Research Project "Extraordinary Quantum Gravity" in the Department of Quantum Gravity and Unified Theory.

Albert Einstein Institut Berlin        

Quantum Gravity - In Search of the World Formula

Time in physics-the revolution of quantum mechanics and relativity theory , complex systems :

A view from the cosmos to our little blue planet.

Is time an universal concept? How could we define it and what does it imply? The definition of reality and the unique direction of time passing have been always an issue in physics (as in other areas). In this talk I will explore the different points of view of time in physics, empathizing then the revolution in these concepts succeeded in the XX Century with the appearance of General Relativity, describing the nature of space-time, and Quantum Mechanics, describing a counterintuitive behavior  of nature at scales further than our daily life.

Canada Research Chair in Mind, Brain Imaging and Neuroethics
ELJB-CIHR Michael Smith Chair in Neurosciences and Mental Health
Research Unit Director

Philosopher, neuroscientist and psychiatrist,

Time is a phenomenon, which has been extensively discussed in physics and philosophy. In contrast, time itself has not really entered neuroscience yet. While there is lots of discussion about the neural correlates and mechanisms of time perception and cognition, the brain itself is considered in an almost a-temporal way: the brain has no inner time and thus not its own intrinsic time. Recent evidence challenges such view of an a-temporal brain. I show how the brain’s constructs its own inner time with for instance its own speed that may or may not align and synchronize with the speed of the body’s time and the time in the outer world, e.g., outer time. Even more important, I show how the relationship of the brain’s inner time to especially the world’s’ outer time is key for constituting mental features like self and consciousness, that is, the mind. I therefore conclude that time is key in understand the mind through the temporal brain’s relationship to especially the time of the world. 

Music and Space

A person listening to music can be said to “hear space” in two senses: metaphorically, when the musical features of a composition, such as melody, harmony or rhythm, evoke a space (e.g., if she hears a “rising” melodic line) or suggest abstract concepts related to an imaginary spatial scene; and literally, when she perceives spatial information relating to sound sources and the spatial region where they are located. In this talk I will analyze the way we perceive space when listening to music, focusing on the experience of physical space. I will apply a model of the way we experience non-musical (or environmental) sound sources to the perception of musical sound sources. I will argue that our experience of musical and non-musical sound sources involve similar perception of the spatial properties of sounds sources, by applying a specific model of spatial experience of non-musical sound sources to some musical compositions which exemplify different roles of space as an aesthetic tool, I will argue that our experience of musical and non-musical sound sources involve similar perception of the spatial properties of sound sources. Accordingly I will suggest that if we want to capture the difference between musical experience and the auditory experience of non-musical sounds with relation to space, we should probably focus on the experience of metaphorical space.

Philosophie des Geistes Funktion / Sachgebiet EU ARTIS Projekt /

Berlin School of Mind and Brain

Art and research for the transformation of the individual and society

The transformative power of art

Art and Transformation

Art can be transformative. It changes our perspective and presents us with alternative models of the world. In my talk, I will discuss how such a view of art can be related to recent developments in neuroscience and psychology. First, I will show how cultural artifacts and art address us in medium-specific, embodied ways to convey their worlds (I call this the "argument from neuromediality"). Second, I will draw on philosophical insights and results from studies we have to discuss aesthetic emotions – such as the experience of beauty, interest, awe and wonder – that are to be considered a central aspect of the cognitive mediation through art. These emotions are characterized by bodily profiles (somatic profiles) that are conducive to the processing of information in specific ways (I call this the "neuroaesthetic argument").