Center For Mind, Brain, And Culture

Panel discussion follows film screenings of "Ritual Burdens" and "Kites and Monsters" (Oct. 22, 2013).

Film and Lecture Series | Jim Hoesterey and Bradd Shore | Afflictions: Culture and Mental Illness in Indonesia – PANEL DISCUSSION on Religion and Faith

CMBC Lecture held September 27, 2013
. Why do we unite such different kinds of objects as music, literature and painting together under the rubric of art? The tradition of the sister arts since Plato has been built on such connections, but perhaps it ought to seem strange that we associate objects and events that appeal to us so differently, through different senses and in different forms. Understanding aesthetics depends on our being able to comprehend why we do so, why a painting by Van Gogh, a poem by Keats, and a fugue by Bach are moving in similar ways. As I explore what makes this is possible (the neuroscience of emotion and reward, the functioning of imagery, and the operations of the default mode network, I arrive at an answer to my second question, which is what kind of knowledge do aesthetic pleasures bring? Ultimately, I argue that aesthetics offers a model for understanding how the brain responds to unpredictable rewards, and how novelty helps drive our mental economies.

Laura Otis and Philippe Rochat discussed unsavory human emotions from literary, physiological, and evolutionary perspectives. Otis will give an overview of her 2012 CMBC course, Cognitive Science and Fiction, and its role in inspiring a new research project on metaphors used to represent self-pity, anger, hate, and refusal to forgive. In descriptions of these emotions, religious, socio-political, and gender assumptions merge, but representations of these emotions also suggest the ways that minds and bodies interact to produce the feelings people experience. Otis offers some preliminary observations about metaphors for these emotions in classical literary and religious texts and in some recent films. Rochat discusses his research on fairness, jealousy, envy, fear of losing, and other human emotions surrounding the concept of possession. He considers, based on his and other developmental observations, the evolutionary roots of these emotions and whether they, along with related feelings such as shame and guilt,

Talk sponsored by the Center for Mind, Brain, and Culture on March 4, 2013.

We will explore how people vary in their individual experiences of mental imagery and how this might relate to their creative abilities, with particular reference to writing. Then we will consider neural processes that underlie imagery and its variable expression across individuals.

Psychiatric science presumes that hallucinations are an uninteresting byproduct of psychosis. This comparison of the voices heard by people with schizophrenia suggests that there are significant cultural variations between the voice-hearing experiences, and that these differences may have implications for treatment. The paper argues that the differences arise because of differences in local theories of mind.

What were the factors that contributed to the outcome of the 2012 Presidential Election?  How did campaign tactics, current events, the media, and the changing face of the electorate influence voter turnout and voting patterns? Insights will be provided from a political science perspective on election forecasting and polling, and from a psychology perspective on campaign messaging and the roles of emotion and cognition in voters’ decision making.

Talk sponsored by the Center for Mind, Brain, and Culture on February 7, 2013.

CMBC Talk, Fall Semester, 2012

CMBC Talk, Fall Semester, 2012

Talk from "Fairness Conference: An Interdisciplinary Reflection on the Meanings of Fairness." Co-sponsored by the Emory Office of the Provost, the Emory Cognition Project, the Center for Mind, Brain, and Culture, and the Emory Center for Ethics, October 18-19, 2012.

Talk from "Fairness Conference: An Interdisciplinary Reflection on the Meanings of Fairness." Co-sponsored by the Emory Office of the Provost, the Emory Cognition Project, the Center for Mind, Brain, and Culture, and the Emory Center for Ethics, October 18-19, 2012.

Talk from "Fairness Conference: An Interdisciplinary Reflection on the Meanings of Fairness." Co-sponsored by the Emory Office of the Provost, the Emory Cognition Project, the Center for Mind, Brain, and Culture, and the Emory Center for Ethics, October 18-19, 2012.

Talk from "Fairness Conference: An Interdisciplinary Reflection on the Meanings of Fairness." Co-sponsored by the Emory Office of the Provost, the Emory Cognition Project, the Center for Mind, Brain, and Culture, and the Emory Center for Ethics, October 18-19, 2012.

Talk from "Fairness Conference: An Interdisciplinary Reflection on the Meanings of Fairness." Co-sponsored by the Emory Office of the Provost, the Emory Cognition Project, the Center for Mind, Brain, and Culture, and the Emory Center for Ethics, October 18-19, 2012.

Talk from "Fairness Conference: An Interdisciplinary Reflection on the Meanings of Fairness." Co-sponsored by the Emory Office of the Provost, the Emory Cognition Project, the Center for Mind, Brain, and Culture, and the Emory Center for Ethics, October 18-19, 2012.

Talk from "Fairness Conference: An Interdisciplinary Reflection on the Meanings of Fairness." Co-sponsored by the Emory Office of the Provost, the Emory Cognition Project, the Center for Mind, Brain, and Culture, and the Emory Center for Ethics, October 18-19, 2012.

Talk from "Fairness Conference: An Interdisciplinary Reflection on the Meanings of Fairness." Co-sponsored by the Emory Office of the Provost, the Emory Cognition Project, the Center for Mind, Brain, and Culture, and the Emory Center for Ethics, October 18-19, 2012.

Talk from "Fairness Conference: An Interdisciplinary Reflection on the Meanings of Fairness." Co-sponsored by the Emory Office of the Provost, the Emory Cognition Project, the Center for Mind, Brain, and Culture, and the Emory Center for Ethics, October 18-19, 2012.