Seeing the Bigger Picture

link: Seeing the Bigger Picture Project Page

research question:“How can visual imagination, in relation to visual art and colour experiences, enrich our understanding of the social brain and the impact of different dementia syndromes?”

Visual art and social neuroscience merge together in the PhD research of Janneke van Leeuwen, the founder of The Thinking Eye. An eyetracking study investigates the potential of the arts-based learning method Visual Thinking Strategies to both promote social wellbeing in people living with a dementia and serve as a valuable diagnostic tool for clinicians. Another eyetracking study uses sculptural photographic modelling to investigate emotional responses to colours in relation to their material and spatial qualities. The potential of visual thinking as a research method is further explored through an infographic of the social brain as well four new visual rating scales. In an artistic body of work the research question will be explored from an affective and embodied perspective, to complement the logical and observational neuropsychological investigations.

partners: UCL Institute of Neurology, London; Wellcome Collection, London