ArticleFrontiers in psychology2024
Art therapy and neuroscience: evidence, limits, and myths.
Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- A scoping review of integrated arts therapies and neuroscience research.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Pooled it
- Coloring-Based Serious Game in Chinese College Students With Alexithymia: Prospective Longitudinal Exploratory Mixed Methods Study.JMIR serious games · 2026Article
- Changes in resting-state functional connectivity between large-scale brain networks after an intensive arts intervention for adolescents with depression.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Whole-Brain Fractional Anisotropy, Centered on the Superior Longitudinal Fasciculus, Is Positively Correlated With Urban Aesthetic Perception.Brain and behavior · 2026Article
- Empathy-Mediated Narrative Reconstruction of Autobiographical Memory: An Integrative Review of Theory, Evidence, and Applications.Brain sciences · 2026Review
- Differential Effects of Art Therapy and Dance/Movement Therapy on Emotional and Somatic Regulation in Early Psychopathology: First-Episode Psychosis and Eating Disorders.Brain sciences · 2026Article
- The psychology of art and emotional experience: a theme-color-emotion framework for understanding viewer-reported emotional regulation.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Art, neuroplasticity, and tradition: a narrative review and conceptual perspective of Chinese woodblock printing in global art practices and Parkinson's disease neuroscience.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Review
- Advancing aphasia psychological care in Ireland: A participatory study with people with aphasia and clinicians.PloS one · 2026Article
- Beyond expression: structured art-based therapy and attention span in pupils with intellectual disability.Frontiers in child and adolescent psychiatry · 2026Article
- The healing role of music and arts in long COVID: A patient perspective.PM & R : the journal of injury, function, and rehabilitation · 2025Article
- "Happiness tree": a thematic art-based group counseling method for enhancing positive psychological traits in Chinese college students.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Conceptualizing an antiracist framework for neuroscience research in art therapy: a qualitative pilot study.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2025Article
- Drawing therapy based on embodied cognition theory on emotional expression and social behavior in students with autism: a mixed-methods study.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Editorial: Psychology and art: exploring new ways of interaction.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The evidence base for the effectiveness of art therapy continues to grow, even as a mechanistic understanding of how art therapy works remains limited. One promising avenue for increasing our understanding of how and why art therapy works is through the lens of neuroscience. A neuroscience-based approach to art therapy provides opportunities for improving understanding of the neural processes that underlie the complex interaction between perception, cognition, emotion and behavior that play out in the art therapy process. Understanding how therapeutic change occurs can result in improved treatment and better outcomes for clients. However, it can be tricky to connect art therapy and psychological theory directly to neural responses. The purposes of this perspective are to provide an overview of the current evidence and limits of neurobiological concepts of neuroplasticity, mirror systems, and interoception as applied to art therapy practice, and to provide updated information about outdated concepts that are still actively used in clinical practice. Critical analysis and understanding of the current scientific knowledge base can then be used to guide art therapy practice and support the development of hypothesis-based research to determine the primary mechanisms that drive the observed effects of art therapy interventions.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.