Prof. Semir Zeki (University College London, UK)

The neurobiology of subjective experiences – from colour to beauty

March 8, 2018 | 5 pm

Far from being a passive chronicler of external events, the brain actively constructs the reality that we experience, which is also the only reality that we are capable of experiencing and can be sure of. This is as true of an apparently elementary sensory experience such as colour as well as more lofty aesthetic experiences derived from visual art, music and mathematics. In this talk I will outline what we know today about the neurobiology underlying our experience of colour on the one hand and our experience of beauty – regardless of its source – on the other. I will argue that for all these experiences, the brain transforms the physical reality into brain realities according to its own laws.

Organiser:
Department of Basic Psychological Research and Research Methods (EVA Lab)
Location:
Faculty of Psychology (Lecture hall G, 2nd floor, left wing)