Neuroaesthetics with Robyn Landau
Seeing emotion: The art and science of how environments shape us

How do you turn what your body feels into something you can see and share?

In this episode of Seeing Senses, Robyn Landau joins Sarah to explore the fast-developing field of neuroaesthetics. Robyn explains how our brains and bodies respond to everyday environments, why she and Katherine Templar Lewis founded Kinda to translate lab insights into real-world cultural experiences. Their studio-lab approach uses EEG, biosensors and self-report to create interactive works that help people learn about themselves. The conversation covers hands-on testing that visualises heart activity and skin conductance as colour, motion and shape, inclusive access, the “pub test” for science communication, and why building inner-sense literacy, interoception, matters for wellbeing. Their new experience Emergence has recently opened in New York. 

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Listen if you’re curious about:

• What neuroaesthetics is
• Visualising our inner response to sound
• Why Kinda Studios merges a creative studio with a neuroscience lab
• How physiological signals can be translated into live visual forms
• Interoception, flotation tanks, and learning to notice inner signals
• The “pub test”: sharing just enough science to pass on to a friend

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Key themes & takeaways:

• Knowledge as agency: clear, shareable explanations help ideas travel
• Science-informed design: start with “how should someone feel,” then work backwards
• Real-world measurement: EEG and biosensors plus self-report outside strict lab settings
• Arousal and valence: mapping experiences to energy level and feeling tone
• Visualising physiology: colour, shape and motion as a common language for inner states
• Individual differences: similar inputs, different responses, different baselines
• Connection as outcome: to self, to others, to place
• Interoception for wellbeing: practise noticing inner signals, not only external stimuli

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Guest:

Robyn Landau is a neuroaesthetics researcher, designer, and cultural entrepreneur advancing new interdisciplinary models connecting neuroscience with creative experiences. As the co-founder of Kinda Studios, the first women-led neuroscience studio and lab, she pioneers new ways to measure, design, and translate scientific insights into cultural experiences, expanding the impact of art, culture, and technology on human connection and wellbeing.

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Bonus for multi-sensory thinkers:

Head to Seeing Senses on Substack for updates and extras.
You’ll find sense-hacking experiments and book recommendations from the guests. Become a paid subscriber to support the making of this podcast (with extra episodes and content).

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Host:

Sarah Hyndman is a designer/researcher, author and speaker. You can book her for a talk or workshop about Multi-Sensory Thinking here via Type Tasting. Sarah is the founder of Type Tasting, curator of The Sensologists and author of the bestselling book Why Fonts Matter (Penguin/Virgin). 

Seeing Senses. Where there’s more than meets the eye. 

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Theme music by AudioKraken. 

#Neuroaesthetics #KindaStudios #Emergence #SeeingSensesPodcast #MultiSensoryThinking