“Brain Folds”

Artist: Julia Fawcett
NeuroGrad Collaborator: Charlotte Liang

Abstract

The paper by Palaniyappan and colleagues (2012) aims to examine the brain folding patterns difference between schizophrenia patients and healthy populations. Brain folding, also called gyrification, is a process that happens during pregnancy when the brain needs to grow and mature within limited skull space. In this sense, the folding patterns of the brain are like our “fingerprint”. The findings show that compared to healthy controls, on average schizophrenia patients have loosened folding in some regions and increased folding in others. The painting attempts to visualize gyrification in schizophrenic patients in an abstract sense. This piece tries to make the subject of neuroscience and gyrification more approachable to those not in that field and to hopefully spark a conversation or at least questions. The painting aims to bridge the gap between science and arts- two seemingly opposite subjects -by using bright colours and modelling paste to mimic colours in brain scans.