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Susan Magsamen

Susan Magsamen is a researcher whose work centers on neuroaesthetics, neuroscience, and public health. Her published research examines the impact of arts- and music-based interventions on mental health, trauma recovery, and youth well-being. She has also authored papers on translating neuroscience into educational practices and the effects of environmental settings on psychedelic therapies.

9 claims checked on air: 1 context 3 overstated 4 supported 1 unverified

What they said on air - supported

0:03:42supportedmoderateYour Brain on Art: The Science of Creativity and Neurologica

Visual art, metaphor, and symbol are used clinically to build narrative and treat trauma and PTSD.

"the power of, uh, metaphor and symbol in helping to create, build narrative around trauma, which now is work that's being done quite regularly for PTSD and and trauma" (said at 0:03:42)

Clinical literature supports the claim that visual art, symbolism, and metaphors are used in clinical settings to help patients construct trauma narratives and reduce post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Art therapy interventions—including mask-making, montage painting, and self-narrative art therapy—are applied in outpatient and clinical programs for military veterans, war-affected children, and individuals with psychological trauma to aid in externalization, trauma exposure, narrative building, and symptom reduction.

0:35:54supportedmoderateYour Brain on Art: The Science of Creativity and Neurologica

James Pennebaker's expressive writing lowers cortisol levels.

"working with um James Pennebaker's work in expressive writing, not necessarily poetry although it could be, but getting an idea out of your head um onto paper that's causing you difficulty um does two things. One, it lowers cortisol" (said at 0:35:54)

Randomized controlled trials investigating James Pennebaker's expressive writing paradigm (and related written emotional disclosure interventions) have found that expressive writing attenuates cortisol release and physiological reactivity in response to acute psychological stress and trauma recall. Studies demonstrate that writing about emotionally challenging experiences or past failures buffers neuroendocrine (cortisol) responses compared to neutral writing conditions, though the effect primarily manifests as attenuated stress-induced cortisol reactivity rather than an unconditional reduction in basal cortisol.

0:36:15supportedmoderateYour Brain on Art: The Science of Creativity and Neurologica

Expressive writing reduces cognitive load.

"One, it lowers cortisol and it also lowers cognitive load." (said at 0:36:15)

Experimental studies demonstrate that expressive writing about stressors or worries reduces intrusive and avoidant thoughts, thereby freeing up working memory capacity and reducing cognitive load/distraction. Randomized experiments show that expressive writing allows individuals to 'offload' anxiety-related thoughts, which preserves working memory resources and prevents performance decrements under high-stress cognitive tasks.

0:42:48supportedhighYour Brain on Art: The Science of Creativity and Neurologica

The default mode network of the brain is activated during quiet rest, mind-wandering, and internally directed reflection rather than active external sensory or task processing.

"But the default mode network um goes to work when you're not creating, when you're not bringing that work in. It goes to work when you are quiet. So, you know, in this very fast-paced world we live in, we often don't just stop and let our brains process. And you know, you know how you sometimes you're in the shower and you have a really great idea and you're talking to yourself, it's because you're really just in that sort of in between space and and you know, we probably all have those moments where you're like, I just had a great idea. And you know, you're daydreaming, your mind wandering, you're figuring out what you like and don't like, you're really allowing the default mode network to come online to process all of that sort of sensorial information." (said at 0:42:48)

The default mode network (DMN) is a well-characterized large-scale brain network that consistently demonstrates heightened spontaneous activity and functional connectivity during passive resting states, mind-wandering, daydreaming, and internally focused cognitive processes (such as autobiographical memory retrieval and self-referential thought), while typically becoming deactivated or decoupled during externally directed, attention-demanding sensorimotor tasks.

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