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IMC Seminar: Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, University of Southern California

Embodied brains, social minds, cultural meaning: Neurobiological perspectives on the development of social emotional feelings

Info about event

Time

Wednesday 9 December 2015,  at 11:00 - 13:00

Location

IMC Meeting Room, Jens Chr. Skous Vej 4, Building 1483-312

Organizer

Andreas Roepstorff

Talk by Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, University of Southern California, USC Rossier School of Education

Abstract:

Social emotions like admiration and compassion shape how we act, who we become, and how we experience our own lives. But how? Mary Helen Immordino-Yang will present her research on the neurobiology and psychology of admiration and compassion, including these emotions’ deep visceral roots in the feeling and regulation of the body and consciousness, and their propensity to heighten one’s own subjective sense of self-awareness and purpose. She will share findings from her cross-cultural studies in Beijing and Los Angeles, and from ongoing longitudinal studies of low-SES American adolescents from immigrant families. The findings contribute to knowledge about how the brain supports conscious experiences of emotion, and how culture, family relationships, media use, exposure to community violence and other factors shape the brain bases of emotional experience and ethnic identity.

Video: TEDxManhattanBeach - Mary Helen Immordino-Yang - Embodied Brains, Social Minds

Bio:
Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, EdD, studies the psychological and neurobiological bases of social emotion, self-awareness and culture and their implications for learning, development and schools. She is an Associate Professor of Education, Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Southern California. A former junior high school science teacher, she earned her doctorate at Harvard University in 2005 and completed her postdoctoral training with Antonio Damasio at the Brain and Creativity Institute in 2008. Since then she has received numerous awards for her research and for her impact on education and society, among them an Honor Coin from the U.S. Army, a Commendation from the County of Los Angeles, a Cozzarelli Prize from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences editorial board, and early career achievement awards from the American Educational Research Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the International Mind, Brain and Education Society, and the Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences Foundation (FABBS). Her work is/has been funded by an NSF CAREER award and by grants from DARPA, the NIH, the Templeton Foundation, the Institute for New Economic Thinking and other sources. Her new book, Emotions, learning and the brain: Exploring the educational implications of affective neuroscience, became available November, 2015 from W.W. Norton.