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ANNUAL MEETING AND STUDENT RESEARCH CONFERENCE

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

November 5–8, 2020
A Virtual Event


REGISTER

ANJAN CHATTERJEE

Professor of Neurology, Psychology, and Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania and the Founding Director of the Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics

Talk
The Aesthetic Brain: On Beauty, Buildings, and Art

We are surrounded by people, places, and things. Beyond communicating with people, navigating through places, and interacting with things, we cannot help but evaluate them. In this talk, I will review basic conceptual underpinnings of neuroaesthetics, a relatively new field that examines the biological bases of aesthetic experiences. I will argue that our brains respond automatically to our aesthetic environment, by discussing recent results from my lab that focus on the neuroaesthetics of faces, architectural interiors, and art. We have hidden behavioral and brain responses to facial beauty. These automatic responses have unfortunate consequences because of the promiscuity of our valuation systems, which links beauty and morality. Similarly, our brains respond to architectural interiors based on psychological constructs of which we are not explicitly aware. These responses have implications for the relationship between the environment and our sense of well-being. Finally, we demonstrate surprising ways in which motor systems contribute to aesthetic engagement with art.


Biography
Anjan Chatterjee is a professor of neurology, psychology, and architecture and the founding director of the Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics. He is a member of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, and the Center for Neuroscience and Society at the University of Pennsylvania. He received his BA in philosophy from Haverford College, MD from the University of Pennsylvania and completed his neurology residency at the University of Chicago. 

The past chair of Neurology at Pennsylvania Hospital, Chatterjee’s clinical practice focuses on patients with cognitive disorders. His research addresses questions about neuroaesthetics, spatial cognition and language, and neuroethics. He wrote the book The Aesthetic Brain: How We Evolved to Desire Beauty and Enjoy Art and co-edited: Neuroethics in Practice: Mind, Medicine, and Society, and The Roots of Cognitive Neuroscience: Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychology. He is or has been on the editorial boards of: American Journal of Bioethics: Neuroscience, Behavioural Neurology, Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology, Empirical Studies of the Arts, European Neurology, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, European Neurology, Neuropsychology, and The Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. He was awarded the Norman Geschwind Prize in Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology by the American Academy of Neurology and the Rudolph Arnheim Prize for contributions to Psychology and the Arts by the American Psychological Association. 

Chatterjee is a founding member of the Board of Governors of the Neuroethics Society, the past president of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics, and the past president of the Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology Society. He currently serves on the boards of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia and Haverford College. He has served on the boards of the Norris Square Neighborhood Project and the Associated Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

RACHAEL CUSICK

Associate Producer at Radiolab

Talk
Cusick will discuss “RadioLab Presents: G,” Radiolab's 2019 documentary series on intelligence that had her diving into the oddest search for genius the world has ever seen, including how art and science together can unlock mysteries that neither could have found alone. 

Read a Q & A about this talk

Biography
Rachael Cusick is an associate producer for Radiolab, a Peabody Award-winning public radio program that explores the world through science, sound, and character-driven narratives. During her years at Radiolab, she’s worked on stories about things like reproductive biology, the history of intelligence research, and what the world would look like if it turned into blueberries. Before joining Radiolab, she studied food science at Cornell University and worked as a cheese curd flipper, pastry chef, and egg scrambler. She also spent some time hanging out at NPR, Politico, and Slate. When she’s not writing about herself in the third person, she’s most likely looking for stories or asking people existential questions like if they save the best bite for last.   

BARBARA LANDAU

Dick and Lydia Todd Professor of Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University

Talk
Unforgettable:  When an Amnesic Artist Remembers

Classical theories of memory, starting with patient H.M., suggest two distinct kinds of memory, declarative (i.e. factual) and non-declarative (including skills), that can be differentially impaired after damage to the hippocampus. Landau will explore the case of a highly accomplished graphic artist who sustained major damage to the hippocampus due to viral encephalitis, leaving her with significant amnesia. This case allows us to probe how the brain represents factual knowledge of art and its theory, as well as the practice of art, including underlying skills. Our results suggest that these different aspects of knowledge are part of a complex and intertwined web of knowledge that supports artistic expertise.  

Biography
Barbara Landau is interested in human knowledge of language and space, the relationships between these systems (e.g. how we talk about space), and how they are represented in the mind and brain.  She focuses on the nature of the cognitive "primitives" that guide both typical and atypical development, including cases of congenital blindness, Williams syndrome, and perinatal stroke. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Cognitive Science Society, and was named a Guggenheim Fellow in 2009.


LARRY S. SHERMAN

Professor of Neuroscience at the Oregon Health & Science University and the Oregon National Primate Research Center, and President of the Oregon and Southwest Washington Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience

Talk
Every Brain Needs Music: A Lecture and Performance

The human brain has the unique ability to create, perform, and listen to music. Recent studies ranging from basic cell biology to functional magnetic resonance imaging have indicated that music processing involves unique brain regions, and that practicing and performing music can significantly impact how nerve cells are formed, how they transmit their signals, and how they connect with one another. These findings have profound implications for how music can influence brain development and brain repair in people with brain injuries and neurodegenerative diseases. These topics and more will be discussed by Larry Sherman, who combines live music (he is an accomplished pianist) with a multimedia presentation that explores exciting neuroscience research on how the brain creates, performs, and responds to music.

Read a Q & A about this talk

Biography
Larry S. Sherman is a professor of neuroscience at the Oregon Health & Science University and the Oregon National Primate Research Center, and is the president of the Oregon and Southwest Washington Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience. He has over 90 publications related to brain development and neurodegenerative disease including Alzheimer’s disease and multiple sclerosis. He serves on several U.S. and international scientific research review panels. He gives numerous public talks and has made many television appearances discussing topics such as the neuroscience of pleasure and love, music and the brain, and a deeply personal presentation dealing with his recently discovered biological family and exploring the contributions of genes and environment to brain development and personality. He has been running a science fair workshop and a science fair for elementary school students at a local Portland, Oregon, school for the past 15 years, and received the Mary Omberg Award for Science Education in the State of Oregon. The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry and Portland Monthly Magazine recognized Dr. Sherman as one of the “people who are changing our world.” He was also the 2012 Teacher of the Year at the Oregon Health and Science University School of Medicine, and was recognized as an Outstanding Researcher by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.


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