Brain, Beauty, and Art

Anjan Chatterjee is a Professor of Neurology, Psychology, and Architecture and the founding Director of the Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics. He wrote 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 has received the Norman Geschwind Prize in Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology and the Rudolph Arnheim Prize for contribution to Psychology and the Arts. He is or has been in the editorial board of several journals focused in neuroscience, neurology, ethics, and aesthetics. He 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 Eileen Cardillo, DPhil is a cognitive neuroscientist and Associate Director of the Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics. She received her B.S. in Biological Psychology at the College of William & Mary and her doctorate in Experimental Psychology while a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford. Before joining the PCfN, Eileen completed her postdoctoral training at the University of California San Diego and the University of Pennsylvania, with an emphasis on neuropsychological studies of cognition. Her research interests include metaphor, contemplative practice, and the cognitive, affective, and health impacts of aesthetic experiences