♪♪
amna nawaz: It is called neuro-
arts, connecting the arts with
our health.
Jeffrey brown is it at the John
Hopkins medical school in
Baltimore to see the progress
firsthand, that is for arts and
culture series, canvas.
>> Relate to the -- taking a
long look at a painting, all
examples of how the arts are
becoming more incorporated into
medicine and says Susan, a
growing understanding of how art
can literally reshape or rewire
our brains.
>> Connects different circuits,
connects different systems and
different mechanisms within the
brain. And what's interesting
about the arts, and different
art forms certainly have
different attributes, is that
they simultaneously work with
different parts of the brain.
I think that what we're seeing
now is the language of the
science of the arts is becoming
more systematic.
>> Mag'saman is co-author with
ivy Ross, a vice president for
design at Google, of the new
book, "Your brain on art: How
the arts transform us."
>> The book is really very
focused on understanding how our
brains and bodies change on art.
And how by knowing that we can
really think about our health
and well-being in ways that we
might not have thought about it
in the past.
>> It's a field that's been
growing in recent decades.
The book pulls together research
and practice, there is a tour of
ongoing examples of the John
Hopkins university international
arts and mind lab.
Enter the bee gees and a
violinist who is studying the
potential of improving memory
loss experienced by Alzheimer's
patients and others.
-- The bee gees or rather Dr.
Alexander pantelyat, a
neurologist and himself a
violinist, who's studying the
potential for improving memory
loss experienced by Alzheimer's
patients and others.
>> We know that music impacts
multiple networks in the brain
simultaneously. Simply listening
to a song can activate much of
the brain at once. So therein
lies the challenge of studying
these different patterns of
activation and trying to
separate them.
Therein also lies the promise of
what music can do for people
with different conditions and
just for healthy aging more
generally.
>> If you recognize it, join.
If you pick up --
>> I do not recognize it.
>> In a current study, patients
receive 8 weeks of twice-a-week
music therapy delivered via zoom
to their homes. Before and
after, they undergo memory tests
and a brain mri, during which
they listen to a favorite song,
but also to a scrambled version
of the same song.
We know music therapy helps,
pantalyat says, but not exactly
how, for example, our brains
process music and, perhaps,
memory networks strengthen as
they unscramble a familiar song.
>> The other thing we do not
know is how frequently or how
long we should be exposing music
therapy.
>> The actual application of
music therapy?
>> Yes.
>> This is a short-term study,
an eight week intervention, what
I want to see is larger studies
conducted in multiple centers of
the same time that take place
over a longer period of time.
We will be able to see if these
interventions can actually slow
cognitive decline and slow
memory loss and that is really
our holy grail.
>> When he turns his head will
have control.
>> Another kind of creative
therapy called I-dolphin,
immersive innovation in which
patients suffering from loss of
movement become a dolphin named
bandit.
The sensor allowing them to swim
freely in an underwater world.
Bandit was Logan, a 25 year old
suffering from a neurological
disorder impacting the use of
his arms and legs.
>> You can play with the
dolphin, eat all of the fish you
want.
You get to do all of this stuff
because people who play are
going through stressful times.
>> It is an opportunity to leave
the hospital room, leave this
environment where you cannot do
anything.
You cannot get up or get down on
your own and be successful in
this moment.
>> Bring that arm up really big
and hold until you reach the
top.
When you get there you will move
like that.
>> There is more says Sondra.
Researchers are hoping that
therapy can help retrain the
brain and limbs to a cognitive
motor skills in a noninvasive
and even fun way.
>> We are breaking the glass
because it is a shift in what
week do for patients which is
the traditional standard ot pt
and speech which is incredibly
important.
This is different, when we do
higher loads of trainingin the
early phase we can optimize
neural plasticity.
These patients are sick, it has
to be done thoughtfully and it
has to be smart and has to be
done by the right people.
>> There is a growing awareness
of arts' impact on the
caregivers themselves whether it
is a short break from a bit of
classical guitar or something
more formal.
>> One of the biggest problems
in medicine right now is that
patients do not feel recognized
by their doctors as people.
There are contrasts here, a lion
being ferocious, --
>> Looking at discussing making
art says Dr. Margaret Chisholm
should be part of medical school
education.
A professor of psychiatry and
behavioral sciences cites
evidence that visual thinking
strategies help doctors see and
act in new ways.
>> Medical education and
training is inherently
dehumanizing.
Students are selected because
they are able to do really well
in science and math.
They are not necessarily exposed
or they do not expose themselves
to the arts and humanities where
you are exploring questions like
what it means to be human, what
is the?
Meaning of being a physician
even the arts are another way to
really start to think about what
we need not as a luxury but I
have to have for our health and
well-being.
>> That is the message that the
authors want to get across in
their new book and a sense of
just how far the research and
practice of your brain on art
have come in the past decades.
>> The fact that there is
science that is really beginning
to show the neural plasticity,
the changes in neurotransmitters
and the theological --
physiological changes and the
results on the body, we are
being able to provide an
evidence -- being able to prove
we will have more applications
and ways to see that show up in
our daily lives.
♪♪
>> I am Jeffrey brown at the