Donating to schools usually doesn't cost you anything.
Whether it is the future education of my children or the convenience of medical treatment at the medical school affiliated to King's College, there are many tangible and intangible rewards.
"Ms. Elena, thank you for your selfless support to the education industry..."
But ten minutes later, Vice Principal Hunter's enthusiastic voice came over the phone.
His tone was even flattering.
It stands to reason that King's College is also a top-notch school with a high reputation in the world. The affiliated medical school was opened during the Wanli period of the Eastern Xia Dynasty, more than 200 years before North America became independent.
Its executive vice-chancellor is also a powerful figure outside.
However, Hunter was still a little nervous when faced with a rich man who could easily take out sky-high checks and donate money for free.
King's College also receives millions of euros in alumni donations every year.
However, most of the donations are transactional donations from those who spend hundreds of thousands or two hundred thousand euros and want to buy a school for their children with an enrollment bias.
Generally, add a name to the thank you card in the campus hall and make a donation to your daughter to get a special admission spot.
Half a million euros is enough.
Donations of 5 million euros are quite rare.
All foreign wealthy people who can spend this money to support education usually choose the more famous Oxford and Cambridge, or the London School of Economics and Imperial College.
King's College is relatively unpopular.
Vice President Hunter entered the name of the Irina Charitable Foundation into Google and immediately discovered that it was a private charitable foundation with considerable assets and that its funding in the education industry was very generous.
It was reported in the news.
In 2017, this Ileana Foundation donated a total of 11 artworks, including three Matisse prints and an Edvard Munch oil painting, to the campus art gallery of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts.
A conservative estimate of the total value at the auction house is over 12 million pounds, making it one of the top five large-scale donations in the British education sector that year.
His school could be targeted by such a wealthy man.
Vice Principal Hunter felt extremely happy.
"I have contacted the professor in charge of our medical school about the [Autism Spectrum Disorder and Cerebral Cortical Visual Reflection Correlation and Brain Miniature Three-Dimensional Model Test] project that you previously wanted to know about. I would like to ask if you have any family members who would like to know more about it? Do you want to participate in this experimental material method?"
Vice Principal Hunter asked tentatively.
"This is easy to arrange, but after all, it is still in the exploratory period, and we cannot guarantee the final effect."
The wealthy donors naturally have the right to make various reasonable or unreasonable demands.
Except for the fact that an old George V-era library on campus was renamed the Ileana Library.
The principal also personally called and invited Ms. Elena to visit their beautiful campus and deliver a speech.
But they all refused.
The lady's only request was to inquire about the internal progress of a research project under the medical school.
This had to make the vice-principal think of something else.
"Well... you can understand it that way, but you don't need to participate in the experiment. I just need to ask a few questions." Anna calmly ordered, "Is it convenient?"
"Of course, of course. In fact, the professor in charge of the project is here with me now. I'll let him tell you in person."
The vice principal said immediately.
A gray-haired old scholar was sitting in the office of the executive vice president, impatiently filling in the Sudoku puzzle in the newspaper.
After the campus external affairs department received a call from Miss Elena, he sent his secretary to call the professor from the medical school.
In addition to hanging a sign in front of the library, a check of 5 million euros also qualifies an unpopular professor to explain the research progress in person.
Hunter pressed the phone.
The smile on his face faded a little, and he spoke to the old man in front of him with the dignity of the executive vice principal.
"The other party just donated 5 million euros to our school, so...you know, just say whatever they ask."
Draw a pie for investors and attract external research funds to the school.
It is originally a very important part of the scientific research life of Western universities.
"What does she want to know? I have sent her an email before. All the information that can be released to the public is in it. She can just read it herself. It's a waste of time."
The old scholar put down his pencil, his tone unfriendly.
He is quite tired of this kind of social routine of serving rich people.
Hunter knocked on the table. Under his threatening gaze, the professor was like an old ram being led by the neck. He took the phone honestly, lowered his head and said feebly: "Hello, hello, I am the project manager. The person in charge of the group. I have sent you an email before.”
"I received the outline of your research, but I have no medical background and cannot understand those complicated charts and research data. Your final conclusion is that the process of reading "The Little Prince" and the half hour afterwards. and Compared with the control group, the degree of activation of the cerebral cortex mOFC (middle orbitofrontal cortex) in the MRI scans of patients with autism was significantly increased."
Miss Elena opened a file on the computer.
The girl turned to the end of the last page, where the preliminary conclusion drawn by the researchers was drawn, and she frowned and asked, "Can I think this is good news?"
"Can you think that? If this is not good news, what else can be considered good news!"
Mentioning the main research fields, the old professor's tone became obviously excited, "This is a very significant research progress."
"Please explain to me?"
"Well, it's very complicated to put it into detail. You are a layman with no professional background——"
cough!
Vice Principal Hunter coughed heavily.
"Okay, let me explain it to you simply. There are 160 different functional areas in the cerebral cortex related to vision. Neuroscientists are trying to find the area in the brain that is most closely related to aesthetics. And mOFC It’s the one to which humans respond most strongly when they appreciate art and are visually stimulated.”
"In other words, it is a module used to define 'beauty' in the eyes of scientists."
Anna said softly.
"That's right! What is an attractive work and what is an unattractive work? The degree of stimulation of the orbitofrontal cortex can tell us the answer."
"A colleague of ours conducted a survey. He took different samples of volunteers and played 16 different sets of pictures on the computer screen. The results found that when viewing oil paintings, the corresponding areas of their cerebral cortex were Activated. For one of the art students, watching Ingres' "Fountain" caused a stronger brain reaction than pictures of pornographic girls. What does this mean?"
The old professor was frothing at the mouth and said: "This shows that in his brain's neural network, the artistic stimulation of oil painting is greater than the physiological stimulation of the naked body of the opposite sex."
"In other words, when we discuss the artistry of painting, what we discuss is nothing more than the active response of the cerebral cortex caused by specific chemicals and neurotransmitters triggered by certain visual stimuli from the molecular structure. The University of California even established a neuroaesthetics institute because of this. Research project. You understand!”
“I personally believe that artworks have their own complex and unpredictable transcendental philosophy, and the aesthetic stimulation we can appreciate is linked by the unique soul bond between the painter and the audience, and cannot be interpreted simply by the secretion of chemical substances. "Miss Elena paused.
The girl's eyes scanned the various brain MRI images on the computer screen, and she said with interest: "Of course, I respect your scientific perspective, please continue."
Whether it's Anna, her aunt, her ancestors, or even Sir Brown.
Their art concepts may be different, but people in these circles have a perceptual understanding of art due to their childhood environment and education.
Aesthetic ability is a tool given by gods to human beings to communicate with heaven through mortal souls.
A rational interpretation of scientism may make sense.
But if you feel a physical shiver when appreciating a beautiful piece of art, it is equivalent to the feeling of inserting a few electrodes into the brain of a mouse.
It's just too unattractive.
Of course, it was quite interesting for Anna to hear this kind of interpretation based on the cerebral cortex for the first time.
"Transcendental philosophy, soul ties, why don't you believe that God really exists?" the old professor hummed casually.
"Ahem!"
Vice Principal Hunter coughed so hard that his tonsils were about to spit out, and he winked wildly on the side.
“I don’t know if God exists, but I really believe that the moment an artist paints a great work, the muse comes to them and gives the two-dimensional image real life, not just a paint or two. A graffiti inspired by a craftsman’s inspiration.”
Anna didn't take offense at the offense, she just smiled and said.
"Back to the topic, what does this prove? Detective Cat's works are indeed effective in treating autism, right?"
"You can say that. You may know that patients with high paraplegia are called people locked in a physical prison because of their limited body functions. But compared with disabled people with broken spines, children with autism are more like being trapped in a physical prison. People who are imprisoned in the body. What imprisons them is not atrophic muscles, but a dull brain."
"So medical experts want to stimulate them through art or music and build a sense of the outside world."
"People with autism are very insensitive to external stimuli, or in other words, they can only respond to a few specific perspective objects, but this is difficult to find. The new version of the illustrations of "The Little Prince" is exactly such an object."
"Can't other fairy tale books work?"
"It's okay, but it won't have such an amazing effect."
The old scholar said with admiration: "If you can understand the icon data on the MRI chart, you will understand that if the reaction effect of an ordinary fairy tale book is compared to the ripples produced by blowing a breath on the lake, then "Little Children" "The Little Prince" just threw a stone in. We have also observed similar images when playing some symphonies. So classical music used to be the focus of our research. But now "The Little Prince" has a stronger effect than Mozart."
"understood."
Anna nodded: "So the illustrations of Detective Cat can indeed have a good effect on patients."
"Well...but I need to make it clear to you. The most interesting thing about the new version of "The Little Prince" is that it can stimulate the brains of children with very low cost. After all, whether it is Mozart's music or the illustrations of the Little Prince , none of them are specially designed for any independent case, and their original intention is not to treat autism. What we are exploring is a low-cost universal treatment method——"
Being unsociable also has the advantage of being unsociable, and that is honesty.
If you are a person with a high emotional intelligence, facing a wealthy man, the person in charge of a scientific research project will naturally exaggerate about his project as much as possible.
But the old scholar hesitated for several seconds.
Finally, he said honestly: "...So with your financial resources, since you can donate 5 million euros to the university, compared to buying a copy of "The Little Prince" for children to read, or sending it to our medical school to participate in something like Experimental therapy. It is better to send the child to a nursing facility such as the Kennedy Medical Center. There is an entire art team working with psychiatrists to provide special services to patients. This kind of customized nursing plan will be more effective."
"If I could ask Detective Cat to draw some illustrations that might be helpful for a certain patient under the guidance of a psychiatrist, would the effect be better than sending him to a private rehabilitation center?"
Hear the clear voice of the girl on the microphone.
The person in charge fell silent.
Invite a detective cat... He still underestimated the willfulness of these rich people.
Since "The Little Prince" works, so does illustration therapy tailored to patients.
Indeed, a combination of the two should work best.
"Or to put it more directly, can you give me a clear conclusion. Is it the fairy tale book "The Little Prince", the painting method of drawing with a knife, or the illustrator Detective Cat that really makes a difference? Which of these three? Which one is the real key to unlocking the patient’s defenses?”
Miss Elena asked straight to the point.
The person in charge continued to remain silent.
This is also what puzzles the old scholar the most in his current research.
Hua Knife Hua, The Little Prince, Detective Cat.
It stands to reason that this problem can be solved by controlling the variables and designing several control groups for experiments.
The same is true in practice. He and his students easily eliminated the option of "The Little Prince."
In the realm of fairy tales, it's inherently a bit too mature and advanced.
Although the reading threshold is low, it is not the type of bedtime story read to children like "Snow White".
Whether it is the text of "The Little Prince" or Saint-Exupéry's original illustrations, little patients with autism are not very interested.
Only the dozens of pictures in the new version of the fairy tale book have the ability to activate their cerebral cortex to respond.
That is the credit of Hua Dao Hua.
It's a very reasonable answer when you think about it. This kind of thick cream-like paint texture and bright and moving picture effect. It is originally the visual pattern that can best stimulate the human brain to react.
The problem is, just like witchcraft, only Detective Cat's knife drawings seem to have such good effects.
This doesn’t make sense!
(End of chapter)
