Luce Faculty Seminar on

Fine Arts, Brain, and Medicine

February-April, 2000

Lectures

The Luce Faculty Seminar on "Fine Arts, Brain, and Medicine," will be held in Claremont, California during the Spring, 2000. The Faculty Seminar is part of our new intercollegiate, interdisciplinary program in Brain, Mind and Medicine: Cross-Cultural Perspectives. It is an initiative of Pitzer, Claremont McKenna, and Harvey Mudd Colleges, funded by The Henry R. Luce Foundation.

JOSHUA M. SMYTH, Ph.D.

Writing Your Wrongs:
The Consequences of Writing About Emotionally Traumatic Events.
Monday, February 21

Within the domains of psychosomatic medicine and health psychology there are two major treatment approaches that have been found to benefit health: Relaxation and talk therapies. Basically all forms of talk therapy -- from psychoanalysis to cognitive/behavioral therapies -- have been shown to reduce psychological distress and promote both physical and mental well-being.  Most therapies include the labeling of the problem and a discussion of its causes and consequences as part of the therapeutic process.  Dr. Smyth proposes that the act of disclosure itself is a powerfull therapeutic agent that may account for much of the healing process.  "My research focuses on the effects of asking individuals to write about emotionally traumatic events.  When people put their emotional upheavals into words their physical and mental health seems to improve markedly.  There is something remarkable about their expressing themselves in words" he said.

Doctor Joshua M. Smyth is Assistant Professor of Psychology at North Dakota State University.  He leads an very active research program on the beneficial effects of writing for which he received numerous research grants, honors and awards.  Professor Smyth has published over 35 professional papers.

Location: Avery Auditorium, Pitzer College
Time: Public lecture 5:00 - 6:00 PM
Dinner-discussion: 6:30 - 7:30 PM (limited to registered faculty members)

Full text available JAMA

MICHAEL H. THAUT, Ph.D.

Rhythmicity and the Brain: Implications for the Therapy of Movement Disorders and Cognitive Functions.
Monday, March 6

Lastly, he will discuss the emergence of the new field of neurologic music therapy as a research based treatment system for patients with neurological disorders.  Neurological music therapy is based on utilizing the psychological and neurophysiological mechanisms inherent in music perception and production.  Dr. Thaut will give an overview of the standardized treatment techniques and show how neurologic music therapy is begining to be implemented in health care.

Dr. Michael H. Thaut is Director of the Center for Biomedical Research in Music, and Professor in the Department of Music, Theater, and Dance; Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Neuroscience Program; and the Department of Electrical Engineering at Colorado State University.

Location: Pickford Auditorium, Claremont McKenna College.
Time: Public lecture 5:00 - 6:00 PM
Dinner-discussion: 6:30 - 7:30 PM (limited to registered faculty members)

Abstract available MEDLINE
JAMA Medical News & Perspectives

JAMES S. CATTERALL, Ph.D.

Learning Through the Arts
From Music to Cognitive Restructuring to Shakespeare.
Monday, March 20

Professor Catterall's presentation will focus on his studies in learning through the arts -- particularly the value of general involvement in the arts as well as intensive involvement in instrumental music and theatre. He will also discuss the related work of colleagues at Harvard, Stanford, and Columbia University included in a new volume just published "Champions of Change: The Impact of Learning on the Arts."

Location: Avery Auditorium, Pitzer College
Time: Public lecture 5:00 - 6:00 PM
Dinner-discussion: 6:30 - 7:30 PM (limited to registered faculty members)

MAXINE JUNGE, Ph.D., L.C.S.W., A.T.R., H.L.M.

Clinical Aspects of Art in Psychotherapy
Monday, March 27

Dr. Junge will present a series of case studies on different issues including art in grief work, art as identity consolidation, art in family therapy, multiple impact brief therapy, and the use of art as healing ritual.

Maxine Borowsky Junge is a Professor and former Chair in the Department of Marital and Family Therapy and Clinical Art Therapy at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.  She has had a consuming interest in creativity since childhood and is educated as a painter through graduate studies at Scripps College, Otis Art Institute, Chouinard Art Institute, Instituto Allende, and UCLA. She has been an art psychotherapist for 27 years and in 1996 received the highest award given by the American Art Therapy Association.  In the last five years, she has worked with HIV/AIDS patients in a medical practice.  Dr. Junge is author of numerous papers, and two books "Creative Realities: The Search for Meanings", a study of creativity in visual artists and writers, and "A History of Art Therapy in the United States."   She has been a speaker and presented workshops in the United States, Mexico, Japan and Korea.

Location: Avery Auditorium, Pitzer College
Time: Public lecture 5:00 - 6:00 PM
Dinner-discussion: 6:30 - 7:30 PM (limited to registered faculty members)

LARRY E. ROBERTS, Ph.D.

How Does the Brain Encode its Dynamic (Musical) Sensory World?
Monday, April 3

Sensory information processing in the human brain is carried out by densely interconnected networks of neurons that represent features of the sensory input in the neocortical mantle.  These sensory representations can be measured noninvasively by recording tiny electrical (EEG) and magnetic (MEG) fields which are generated when neurons are depolarized by their synapses.  We are using MEG and EEG to describe the tonotopic organization of the human auditory cortex and to investigate how the auditory system reorganizes with experience.  Findings from studies of highly skilled musicians and from laboratory experiments indicate that cortical remodeling extends across the sensory modalities, to reflect the pattern of sensory input processed by the brain during skill development.  Neural plasticity is a fundamental mechanism of sensory systems without which we would be unable to carry out even the simplest adaptive act.

Dr. Larry E. Roberts is Professor of Psychology and Associate Member Medical Physics at McMaster University, Canada.  He has an active collaborative research program with the Biomagnetism Center, Institute of Experimental Audiology at the University of Munster, Germany.

Location: McAlister Auditorium, Galileo Hall, Harvey Mudd College.
Time: Public lecture 5:00 - 6:00 PM
Dinner-discussion: 6:30 - 7:30 PM (limited to registered faculty members)

Abstract available MEDLINE

JOSEPH J. SCHILDKRAUT, M.D.

Rembrandt at Midlife: Confrontations With Death
Monday, April 10

In the early 1640s, while Rembrandt (1606-1669) was going through his midlife period, there were profound changes in his art, his style of life, and his sense of self.  While many art historical issues have been raised by scholars attempting to understand these changes, of undoubted importance too were the deaths of his three newborn children in 1636, 1638, and 1640, his mother also in 1640, and his wife in 1642.  These changes are dramatically illustrated by comparing his etchings Self-Portrait Leaning on a Stone Sill of 1639 and Self-Portrait Drawing at a Window of 1648.   The former, a light-filled grandiose composition, shows the artist dressed in theatrical Renaissance finery, his eyes intense and piercing as he looks with confidence, possibly even arrogance, into the space ahead.  The latter self-portrait, in contrast, reveals a much older looking artist dressed in every day studio garb; his facial features have broadened and become heavier, his saddened eyes gaze out from darkened shadows.  In 1642, the year of his wife's death, Rembrandt created one of his darkest and most impenetrable etchings, St. Jerome in a Dark Chamber. This presentation will consider the possibility that Rembrandt may have been depressed in 1642 and that the dark and mysterious St. Jerome in a Dark Chamber is a form of self-portrayal depicting Rembrandt's mind darkened by depression, the dark chamber into which light cannot penetrate.  Also to be discussed is the relationship of this etching to Albrecht Dürer's great midlife engravings St. Jerome in His Study and Melencolia I, both of 1514, the year in which Dürer's mother died.

Dr. Joseph J. Schildkraut is Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Neuropsychopharmacology/Psychiatric Chemistry Laboratory at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center in Boston.  Former Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Psychiatric Research, Dr. Schildkraut is the author of over 200 scientific publications.  His seminal paper "The Catecholamine Hypothesis of Affective Disorders," published in 1965, set the agenda for biological research on depression for the next 25 years.  His pioneering research has been recognized with many awards and prizes.  For the past fifteen years, Dr. Schildkraut has been exploring the inter-relatedness of depression, spirituality and artistic creativity.  He is editor of the book, "Depression and the Spiritual in Modern Art: Homage to Miró," published in 1996.

Location: Avery Auditorium, Pitzer College
Time: Public lecture 5:00 - 6:00 PM
Dinner-discussion: 6:30 - 7:30 PM (limited to registered faculty members)

Other related abstract available MEDLINE

LARS OLOV BYGREN, M.D.

Attendance at Fine Arts Events and Your Health:
An Epidemiological Perspective From Sweden.
Monday, April 17

Cultural activity like attending theatre, reading books, playing music, etc., is thought to increase resistance to diseases or be the impetus to start dealing with problems.  It could be because it is inspirational for handling everyday social problems, thus enhancing people's reflection on their life situation and enabling them to prepare for coming events.  More importantly, such activity provides direct emotional arousal, and it is known that the organism responds with changes in the nervous system - for example, verbal expression of traumatic experiences through writing or talking improves physical health, enhances immune function, and is associated with fewer medical visits.  In this presentation, Dr. Bygren will share with us the results of a 14 years study he realized in Sweden with his collaborators, investigating the possible influence of cultural stimulation on survival.

Dr. Lars Olov Bygren is head of the Department of Social Medicine at Umeċ University in Sweden, Editor-in-Chief of the "Scandinavian Journal of Social Medicine", and Corresponding Editor of "Health Policy".

Location: Pickford Auditorium, Claremont McKenna College.
Time: Public lecture 5:00 - 6:00 PM
Dinner-discussion: 6:30 - 7:30 PM (limited to registered faculty members)

Full text available

Further information:

Heather Gillespie
Pitzer College
Telephone: (909) 607-3061
Fax: (909) 621-8481
Email: heather_gillespie@pitzer.edu

Scientific inquiries: