XXxXY
XXxXY is a scientific/artistic exploration of one issue in genomics: how much of who we are is determined by biological sex? Here, it's a question of brain function, as captured by functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging. If genomic sex (XX vs XY) affects brain function, then in a large group of experimental subjects, we should be able to detect group differences between the XX and the XY subjects in response to the same stimuli presented to both groups. I approach this subject here using data archived by the Human Connectome Project, a huge ongoing study of brain and genetics. In XXxXY I examine (for the first time) 72 subjects of each sex while watching a film clip provided by the BBC. Do the XX brains respond differently, in general, than the XY brains? If so, then the XX brain functions should be more similar to one another than to the XY brains. In this work, that question is explored second-by-second, in real time, over an 80 second video provided by the BBC. The analysis meets normal scientific standards for a group analysis, with a threshold of significance at .01%. With a wide range of imagery in the film clip, the large group of subjects, and the breadth of the search (covering 96,000 locations across 144 brains), the analysis stands a good chance of detecting a valid difference between XX and XY brains.
If there is one.
XXxXY is also a work of art, seeking a point of convergence between art and science. As art, it flips the intellectual and abstract parameters of science into sensations, attempting to show the complexity of the data in animation. Showing, however, is not enough. The video also converts data into sound. We can hear the magnitude of the group similarities and differences, as these rapidly shift from second to second. Sound, and especially musical sound, reveal simultaneous complex relationships among physical signals all at once: we hear those relationships as chords and harmonies, and we hear their dynamics as melody. With a little familiarity with the transformation scheme from numbers to sounds, the screen images can fall away, rendering complex data as music alone. The conclusions of the scientific study are finally transformed into sensory experience, 144 brains condensed into one strange new song.
Dan Lloyd is the Thomas C. Brownell Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, at Trinity College, Connecticut. He was also a Professor of Neuroscience. In addition to authoring more than 60 journal papers, he is the author/editor of Subjective Time: The philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience of temporality (co-edited with Valtteri Arstila, 2014). Other works include Radiant Cool: a novel theory of consciousness (2004), and Simple Minds (1989). He has presented his animations and sonifications of brain activity at conferences, galleries, festivals, and performances around the world.
(c) 2022 Dan Lloyd