In this wide ranging conversation we talk about current views on the subject of 'aesthetics', as covering judgements well outside of the arts (choosing a partner, home etc..) and why studying brain and other physiological responses to individually meaningful poems can be a valuable research tool. We talk about the importance of piloerection responses (goosebumps-shivers) across a wide range of species and the tool Eugen and his colleagues have developed and used to measure this, alongside a range of more traditional measures , some of the studies undertaken and their results.

Participants:

Eugen Wassiliwizky, Post-doctoral Researcher, Department of Cognitive Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt am Main,

Germany. https://www.aesthetics.mpg.de/institut/mitarbeiterinnen/eugen-wassiliwizky.html

Ken Barrett, visual artist, writer and former neuropsychiatrist.http://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.uk/

Some of Eugen and his colleague's papers:

Wassiliwizky, E., & Menninghaus, W. (2021). Why and How Should Cognitive Science Care about Aesthetics? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 25(6), 437–449.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S136466132100067X?via%3Dihub

Wassiliwizky, E., Koelsch, S., Wagner, V., Jacobsen, T., & Menninghaus, W. (2017). The emotional power of poetry: Neural circuitry, psychophysiology and compositional principles. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 12(8), 1229–1240.

https://academic.oup.com/scan/article/12/8/1229/3778354

Wassiliwizky, E., Jacobsen, T., Heinrich, J., Schneiderbauer, M., & Menninghaus, W. (2017). Tears falling on goosebumps: Co-occurrence of emotional lacrimation and emotional piloerection indicates a psychophysiological climax in emotional arousal. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, Article 41.

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00041/full

Opening and closing music: Prelude to 'Brainland', the opera by Stephen Brown.

Brainland the opera website: www.brainlandtheopera.co.uk

Follow us us on Instagram:#brainlandcollective #brainlandthepodcast

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you want to get a clear view of a subject ask a philiosopher who has thought deeply about it. In this podcast, philosopher Owen Flanangan speaks frankly about his experience of addiction to alcohol and tranquillisers, 18 years on, and why he felt compelled to write about his experience and analysis of the problem. We talk about substance use and creativity, identity, social cohesive, marker of major life events and as a way to make life more interesting or tolerable. We talk about AA and NA and why, during his first period of recovery he avoided them, but also why they have been so useful to him subseqeuntly. Finally, Owen discusses why a broad 'ecumenical' approach to management of addiction offers the best chance of recovery (rather than a narrow psychological, social or neurological model).

Participants:

Owen Flanagan Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Neurobiology, Duke University, North Carolina, https://www.neuro.duke.edu/profile/owen-flanagan

Ken Barrett, visual artist, writer and former neuropsychiatrist.http://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.uk/

Owen's book WHAT IS IT LIKE TO BE AN ADDICT?: https://academic.oup.com/book/59281?login=false

Opening and closing music: Prelude to 'Brainland', the opera by Stephen Brown.

Brainland the opera website: www.brainlandtheopera.co.uk

Follow us us on Instagram:#brainlandcollective #brainlandthepodcast

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tricia is a dancer, teacher and the author of two historical novels based around dance and dancers. In this podcast she talks about the experience of dancing solo and in a group and her writing. Her most recent book, and a related performance piece, is a memoir/journal of the final days of her parent that also tracks her regular attendance at a circus school alongside memories of her childhood and youth. We discuss her route into dance and the seminal influence of time spent learning contemporary in Amsterdam in the 1970s. She tell us about 'The Green Table', a dance created by Kurt Jooss in Germany that satirised powerful elites, and the inspiration behind her first novel. She incorporates extracts from her most recent book 'Upside down in a hoop' with newly acquired circus hoop skills in a performance peice that deals with the loss of her parents to dementia, and her surprise at the very warm response it has provoked. Tricia concludes by telling us about her next writing project.

Participants:

Tricia Durdey, contemporary dancer, teacher, writer Tricia's website

Ken Barrett, visual artist, writer and former neuropsychiatrist.http://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.uk/

Tricia's books:

Upside down in a hoop:

The Green Table:

The dancer at the world's end:

Extracts prom Tricia's performance piece and more conversation

Opening and closing music: Prelude to 'Brainland', the opera by Stephen Brown.

Brainland the opera website: www.brainlandtheopera.co.uk

Follow us us on Instagram:#brainlandcollective #brainlandthepodcast

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.