Did you know that creating or viewing art can rewire your brain? Whether you’re an artist, an art lover, or just curious about the mind, the relationship between art and the brain is fascinating. From boosting memory to enhancing problem-solving skills, art engages our brains in unique and powerful ways. This article explores 10 fascinating facts about art and its relationship to our brain.
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Benefits of Art Beyond Creativity
Fun fact: creating or even just viewing art can lower cortisol levels, the hormone linked to stress.
One study found that just 45 minutes of making art significantly reduced participants’ stress, making them more relaxed. But the benefits of art don’t stop there—our brains respond to art in ways that are as fascinating as they are beneficial.
Here are 10 more incredible facts about how art and your brain work together to boost creativity, problem-solving, and well-being.
Learn more: At any skill level, making art reduces stress hormones | ScienceDaily
10 Interesting Facts About Art from a Neuroscience Perspective
1. Artistic abilities don’t pick a side of the brain.
Unlike other abilities and skills, artistic abilities live in the brain’s right and left hemispheres. Studies show that even after experiencing brain damage, an artist can still produce art unaffected.
Nurture your artistic side with an inexpensive acrylic painting set, perfect for beginners.
Learn more: Art and brain: insights from neuropsychology, biology and evolution – PMC
2. Viewing art, like doing art, also activates your brain network on both sides.
When you appreciate art, it’s not just one part of your brain that gets involved.
Research shows that like creating art, looking at art also activates a network that stretches across both sides of the brain, from the back to the front. This means that our reactions to art use many different brain areas, showing how complex and interesting our experience with art is.
3. Art helps with other skill development.
Learning an art has surprising benefits other than becoming skilled at that art. For example, learning to play an instrument can make the parts of your brain that handle hearing, movement, and emotions work better together.
Kids learning music may get better at reading because music helps them understand sounds. Similarly, practicing art may help improve math skills. Consider this beginner keyboard for kids that combines music learning with brain-boosting benefits.
Practicing any art regularly generally makes your brain more efficient while helping with increased focus, even when you aren’t actively engaging in the arts.
Learn more: How Arts Training Improves Attention and Cognition – ResearchGate
4. Art can make you a better problem-solver.
You can use art to re-wire your brain through neuroplasticity – the brain’s ability to form new neural connections.
Drawing or painting, for example, activates multiple areas of the brain, across both hemispheres, strengthening connections between brain cells. It engages those areas responsible for fine motor skills, visual processing, and decision-making, leading to improved cognitive flexibility and problem-solving.
5. Working with clay will calm you down, more so than drawing with a pencil.
Engaging in any art can have incredible benefits, but working with clay induces deeper relaxation than drawing with a pencil.
Working with clay triggers more delta waves in the brain. It also increases alpha activity in the left side of the brain, which is usually linked to positive emotions. This makes working with clay an excellent activity for art therapy. Get started with this beginner pottery kit found on Amazon.
6. Empathy shapes how we experience art.
Our ability to feel empathy influences how we connect with and appreciate art.
Studies show that people with high emotional empathy react more strongly to abstract and realistic art. Their facial expressions, like smiling or frowning, often mirror the emotions expressed in the artwork, and they report feeling more emotionally moved.
Even abstract pieces, which some consider emotionally distant, evoke stronger responses in people who are more emotionally sensitive.
7. Different kinds of art light up different brain areas.
Not all artworks affect the brain in the same way.
Various types of art – like portraits, abstract paintings, and sculpture – activate different areas in a part of the brain called the ventral visual stream. This suggests that our feelings and thoughts about art depend not only on how beautiful it is but also on what kind of artwork we’re looking at.
The Ventral Visual Stream:
The ventral visual stream is a part of the brain that helps us understand what we see. It’s often called the “what pathway” because it is responsible for recognizing and identifying objects, faces, and scenes.
When you look at something, like a painting or a person, the ventral visual stream processes details such as colour, shape, and texture. It runs from the back of the brain, where the visual information comes in, to the front, where we interpret and make sense of what we’re looking at. This part of the brain plays a key role in helping us recognize and appreciate the things we encounter in our everyday lives.
8. Creating art can boost memory as we age.
Engaging in arts and crafts stimulates areas of the brain associated with memory recall, leading to strengthened memory and cognitive functions.
Older adults who get creative with art tend to have lower chances of developing mild cognitive issues. Creating art as we age is a great way to keep our brains sharp.
Learn more: Risk and protective factors for cognitive impairment in persons aged 85 years and older | Neurology
9. Instruction in art-making may make your brain more relaxed.
For some, having less freedom in art-making can lead to a more relaxed state of mind.
In one study, researchers found that asking participants to draw a map resulted in less alpha and beta brain wave activity compared to when they were asked to draw freely. This means their brains seemed to relax more with a specific task to focus on.
Using art prompts can give you clear tasks to help reduce pressure and allow your brain to focus and relax.
10. Art-making activates reward pathways in the brain.
Participating in artistic exploration triggers increased blood flow in the brain’s reward areas, leading to feelings of pleasure.
Joy comes from the process of creating the art, NOT the outcome or final product. Engaging in any kind of art can evoke positive emotions and enhance your well-being.
Learn more: Making art activates brain’s reward pathway | ScienceDaily
Creativity and Mental Health: Art as Therapy
Art isn’t just for the “naturally creative” or right-brained individuals. Research shows that creating and viewing art engages the entire brain, offering cognitive and emotional benefits for everyone.
Making art strengthens neural connections, improving problem-solving and flexibility. It also induces relaxation and activates reward pathways for a boost of well-being. Even viewing art sparks diverse brain activity, with different types of art activating unique areas and empathy shaping our emotional connection to what we see.
Art is a powerful way to boost memory, sharpen focus, and reduce stress, benefiting mental health at any age. Try this colouring book for stress relief to experience this yourself.
As Pablo Picasso once said, “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” So take some time to create or appreciate art, and see how it can enrich your life in more ways than one.
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