Olivia D'Costa - Grey Matters

Fever Dreams

When the world first entered lockdown at the end of March 2020, our lives were turned upside down. Days bled into nights spent inside the same walls, with no separation between work and home. If we went out, it was to a masked, nightmarish world full of empty streets and dark storefront windows.

Issue 22

Feeling the Beat: The Neuropsychology of Music and Empathy

While we wait in elevator rides or drive to the grocery store, the majority of us don’t sit in silence: we go about our day-to-day lives accompanied by songs and soundtracks.

Issue 21

Missing a Mind’s Eye: The Metacognition of Aphantasia

What is your favorite memory? Is it sitting in front of the fireplace, burrowing yourself under a blanket with a visibly steaming cup of hot cocoa between your hands?

Issue 21

Diversity in Neuroscience

The field of neuroscience is not diverse or inclusive for underrepresented groups, which consist primarily of women, racial minorities, and the LGBTQ+ community.

Issue 20

How a Signal is AMPA'fied

Find out the role of the NMDA-AMPA receptor system in our ability to associate the occurrence of two events, allowing our brains to learn and form memories.

Issue 19

Brain Cartography: How Mammals Memorize Spatial Maps

Let’s say someone asked you to memorize a random list of twenty animals. Your first thought, aside from “Why?”, would probably be, “How can I manage to memorize all of these creatures?”

Issue 18

Misophonia: Symptom or Disorder?

A coworker slurps chicken-noodle soup. A classmate refuses to stop coughing. A friend gulps down their coffee as if it were the last cup on earth. Many people find these

Art

Blind Mind's Eye

Aphantasia is a neurological condition in which an individual lacks visual memory. They are unable to remember landscapes and scenes, but instead rely on verbal memory. This piece depicts how

Art

Pandemic Dreams

Trauma and stress can impact an individual's sleep cycle, as well as their dreamscape. The pandemic was an extremely stressful and traumatic experience, so many people experienced changes to their

Art

NMDA Receptors - 2

Depicts how “neurons that fire together, wire together” using the example of Pavlov’s dog. Back to Gallery [https://greymattersjournal.org/art/]

Art

Disappearance of Detail

Depicts how visual memory exists on a spectrum; those with low visualization memory are unable to imagine small details. Back to Gallery [https://greymattersjournal.org/art/]

Art

Music and Empathy

Depicts how music can effect and even alter emotions. Back to Gallery [https://greymattersjournal.org/art/]

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