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What is the reason to have a brain? Do we need bodies? And what is the relation between the body and the brain? All the ingredients that make us who we are (emotions, memories, creativity, consciousness, etc.) are grounded in the vehicle of our cognition: the human body. Alex (PhD researcher) and Beatriz (PhD specialized in neuroscience) will take you on a fully embodied tour through the world of Cognitive Neuroscience. From Neuroaesthetics, emotions and dance to memory, consciousness and neurons. During the event there will be games and special Pint of Science goodies to be won!
Do we need a body? Let’s talk about neurons.
Alejandro Galvez-Pol
(PhD in Psychology )
The human body is the container of our mind; the skin, the barrier between the external world and our private thoughts, and when we see others in pain we kind of feel it in our body too. How is the body shaping our mind? How are we able to learn from others bodies? And even further, how are we going to interact with humanoid robots? With the advent of new neuroimaging techniques we have taken a leap into the most complex system in the entire universe: the body-brain system. Let’s reveal some of its secrets.
About Dancing Neurons and Emotional Brains
Dr Beatriz Calvo-Merino
(Reader in Psychology, City, University of London)
Our brain mirrors the external world to make us feel what we see. When watching Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” footwork, the death of a fragile White Swan in the Royal Opera House or Jack Nicholson chasing (us) in the Shining, we feel as if we were there: our feet move, our body falls and our heart rate rises. Everything travels from the external world and became part of our neural network making us who we are. Let’s look into the aesthetic and emotional brain inside out.
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