Gopnik
The Washington Post, Jan 2004
Measuring the beautiful brain: To what extent do works of art
unconsciously imitate the workings of the mind
Roger Highfield
The Daily Telegraph, Nov 2007
Abstraction and idealism: From Plato to Einstein: how do we acquire knowledge?
Prof. Semir Zeki
Nature, Apr 2000
Artistic Creativity and the Brain
Prof. Semir Zeki
The International Journal of Humanities and Peace, 2005
The mind in pictures: perceptual strategies and the interpretation of visual art.
Mark Rollins
The Monist, Oct 2003
Blinded By Blindsight?
Prof. Semir Zeki
The Times Higher Education Supplement, Mar 2002
Seeing Invisible Motion: A Human fMRI Study
Konstantinos Moutoussis and Semir Zeki
Current Biology 16, Mar 2006
Effect of Background Colors on the Tuning of Color-Selective Cells in Monkey Area V4
Makoto Kusunoki, Konstantinos Moutoussis, and Semir Zeki
J Neurophysiology, Vol 95, May 2006
The Neurology of Ambiguity
Semir Zeki
Consciousness and Cognition 13, 2004
Creativity Versus Skepticism within Science:
V.S. Ramachandran
Skeptical Inquirer, Nov 2006
Evolutionary Neurobiology and Aesthetics
C. U. M. Smith
Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, vol 48, 2005
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Monday, October 13, 2008
Side Note:
If this matters at all, my process in reading all of my research material is...
1. Read a section
2. Highlight important info while reading
a. Rotate colors continuously for each new unrelated topic
b. Continue with the same color to indicate the topics are related
c. Thick line indicates most important info
d. Thin line indicates less important supporting info
3. Go back to beginning of section, take notes on highlighted text
a. Notes are usually either direct quotations, summaries, or charts
b. Not all highlighted info proves relevant to make notes of
c. Underline in notes the key words, phrases, concepts, etc that are the most important
4. Take a nap.
5. Start it all again with the next section till done!
6. If book or article did not have adequate intro or conclusion, might need to make additional summarization notes
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1. Read a section
2. Highlight important info while reading
a. Rotate colors continuously for each new unrelated topic
b. Continue with the same color to indicate the topics are related
c. Thick line indicates most important info
d. Thin line indicates less important supporting info
3. Go back to beginning of section, take notes on highlighted text
a. Notes are usually either direct quotations, summaries, or charts
b. Not all highlighted info proves relevant to make notes of
c. Underline in notes the key words, phrases, concepts, etc that are the most important
4. Take a nap.
5. Start it all again with the next section till done!
6. If book or article did not have adequate intro or conclusion, might need to make additional summarization notes
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