Sensory aesthetics

> Goosebumps and music

C J Sommerfeld
Contributor

 

ave you ever gotten goosebumps

from listening to a good song?

According to an article posted
on CBC, this phenomenon transcends
further than you might think. The
website has reiterated a study published
in the academic journal Social Cognitive
and Affective Neuroscience, which has
found that those who get goosebumps
when listening to a good song have
“higher white matter connectivity...
between parts of their brain that process
sensory information [the auditory
cortex] and the parts of the brain that
are in control of emotional processing
[the amygdala].”

The best of

Now what is this white matter?
Essentially, white matter is just
tissue consisting of nerve fibers in
our brains. The amount of this stuff
that a person has correlates with the
speed of information processing and
1Q. This means that those who get
goosebumps when listening to a good
song, or when they hear the theme song
to their favorite childhood TV show,
have higher IQs than those of us who
do not, according to the study. Those
goosebumps are a signifier in how smart
an individual is; these people may very
well be smarter than the rest of us.

Does this mean that if we increase

this stuff we can increase our levels of
intelligence? The answer, according to
the study, is yes! And how exactly do
we do this? An article titled “These 10

Vancouver's museums

> A list of unique, must-visit exhibits

for the summer break

Greg Waldock
Staff Writer

 

Vancouver comes alive in the
summer. Parks open up, conventions
start rolling, and public events pop

up left and right. It can be a bit
overwhelming, so here’s a list that
focuses specifically on museums and
galleries across the city, and the special
exhibitions these venues are hosting
over the next couple of months.

The Museum of Anthropology
(MoA) is hosting “Arts of Resistance:
Politics and Past of Latin America” (May
17 to October 8), a powerful exhibition
showcasing art made during and after
social upheaval and violence across
Latin American countries, portraying
the experiences of survivors and their
descendants through a multitude of
mediums. The MoA is also showing
“Culture at the Center: Honouring
Indigenous Culture, History, and
Language” (March 18 to October 8),
an exhibit that provides detail on six
communities across British Columbia:
Squamish, Lil’wat, Nisga’a, Heiltsuk,
Haida, and Musqueam. Their last
showcase will be “In a Different
Light: Reflecting on Northwest Coast
Art” (June 22 to Spring 2019). It will
seek to use historic First Nations
artwork to relate back to the living
cultures across the province, blending
recorded oral traditions, artifacts,
and stories to paint a more vivid
picture of the peoples behind them.

As usual, summer at the Vancouver
Art Gallery (VAG) is packed with

excellent galleries and exhibits. Emily
Carr is a British Columbian staple,
and Japanese architect Shigeru Ban
will be showcased with his temporary
relief shelters made for victims of
earthquakes. “BOMBHEAD” (March
3 to June 17) examines the art of the
nuclear age and the impact it’s had on
modern culture. “Cabin Fever” (June
g to September 30) will look at the art
and cultural importance of the North
American cabin, a little-examined piece
of our shared history. The VAG will
also have many other smaller exhibits
opening throughout the summer.
Unsurprisingly, the Museum of
Vancouver focuses the most on the
history of Vancouver and the Lower
Mainland. “cosna?om, the City before
the City,” which is open until January
25 2020, is featured as one of the
museum’s centerpieces and focuses
on casna?om, otherwise known as the
Marpole Midden, and its importance
to the Musqueam people and how
the City of Vancouver relates to First
Nations communities within its borders.
“Neon Vancouver, Ugly Vancouver,”
takes an unusual look at the neon signs
that appeared throughout Vancouver
over the past several decades and
traces their changes with the changes
Vancouver experienced at the time.
The excellent “Haida Now: A Visual
Feast of Innovation and Tradition”
(March 16 2018 to June 15, 2019)
remains an incredibly impressive
presentation of Haida artistic history
and legacy, with detailed explanations
and associated stories directly from
members of the Haida community.

(¥ Get on board the gloss trend
Y Getslicked, slick!
(¥ The passing of TotalBiscuit

And more!

Things Literally Increase the Size of Your
Brain” notes a list of simple things which
we can very easily add into our everyday
lives to do so; practice some yoga, play an
instrument, exercise, read—it is as easy
as that.

So if we increase our levels of - Se
intellect through introducing these f
things into our lives, we similarly are '
increasing our receptivity to music # = iJ a a
acting as medicine. The notion that e
music is medicinal has been known for
a long time; however, these studies show ae “i
that the music in our environments
are social determinants in our health
that we have the ability to manipulate. 7,25
Perhaps instead of relying on the ways
in which we are conditioned to heal
ourselves in the westernized world, we
can instead saturate our environments

with good music? I can’t say for sure, but
it’s easy enough to try for yourself!

  

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Brittney MacDonald
Life and Style Editor

Ten ew ee coo

June is here, and you can almost taste those warm summer
months coming in hot! Or at least, we're hoping that they will.
I don’t know about you guys, but we here at the Other Press are
done with winter. So done in fact that that we want an official
divorce! Until all that legal paperwork goes through though,
here’s a list of ear-worms we've had stuck in our brains.

Tester by Hinds (Jacey)
Master of None by Beach House (Klara)

Mammoth Waltz by Lost Bayou Ramblers (Jerrison)

The Times They Are A-Changin’ by Bob Dylan (Duncan)

4:00 AM by Avenged Sevenfold (Caroline)
Soul Wars by AWOLNATION (Greg)

This is America by Childish Gambino (Brittney)

 

gue AM) ad Ay =.
Me See U's

Photo via Pixabay