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The intersection of art and grief as a model for probing the neurophysiologic mechanisms of mediating bereavement.

Poster Session A - Saturday, March 7, 2026, 3:00 – 5:00 pm PST, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballrooms

Reema Demopoulos¹, Martin Goldstein¹; ¹Cognitive Medicine PC

The trans-disciplinary field of neuroaesthetics has developed over the past two decades, ambitiously attempting to bridge cognitive neuroscience and aesthetics. An important subdivision of neuroaesthetics is the development of therapeutic applications, extending from individual to public health. This study entails a systematic literature review and meta-analysis interrogating the therapeutic value of visual art creation in the clinical management of grief, focusing on bereavement as a useful model for the near-universal experience of loss. Preliminary analyses demonstrate that grief responses and creative cognition in adults activate overlapping neural substrates (including the nucleus accumbens and medial prefrontal regions), and are both associated with elevated oxytocin levels. Converging neurophysiologic and epidemiologic data suggest potential unifying neurophysiologic mechanisms for why negative emotion and creative cognition often intersect, and why emotional positivity and art quality may be inversely related. If these convergent findings are supported by completed analyses, they would indicate that bereavement art creation represents a neurobiologically coherent pathway for grief adaptation, as the activity simultaneously engages reward, regulatory, and self-reflective systems. Such outcomes would provide empirical support for art-based bereavement interventions, which may facilitate emotional integration at the biological level. In that vein, the potential role of oxytocin in the experience of bereavement art has significant implications for developing community-based mediations that leverage collective aesthetic experiences as approaches to grief support. This study will serve as a helpful methodology for future explorations into managing varying types of loss, from interpersonal relationships to national developments which threaten the livelihood of the present-day artistic workforce.

Topic Area: EMOTION & SOCIAL: Emotion-cognition interactions