INTERNATIONAL
Session Preview
The Neuroscience of Art:
What are the Sources of
Creativity and Innovation?
Experts from so-called left- and
right-brained fields will be applying
their minds in Salzburg, Austria this
month in order to understand what
happens in the human brain during
the creative process.
From February 21 to 26, international experts—ranging from psychologists, social
anthropologists and evolutionary biologists, to artists, musicians and educators—will
investigate and discuss the neurobiology of art at Schloss Leopoldskron, home of
independent nonprofit Salzburg Global Seminar.
The Salzburg Global program, part of the organization’s long-running Culture and
the Arts series, aims to establish an ongoing 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.
The five-day session will be structured around four basic questions: What is the biological basis of creativity? What are the universal principles of creativity across artistic media and cultures? What critical questions do non-scientists and artists have for
scientists? And what experiments can be designed to address those questions?
Project groups will focus on four areas of research: the impact of art in early childhood education; the value of art as trauma therapy, especially for war and conflict
victims; the significance of creative activity among elderly people; and identifying
the sources of creativity, with a view to mapping research in progress and advancing
cross-disciplinary exchange in each areas. Participants will be tasked with creating a
road map for future follow-up discussions and strategies to broaden exposure, communication, and outreach about developments in the field that are understandable to
non-scientists.
The session will be co-chaired by Charles Limb, an Associate Professor of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery at the John Hopkins University School of Medicine and a Faculty Member at the Peabody Conservatory of Music and School of
Education of Johns Hopkins University and Gary Vikan, former director of the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland.
For more information on this session, visit: www.salzburgglobal.org/go/547.
To follow the discussions live in Salzburg, follow #SGSculture on Twitter.
SciArt in America February 2015
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