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Our amazing brains allow us to experience such a wide range of things; from our most basic needs to things that may be considered uniquely human, such as our ability to imagine the future. At this event you will hear about how our brains control one of our most basic instincts, our hunger, as well our astounding ability for visual imagery and what happens in those few people who can’t visualise.
Are You Hungry? Understanding How the Brain Controls Appetite
Kate Ellacott
(Senior Lecturer, Exeter University)
Obesity is a leading global public health issue. Although the answer seems simple, “eat less, exercise more”, lifestyle changes are rarely sustained in the long term. To develop new ways to treat obesity we need to understand how eating is regulated. Kate will outline our current understanding of how the brain regulates appetite and how we can use this information to fight obesity.
The Eye’s Mind: Extremes of Visual Imagery in Human Consciousness
Adam Zeman
(Professor of Cognitive and Behavioural Neurology, University of Exeter)
Imagination enables us to escape from the here and now into the past, the future and virtual worlds conceived by science and art. Here I will review historical thinking about the roles of imagery; outline what happens in the brain when we visualise and report some initial observations on people with a lifelong inability to visualise and those with especially vivid imagery. I will close with some thoughts about the role of imagination in human consciousness.
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