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Abstract
Recent neuroimaging research indicates that the brain networks engaged when we remember the past are also activated by various types of creative cognition, such as imagining the future and generating creative ideas (i.e., divergent thinking). In this seminar, Dr. Donna Rose Addis will discuss the aspects of the creative process that can be studied using the methods of cognitive neuroscience, and recent evidence for the role of memory and the cooperation of large-scale brain networks in creative cognition.
Bio
Humans have an amazing capacity to mentally traverse time and space: we can remember ourselves in the past and imagine ourselves in the future. Dr. Donna Rose Addis’ research program combines neuroimaging, behavioural and neuropsychological methods to investigate how the human brain enables us to remember past experiences, imagine future events and construct a coherent sense of self. In particular, Dr. Addis focuses on the qualities of memories and imagined events, the types of details that comprise these mental representations and the processes that underlie their (re)construction.
Dr. Addis has also examined how these abilities change in healthy aging, psychiatric disorders, such as depression, as well as in the context of brain damage in dementia and epilepsy. Her research in this area led to the development of the Constructive Episodic Simulation Hypothesis, a theory that describes the overlapping cognitive processes involved in memory and imagination. Moreover, her work has elucidated the role of specific brain regions (e.g., the hippocampus) and whole-brain networks in memory and imagination, as well as other forms of creative cognition.
RSVP
The PsychEng seminar series (part of the Collaborative Specialization in Psychology and Engineering) aims to spark and/or showcase interdisciplinary research at the intersection of engineering and psychology.
The seminars cover a wide range of topics between these two disciplines and provides a forum for discussion and critical analysis on corresponding research areas. The seminars are presented by psychology or engineering researchers and attended by professors, researchers and students in both (and occasionally other) fields.
The PsychEng seminar series is coordinated by Professor Li Shu.