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Dr. Anjan Chatterjee is a renowned professor and the founding Director of the Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics. He's a leading expert on how our brains perceive beauty and art, and author of an engaging book on this topic: “The Aesthetic Brain: How We Evolved to Desire Beauty and Enjoy Art"

In this beautiful conversation, we explore:

• the intersection of beauty, conversation, and the human brain
  
  
• how our biological evolution has left us in a world that often feels disconnected from our innate ways of communicating
  
  
• the aesthetic qualities of conversations, the biases we hold toward beauty, and how cultural representations influence our perceptions
  
  
• the importance of awareness in mitigating biases
  
  
• how to embrace complex ideas, rather than simplify them

Links

Dr. Anjan Chatterjee and the Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics (PCfN) online

PBS News Hour feature: ‘Brains and Beauty’ exhibit explores how the mind processes art and aesthetic experiences

The PCfN 2024 Year in Review

Dr. Anjan Chatterjee on Bluesky

The Aesthetic Brain: How We Evolved to Desire Beauty and Enjoy Art