Neuroaesthetics Course Launches at JHU

In Fall 2024, the Johns Hopkins University Krieger School of Arts & Science offered its first ever undergraduate course about the science of neuroaesthetics. Developed and taught by the International Arts + Mind Lab Center for Applied Neuroaesthetics (IAM Lab), this upper-level course enrolled third and fourth year neuroscience majors, many of whom were double-majoring or minoring in an arts-related field.

The course, entitled Neuroaesthetics: How the Arts and Aesthetic Experiences Advance Health, Wellbeing, and Learning, offered a diverse range of perspectives and methods, introducing students to the science of neuroaesthetics and the emerging field of neuroarts.

Susan Magsamen, executive director of the IAM Lab, shared: “We had no idea how this course would be received and we were blown away by the students’ excitement and passion. We see a tremendous need for an expanded academic program that shares the research, translation, and multiple practices of neuroaesthetics.”

The New York Times bestselling book Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us was used as the central text for the course. It informed – and perhaps even reframed – the way the arts can be used in service of humanity. By exploring how art and aesthetic experience impact the brain, body and behavior, students were encouraged to think beyond traditional methods of learning and knowing.

In addition to Your Brain on Art, relevant articles and digital materials were shared. To highlight real life examples, a dynamic group of guest lecturers gave engaging talks across the semester. These speakers provided valuable insights into research, dynamic applications, and emerging trends in neuroaesthetics, including:

• Dr. Emmeline Edwards, Director, Division of Extramural Research, National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), National Institutes of Health (NIH)
• Dr. Meg Chisolm, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Professor of Medicine, Vice Chair for Education, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Chair of the Paul McHugh Program for Human Flourishing
• Dr. Anicia Timberlake, Assistant Professor of Musicology at the Peabody Institute, Johns Hopkins University
• Chris Wilson, artist, author, activist, and philanthropist
• Dr. Frederick Barrett, O. Lee McCabe III,, Ph.D., Professor in the Neuropsychopharmacology of Consciousness; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine; Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University; Director, Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research

Students engaged directly with immersive, hands-on arts experiences — using tuning forks to explore perception and alignment, creating mandalas to investigate the relationship between visual harmony and lived experience, and participating in activities designed to explore intersections between sensory stimuli, aesthetic experience and wellbeing. They documented their observations and insights about these experiences, guest speaker presentations, and class readings in weekly discussion prompts and journal reflections, which often provoked fascinating and lively discussion both in and outside of the classroom.

When I saw that a neuroaesthetics class was being offered at JHU, I immediately signed up. As a neuroscience major and visual arts minor, I was so excited to learn how these two seemingly distinct disciplines could be combined into such a vibrant, innovative field. Neuroaesthetics was genuinely the best class I have taken throughout my undergraduate career. Through our discussions, the other students and I were able to build upon our own understanding of neuroaesthetics through the integration of neuroanatomy, creative endeavors, and theoretical study design. The guest lectures from the course were phenomenal and hailed from a variety of subdisciplines including painting, song-based therapy, and storytelling. I was especially blown away by a guest lecture by Dr. Margaret Chisolm, who practices flourishing through museum-based strategies. We started with viewing a Salman Toor painting and ended in an emotional discussion of collaborative poetry we wrote from our own evoked feelings. The neuroaesthetics class at Hopkins was a pivotal point in my undergraduate education, and has inspired me to prioritize integration of the arts into my academic, research, and personal endeavors.

– Michelle Nazareth, student

The course culminated in a capstone project using the IAM Lab’s Impact Thinking model, encouraging students to apply neuroaesthetic principles to real-world challenges. Students explored innovative approaches to enhance well-being and cognitive function through the arts. Capstone topics included Aesthetic inventions for Aphasia; Music and Alzheimer’s Disease; and Neuroaesthetics and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), among others.

The inaugural course was very well-received by the Johns Hopkins University community, with a student waitlist at the start of the semester and overwhelmingly positive evaluations at the end of the semester. The deep engagement of guest speakers from across the university – as well as beyond Hopkins – further exemplified the collective enthusiasm for the course.

The course not only academically invigorated me but also provided a space for me to explore concepts around well-being and self- expression in an environment with other neuroscience students and professors. Each week we dove into intersections – through discussions and presentations – around neuroscience, arts, research, education, philosophy, policy, and more. It is a dynamic and multi-faceted area of study, and I would constantly be taking the lessons learned and unanswered questions outside the classroom. I recommend this course to anyone interested and/or passionate about how neuroscience exists in the real world and everyday lives.

– Brooklyn Arroyo, student

Drawing upon lessons learned from the course and evaluations, the IAM Lab team will revise and expand the curriculum this summer and offer the course again in Fall 2025. We have also been invited to consider additional opportunities for undergraduate and graduate studies.

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