THE ENCULTURED BRAIN

Building Interdisciplinary Collaborations For The Future Of Neuroanthropology

Please join us for a conference on the interdisciplinary field of brain-culture research at McKenna Hall, University of Notre Dame, on October 8, 2009. “The Encultured Brain” is the first neuroanthropology conference which will feature integrative research happening now, plans for future research, emerging methods, and new collaborations on how the human brain intersects with our cultural and social lives.

Program

9-9:40 am Opening Address: “Neuroscience and the Real World,” Daniel Lende, Notre Dame

9:40 – 10:40 am Speed Presentations

“Building Interdisciplinary Bridge for Empathy,” Cameron Hay, Miami Universtiy

“Failing Our Children: The (Missing) Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness,” Darcia Narvaez, Notre Dame

“Embodiment as a Paradigm for Neuroanthropology,” Ben Campbell, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

“Behavioral Activation/Fun Seeking Personality and BMI in Disparate Cultural Contexts,” Seamus Decker, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

“Behavioral Neurogenetics of Creativity,” Leslie Heywood, Binghamton University

“Kinship: Verticality and Horizontality,” Giovanni Bennardo, Northern Illinois University

“The Degenerate Monkey,” Eugene Halton, Notre Dame

11 am-12:15 pm Keynote Address: “Mirror Neurons and the Ontogeny and Phylogeny of Cultural Processes,” Patricia Greenfield, UCLA

“The mirror neuron system enables both monkey and human to produce intentional motor acts and to respond when observing the same acts performed by another. This presentation will demonstrate the importance of these neurally grounded behavioral competencies for the evolution and ontogenetic development of two key aspects of human culture, tool use and language.”

1:45-3 pm Methods Round Table: Joan Chiao, Northwestern University; Karl Rosengren, Northwestern University; Claudia Strauss, Pitzer College

3-4:15 pm Keynote Address: “Explaining Religion,” Harvey Whitehouse, Oxford

“… there is also growing evidence that many religious concepts require considerable cognitive, social, and technological resources to create, remember, and pass on. Cross-culturally variable aspects of religion arise in part from the evolution of cognitive systems devoted to connecting concepts (e.g. through the formation of novel analogies) and storing them (e.g. in semantic memory) and in part from the historically changing sociopolitical conditions in which such systems can be exploited.”

4:35-5:25 pm Speed Presentations

“The Biological and Psychological Basis of Social Engagement Behaviors in Second Language Acquisition,” Bahiyyih Cerqueira, UCLA

“Prayer as Cultural Artifact: Challenges for Neuroscientific (and Other) Experimentation,” Kevin Ladd, Indiana University, South Bend

“Holistic Humor: Coping with Breast Cancer,” Kathryn Bouskill, Emory University

“Structure, Culture, Individual: Three Major Influences on Stratification,” Michael Jindra, Notre Dame

“Neuroscience and the Art of the Actor,” Jane Brody, DePaul University

“Feeling Your Way to Learning: Body-Mind Training Through Taijutsu,” Katja Pettinen, Purdue University

5:25-6 pm Closing Address “A Brain-Shaped Culture: Ambitions, Acknowledgements and Opportunities,” Greg Downey, Macquarie University

Registration and Complete information:

https://neuroanthropology.net/conference/

Questions:

encultured.brain@gmail.com