The brain must interpret the raw data about light and colour that it receives from the cones and it does with innate skills and those developed out of experience. Each of us has had a different experience, and so each of us has slightly different knowledge and skills of interpretation. Everyone in fact processes the data from the eye with different equipment. (*John Onians, p. 178-179; from: Painting and Experience in Fifteenth-Century Italy. A Primer in the Social History of Pictorial Style, 1972)
This experiment was based on the comparison of the human brain to the urban structures.
During one month of my stay in London I was making text/drawing notes of each route that I followed. From these routes I created a 3d poster which represents my 'personal map' of this city. After collecting all the notes I used a geographical map to trace the routes and see the real ratio of distances and directions. Then, I cut out each route from paper and pasted it on top of the other. The thickness of layered paper shows how many times I followed each route. The rest of the map remains flat and represents the places I haven't been to during the experiment.
My perception of the whole city is clearly determined by the routes I take. Just as our mind is determined by the experiences we have each day. The neural pathways in each brain develop from individual experiences and change during the lifetime. The great plasticity of the brain cells is a reason of the vast diversity and individuality of each brain. Susan Greenfield, neuroscientist, explains what an individual mind is: it is the seething morass of cell circuitry that has been configured by personal experiences and is constantly being updated as we live out each moment. Every neural pathway is becoming stronger or weaker depending on how often it is being used. The aim of this experiment was to help to understand these mechanisms of neural activity in the brain by visualising the impact of personal 'routes' (experiences) on our life over a time.
Autor: DIANA PRZYKORSKA