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Art as a window into sight

Feb 05, 2018 Enrichment Programs

Margaret Livingstone, professor of neurobiology at Harvard Medical School, spoke on how art can unlock the inner workings of the human brain at WEP 2018. Photo by Asharaf Kannearil.

-By David Murphy, KAUST News

Artists have long recognized that color and luminance can play independent roles in visual perception. Picasso once said, "colors are only symbols. Reality is to be found in luminance alone."

Neuroscientists agree with Picasso, believing that the appearance of objects changes from moment to moment. Researchers say the function of the visual brain is to represent objects as they really are, rather than relying solely on the raw data that streams into our eyes.

Margaret Livingstone, a professor of neurobiology at Harvard Medical School, sought to enlighten the KAUST community on how art can unlock the inner workings of the human brain during her Winter Enrichment Program 2018 keynote lecture on January 22.

Livingstone's research at Harvard focuses on hormones and behavior, learning, dyslexia, vision and how vision science can understand and inform the world of visual art. Her 2002 book "Vision and Art: The Biology of Seeing" was instrumental in raising her profile in the art world as a scientist who can connect and freely communicate the overlap between art and science and how it can affect the human brain.

"For centuries, artists have ignored the laws of physics. If you want to find a painting where the artist is ignoring the laws of physics, look for a painting where a person is looking in a mirror," she said.

"Artists have also known for a long time that color and luminance do different things for you. Picasso cottoned onto the fact that the 'what' and 'where' in vision are quite different. Andy Warhol loved to play with equal luminance in his artwork. Shadows in some well-known paintings reflect the light in the wrong direction," she added.

Margaret Livingstone, professor of neurobiology at Harvard Medical School, spoke on how art can unlock the inner workings of the human brain at WEP 2018. Photo by Asharaf Kannearil.

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Livingstone touched on how colors of equal luminance in Monet's "Poppies," make the poppies appear to "sway" in the breeze, and in Mondrian's "Broadway Boogie-Woogie," the image "blinks." To the naked eye, Warhol's "Little Electric Chair" also seems to "pulse" with a current. Humans actively scan images, something artists have played with to create the illusion of movement in still images.


 She also described how central and peripheral vision are distinct and how the differences in resolution across our visual field make a subject's smile (like in "The Mona Lisa") seem elusive and ever-changing.

"There is a reason why everyone loves 'The Mona Lisa'—it's because it seems like her smile and expression are shifting, depending on what you view her from," Livingstone said.

 
For those in attendance and watching online, Livingstone offered intriguing insight into whether there is a direct correlation between learning disabilities and artistic abilities and skill; common optical illusions; the functional subdivision of our visual systems; and how color and luminance are processed by the human mind.

"Your vision consists of constant image processing—you compute distance and depth early in your vision system. Humans are great at face processing—they are much better than machines," she explained.

She added that some of the most basic aspects of human vision are colorblind and our color perception is "coarse." However, Livingstone also drew attention to the fact of how we process and perceive art and moving images changes from person to person.

"People's brains can differ—a characteristic that may be a handicap in one may be an asset in another," Livingstone concluded.

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