In recent years, there have been an increasing number of scientific investigations into art, exploring what actually happens in the brain during the creative process. Most of these collaborations have been based in neuroscience and psychological approaches to how art is perceived, produced and created, with music the main focus of studies carried out to date. These studies have yielded important new information that relates to a very basic fact of human biology: all behavior, even that as complex as creativity, can be linked to brain function. Building on this fundamental linkage, the neurobiology of art promises to yield exciting new insights as this research field evolves. Creative behavioral patterns are likely to be a critical component for developing the neurological capacity for innovation.
This Salzburg Global program represents a pioneering step to establish a neutral international forum to discuss state-of-the-art findings from a cross-disciplinary perspective, prioritize future research, and expand creative opportunities for learning, innovation and collaboration. While much research is taking place in various national and regional settings, more global dialogue is needed between specialist silos in order to catalyze knowledge exchange around the results, implications and potential practical applications of new cutting-edge research.
A year after the program took place in Salzburg, Session Fellow Harry Ballan helped collect all collaborations that emerged as a direct result of the Session and of the connections made between artists and neuroscientists in Schloss Leopoldskron.
A list of both completed and in-progress collaborations can be found here:
What Does a Creative Brain Look Like? (Charles Limb, NPR/TED Radio Hour, October 3, 2014)
Building the Musical Muscle (Charles Limb, TED Talk, filmed October 2011)
Your Brain on Improv (Charles Limb, TED Talk, filmed November 2010)
Art, Creativity and Learning (Christopher W. Tyler, Final Workshop Report, National Science Foundation, 2008)
Shodekeh & Classical Revolution Remix of Ben Folds' "The Luckiest"
What can science tell us about how pupils learn best? (Bodil Isaksen, March 23, 2013)
Shattering the Limits of Human Potential (Huffington Post, June 2013)
Arts and creativity 'squeezed out of schools' (BBC News, February 2015)