This week we’re exploring the neuroscience behind our relationship to beauty. Are we culturally conditioned to prefer certain landscapes, works of art, and types of buildings or are those preferences universal? Why do some people embrace nature while others are fearful? Is there a way to measure biophilic design’s effect on neurodivergent individuals? We investigate all of those questions and more with our guest Dr. Anjan Chatterjee, a renowned professor of Neurology at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Chatterjee is at the forefront of a relatively new field called neuroaesthetics which examines the neural basis of aesthetic experiences. In other words, why do we deem certain things beautiful or pleasurable over others? Particularly with nature and biophilia, the answer may not be as clear-cut as you think. 

Show Notes

• Anjan Chatterjee, M.D.
• Neuroaesthetics
• Biophilia as Evolutionary Adaptation: An Onto- and Phylogenetic Framework for Biophilic Design (Frontiers in Psychology)
• Biophilia by Edward O. Wilson
• Buildings, Beauty and the Brain: Q&A with Anjan Chatterjee (CNS: Cognitive Neuroscience Society)
• What We Like About Built and Natural Spaces (Psychology Today)
• How Our Brains Decide What Is Beautiful (TED)

Key Words: Neuroscience, Neurology, Neuroaesthetics, Neuroarchitecture, Biophilia, Biophilic Design, Brain Health, Beauty, Art History, Architecture, Aesthetics, Nature, Psychology, Science, Research, Research and Development

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