Arts Education and the Brain
What a New Research Study May Tell Us
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Designed by Rebecca Luib, project manager, the Dana Foundation; presented by Michael Gazzaniga, Ph.D., director, Center of Cognitive Neuroscience, Dartmouth College and president, American Psychological Society, and Janet Eiber, the Dana Foundation.
Does the study of arts change the brain? Does it affect learning? There are good correlations between children who take part in the arts and academic performance. Now, Dr. Michael Gazzaniga is directing a consortium of leading neuroscientists at six research institutions, funded by the Dana Foundation, to study whether there is a causal relationship. The research will be the first extensive scientific attempt to develop a comprehensive picture of the role of arts education in changing the brain. Dr. Gazzaniga will be the founding director of a new Mind Science Center at UC Santa Barbara in 2006.