Book SummaryYour Brain on Art, by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Your Brain on Art

How do you feel when you look at a classic painting? Or when you watch an indie film? Or when you run your hand over an intricate piece of pottery? From bedtime stories to dance clubs, street murals, and Broadway shows, art pervades human life, and it has a direct impact on how we feel and think. In Your Brain on Art (2023), Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross take us through the field of neuroarts: the study of how art and aesthetics affect the brain and body.

Magsamen is an entrepreneur and faculty member of the Department of Neurology at Johns Hopkins University, where she founded and directs the International Arts + Mind Lab Center for Applied Neuroaesthetics. She works with...

Your Brain on Art Summary Humans’ History With Art

Before we discuss neuroarts, we’ll explore how art emerged and its role in the evolution of the human species.

According to the authors, art is an essential feature of society. It gives rise to novel insights and innovations, helps us communicate what matters to us and what we need, allows us to connect through shared experiences, and enables us to formulate and work toward the future we want. It’s also a powerful tool for enhancing learning, health and wellness, and flourishing.

What Is Art?

The authors don’t specify what art is, and the definition is a subject of philosophical debate. Some definitions center around beauty and emotional expression, while others emphasize the imaginative and skillful nature of art. More comprehensive definitions are difficult to pin down for many reasons: For instance, some works of art serve practical or communicative purposes in addition to aesthetic ones, humans may not be the only species capable of creating art, and many non-art objects and experiences (such as...

Your Brain on Art Summary Three Factors That Shape How Our Brains Process Art

As we’ve seen, art helped humans evolve to become social, communal animals, but the authors write that until recently, we lacked scientific research to explain how art affects us and why. Now, thanks to new technologies, an emerging field called neuroarts is shedding light on these questions. The study of neuroarts involves researchers of different disciplines collaborating to explore scientific data on the brain and body to better understand art’s impact on us. It’s illuminated how arts and aesthetics improve our cognitive functioning, physical health, emotional regulation, stress management, learning, and our lives as a whole.

In this section, we’ll see which cognitive processes enable us to appreciate art and other aesthetic experiences, such as engaging with nature.

(Shortform note: The reason neuroarts is still in its infancy as an area of study may be that the fields it draws from, such as neuroscience and cognitive psychology, are relatively young as well. In The Brain That Changes Itself, Norman Doidge explains that scientists couldn’t study the living brain [until the second...

Your Brain on Art Summary The Benefits of Art

We’ve explained the neuroscience behind how we process art, but this is only one facet of neuroarts. The field also investigates the measurable benefits art can have for our minds and bodies, which we’ll discuss next.

Magsamen and Ross describe art as a basic human need on par with nourishment and rest. Making and enjoying art has measurable benefits for all areas of human health, including psychological, physical, and social well-being. The authors especially emphasize the benefits of the arts for mental health. Engaging with the arts can improve self-efficacy, emotional regulation, cognitive functioning, and the immune system, as well as reducing stress and generally improving quality of life.

These findings are especially relevant today, as the authors say that the world is facing a mental health crisis that affects almost one billion people. (Shortform note: According to the World Health Organization, this figure has surpassed one billion as of 2025.) Depression, hopelessness, loneliness, and mental anguish are widespread, leading to...

Your Brain on Art Summary How to Flourish Through the Arts

We’ve seen how humans evolved to create and engage with art, as well as how the brain processes art, and we’ve explored many of the benefits that the study of neuroarts has illuminated. Furthermore, Magsamen and Ross suggest that one of the most important findings of this field is how the arts can aid us in flourishing.

Flourishing is a state of presence, authenticity, and fulfillment in life. It also includes compassion for others and a sense of taking part in something greater than yourself. It requires mindfulness, a feeling of purpose, moral values, and gratitude for life. The authors argue that a state of flourishing fosters creativity, a desire to learn about new things and other people, and a sense of optimism. It doesn’t mean your life is going perfectly—rather, it’s a conscious choice to spend your life growing and learning.

Flourishing and Human Needs

Returning to the hierarchy of needs, Magsamen and Ross’s description of “flourishing” aligns with Maslow’s description of self-actualization, the highest tier of the pyramid. Like flourishing, self-actualization involves...

Shortform Exercise: How Has Art Benefitted You?

Magsamen and Ross outline four major benefits art can provide: managing emotions, managing stress, enhancing children’s development, and protecting us in old age. Consider how art has benefitted you in the past and how it can continue to do so in the future.

The authors explain that both engaging with and creating art can improve your life greatly. List some arts activities you’ve participated in, activities you’d like to participate in, or artworks that have been deeply meaningful to you.

Shortform Exercise: Use Art to Flourish

Magsamen and Ross present multiple strategies for using art and aesthetic experiences to achieve a state of flourishing. Let’s explore which of these strategies could benefit you most and how you might incorporate them into your life.

Reflect on the five ways to flourish that Magsamen and Ross describe: cultivating curiosity, seeking out enriched environments, getting creative, challenging your self-image, and surprising yourself. Which, if any, of these do you do on a regular basis? Which do you rarely or never do?