Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us

Your Brain on Art offers a comprehensive exploration of neuroaesthetics and its potential to positively impact medicine, communities, and the environment. Through cutting-edge research and the experiences of diverse individuals, this book paints a rich picture of the power of the arts to enrich and transform our lives.

We all experience joy, inspiration, wellbeing, understanding, even salvation from the arts. While it can be difficult to explain the effect art has on us objectively, there is now scientific proof that the arts are essential to our very survival. 

We're on the verge of a cultural shift in which the arts can deliver potent, accessible and proven solutions for the well-being of everyone. Magsamen and Ross present research revealing the stress-reducing effects of engaging in an art project. This can include painting, dancing, expressive writing, architecture, and more, regardless of one's skill level. According to the research, just one art experience per month can extend one's life by 10 years.

Susan Magsamen is the founder and director of the International Arts + Mind Lab, Centre for Applied Neuroaesthetics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where she is a faculty member.

Ivy Ross is the Vice President of Design for hardware product area at Google, where she leads a team that has won over 225 design awards, and is herself a National Endowment for Arts grant recipient.