Tag Archives: Brain

Our obsession with taking photos is changing how we remember the past

“Human memory represents my main research interest, and more specifically I study how personal memories are remembered in normal people and in those whose ability to remember is exceptional. I believe in disseminating the results of research to the larger public. My work on memory has been featured in newspapers and magazines in the UK (among many, The Sunday Times) and around the world (among many,The Washington Post). I enjoy collaborations with artists (see the False Memory Archive; The Not Knowns theatre project, both funded by the Wellcome Trust).”

Giuliana Mazzoni is Professor of Psychology, University of Hull.

How we identified brain patterns of consciousness

Davinia Fernández-Espejo is Senior Lecturer, School of Psychology and Centre for Human Brain Health, University of Birmingham. Her main goal is to understand how the brain supports consciousness and what goes wrong for patients to become entirely unaware after severe brain injury. She uses techniques such as MRI (structural and functional), tDCS, and behavioural approaches in both healthy volunteers and patients with a disorder of consciousness to test hypotheses about the role of different brain structures in the clinical deficits they present. This research is directly translated into the development of diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers to be used in clinical settings, as well as the development of novel treatment approaches.

Demystifying the psychedelic experience

Marta Kaczmarczyk is an expert in persuasive science and technology. She is interested in demystifying the psychedelic experience and creating a scientific framework that would be more accessible to the Western mind and more relevant than the shamanic or new age framework which is popular in the psychedelic community. She is a co-founder and a coordinator of Psychedelic Society of the Netherlands; a non-profit organization focused on advocating a safe use of psychedelic substances.

How the power of art can help scientists like me understand the experience of schizophrenia

Associate professor and Royal Society Research Fellow, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford.

“My research aims to understand how individual genes impact on the complex brain functions that are altered in psychiatric disorders. I believe that understanding these links will help to explain why some people respond well to treatments, whilst others do not, and will ultimately lead to new and improved therapies.”

The Purkinje Pattern

Dana Simmons is a neuroscientist, science-artist, and medical writer in Chicago. While at the university, Dana transformed Purkinje neurons into art by testing the limits of confocal microscopy and adding an artistic touch. She is endlessly fascinated by the beauty in the brain and the patterns that are ever-present throughout microscopic and macroscopic nature. In 2016 she received the Passion in Science: Arts & Creativity award from the New England Biolabs.

The ‘real you’ is a myth – we constantly create false memories to achieve the identity we want

Giuliana Mazzoni is Professor of Psychology, University of Hull. Human memory represents her main research interest, and more specifically the study on how personal memories are remembered in normal people and in those whose ability to remember is exceptional. Her work on memory has been featured in newspapers and magazines in the UK (among many, The Sunday Times) and around the world (among many,The Washington Post).

Shadows in a Labyrinth

Canadian multidisciplinary artist Stéphanie Morissette’s works reflect on human behavior and the use of technologies in our quotidian life as well as in the geopolitical sphere; on conflicts and their psychological impact on the different participating actors.

In this exclusive interview she discusses her project, ‘Shadows in a Labyrinth’ (with co-collaborator Dale Einarson), which reflects on the complexity, the flaws and ephemeral aspects of our brain and memory, as well as on the medium and technologies, drawing parallels with mental illness and disease like Alzheimer.

Guiding Memory

Rosi Maria Di Meglio has recently completed a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts at Concordia University. Her artistic practice focuses on space and memory, on real life experiences and transformation. She considers herself a poetic abstract expressionist artist. Her philosophy is founded on the ideas that art has the power to move people whether they are observing or creating.