On February 21st, a Special Lecture by Dr. Helena Chui

• Etienne Gara, Artist in Residence

   

• On February 6th, the BCI and LA Opera presents

  

• USC research reinforces music’s impact on the developing brain

  A $450,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health will help USC Dornsife’s Assal Habibi advance her studies into how musical training boosts childhood brain development.  Full Article

   

  

• DELIRIUM MUSICUM Concert, December 12th at 7:30PM

  Please make your reservation:

  http://www.usc.edu/esvp

  Use the Code:  Concert

  Tickets are free and donations are welcome.

   

  

• John Burnham Schwartz, The Red Daughter

  

• 100 Years of Neurology at the University of Iowa

  

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  Each year, more than 15,000 books are published in North America (over 300,000 in the past 20 years).

  The Chronicle of Higher Education invited a team of scholars from across the academy to identify what they saw as the 20 most influential books of the last 20 years. Antonio Damasio’s The Feeling of What Happens is one of the selected books.

  

   

  The other titles are:

  Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of our Nature

  Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone

  Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow

  Jo Guldi and David Armitage, The History Manifesto

  Jonathan Levy, Freaks of Fortune

  Arthur C. Danto, What Art is

  Yuval Noah Harari, Homo Deus

  Dorothy Roberts, Killing the Black Body

  Elizabeth Armstrong and Laura Hamilton, Paying for the Party

  David Harvey, Neoliberalism

  Kimberle Crenshaw, Neil Gotanda, Gary Peller and Kendall Thomas (eds), Critical Race Theory

  Jessica Riskin, The Restless Clock

  Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Touching Feeling

  Barbara Ransby, Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement

  Bernard Williams, Truth and Truthfulness

  Mariah Zeisberg, War Powers

  Daniel T. Rodgers, Age of Fracture

  Aimee Meredith Cox, Shapeshifters

  Maggie Nelson, The Argonauts

   

   

   

  

  

   

   

  Los Angeles Philharmonic Announces Newest Youth Orchestra Los Angeles

  by BWW News Desk 
  

   

  The Los Angeles Philharmonic announces YOLA at Camino Nuevo, the fourth site of LA Phil Music & Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel's Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA) program, through which the LA Phil and its community partners provide free, high-quality music training and academic support to over 1200 students from vulnerable communities.

  YOLA at Camino Nuevo serves hundreds of students in the Westlake/MacArthur Park area of Los Angeles and is home to the first in-school YOLA model, democratizing access to a rigorous sequential music-education-through-the-school environment, with additional music enrichment in after-school hours. Currently serving students in grades K-3, YOLA at Camino Nuevo will, over time, serve students in grades K-12 at the Kayne Siart campus and Miramar campus of Camino Nuevo Charter Academy.

  YOLA at Camino Nuevo is also the site of a five-year research study by the Brain and Creativity Institute (BCI) at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences. Titled Music Education and Human Development, the study is aimed at investigating the effects of music training on the emotional, cognitive, social, and neural development of children.

  This research - led by Drs. Antonio Damasio and Hanna Damasio, directors of the Brain and Creativity Institute and the Dana and David Dornsife Cognitive Neuroimaging Center at USC, and project director Dr. Assal Habibi, assistant research professor of psychology at the Brain and Creativity Institute - offers the possibility of assessing the impact of musical training on human development, from childhood to adolescence, and answering a critical question: what is the role and place of music education in school curricula?

  Through rigorous research, evaluation, and documentation, YOLA at Camino Nuevo will serve as an advocacy project communicating the benefits of a K-12 music education, and as a learning laboratory and model for school districts interested in developing a progressive, sequential music education program for their students. The study is made possible by a generous grant from GRoW @ Annenberg - a philanthropic initiative led by Gregory Annenberg Weingarten, a vice president and director of the Annenberg Foundation - and by the continued collaboration and support of the LA Phil.

  The new study extends the Brain and Creativity Institute's prior efforts to examine child development and music education. Results obtained to date from a study launched in 2012 and carried out in collaboration with the LA Phil and YOLA at Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA), suggest that after two to three years of music training, six- to seven-year-old children show enhanced mental and behavioral skills. Their level of brain maturation is also shown to be higher than in a comparable group of children who did not receive music training.

  The launch of YOLA at Camino Nuevo is part of the LA Phil's Centennial initiatives aimed at doubling the number of YOLA students by 2021. In addition, in East Los Angeles, what began in 2014 as YOLA at LACHSA in partnership with the L.A. County Office of Education and with support from Supervisor Hilda L. Solis, is continuing this school year at East L.A. Performing Arts Magnet at Torres High School. Now known as YOLA at Torres, the program establishes a long-term relationship with LAUSD and Beyond the Bell, and allows more students in East L.A. to be served by the program. Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA) Through Gustavo Dudamel's Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA) program - inspired by Venezuela's revolutionary El Sistema - the LA Phil and its community partners provide free instruments, intensive music training, and academic support to over 1200 students from vulnerable communities, empowering them to become vital citizens, leaders, and agents of change. YOLA provides each student, from the ages of 6 to 18, with a strong musical and social foundation through participation in 12-15 hours of programming each week. 

  With YOLA sites in South L.A., the Rampart District, Westlake/MacArthur Park, and East L.A., YOLA engages students from more than 200 schools in L.A. County. Music study is complemented by leadership development opportunities, parent workshops, and performances. YOLA's young musicians have performed on great stages all over the world, including the LA Phil's two iconic venues, the Hollywood Bowl and Walt DisneyConcert Hall; in many other locations throughout Southern California; on national and international television broadcasts; and alongside the greatest artists. 
  On August 15, the Los Angeles Philharmonic unveiled the architectural design by Gehry Partners, LLC, for its new Judith and Thomas L. Beckmen YOLA Center @ Inglewood: YOLA's first permanent, purpose-built facility.
  For more information, please visit laphil.com/yola

  Camino Nuevo Charter Academy Camino Nuevo Charter Academy is a community of high-performing charter public schools that utilizes a comprehensive approach to prepare students from preschool through high school for success in college and in life. CNCA students reside in some of the most underserved areas of central Los Angeles, including the communities of MacArthur Park, Koreatown, Pico-Union, and Echo Park. Learn more at caminonuevo.org.

   

   Gustavo Dudamel, Hanna Damasio, and Antonio Damasio

  at the YOLA Camino Nuevo Ceremony.

   

   

   

  

   

  

   

  

   

  

  In recent years, protesters in the United States have clashed violently with police and counter-protesters on numerous

  occasions. Despite widespread media attention, little scientific research has been devoted to understanding this rise

  in the number of violent protests. We propose that this phenomenon can be understood as a function of an individual’s

  moralization of a cause and the degree to which they believe others in their social network moralize that cause. Using data

  from the 2015 Baltimore protests, we show that not only did the degree of moral rhetoric used on social media increase on

  days with violent protests but also that the hourly frequency of morally relevant tweets predicted the future counts of

  arrest during protests, suggesting an association between moralization and protest violence. To better understand the

  structure of this association, we ran a series of controlled behavioural experiments demonstrating that people are more

  likely to endorse a violent protest for a given issue when they moralize the issue; however, this effect is moderated by the

  degree to which people believe others share their values. We discuss how online social networks may contribute to inflations

  of protest violence.

   

  

  

   

   

   

   

  Read more about the conference here. 

   

    

   

  

   

   

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  Lecture by Antonio Damasio 

   

   

   

  

  Antonio Damasio gave the keynote lecture "On the Biological Roots of Culture: Science, Technology, and the Arts. 

   

  
   

   

   

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  Here are the winners of the 2018 Hemingway Prize  The French author Annie Ernaux for Literature, the neuroscientist Antonio Damasio for the Adventure of Thought, the journalist Lilli Gruber in the Witness section of our time and the artist Francesca Della Toffola for Photography are the winners of the Hemingway Award 2018, dedicated in this edition Pierluigi Cappello and promoted by the Municipality of Lignano with the support of the Departments for Culture and Productive Activities of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, through the consolidated collaboration with the Pordenonelegge.it Foundation.

   

   

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  The cast: an opera star, a neuroscientist, and four young artists in residency with the Los Angeles Opera. The plot: a musical approach to serious illnesses, among the “wicked problems” identified by USC Provost Michael Quick as university priorities. The setting: USC’s Bovard Auditorium, hosting “Music as Medicine,” a uniquely focused USC Visions and Voices event Feb. 5 that examined the connections between music and our well-being. “Wellness isn’t just about what doctors do,” Quick said. “It’s about what all of us do. It’s about the arts and humanities: How can we bring them to bear to make people healthier?” The event, co-sponsored by the L.A. Opera and USC’s Brain and Creativity Institute, featured renowned soprano Renée Fleming and Antonio Damasio, a University Professor, holder of the David Dornsife Chair in Neurosciences and professor of psychology, philosophy and neurology at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. Christopher Koelsch, president and CEO of the L.A. Opera, served as moderator. For the full article, click here

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

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  What moved humans to create cultures—intelligent systems including the arts, morality, science, government, and technology? The answer to this question has typically been the human faculty of language, but preeminent neuroscientist, professor, and director of USC’s Brain and Creativity Institute Antonio Damasio argues that feelings―of pain and suffering or of anticipated pleasure―were the prime engines that stirred human intellect in the cultural direction. In his newest book The Strange Order of Things, Damasio traces the need for cultures back to one-cell organisms, long before there were nervous systems and conscious minds. Damasio will be joined by Manuel Castells, one of the world’s leading sociologists, for a fascinating conversation on the origins of life, mind, and culture that spans the biological and social sciences to offer a new way of understanding the world and our place in it. Download the full conversation here.

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

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  Antonio Damasio's Strange Order of Things has been published in the US and UK, after the French and Portuguese versions, which appeared last fall and were extremely well received. 

  Excerpts from recent reviews include: 

                  

     

                           

  For Maria Popova's full review, click here.
  

   

   

   

  

   

   Continue reading here. 

   

  

   

  Read more here.

   

   

  February 2018 • Nature published a review about the new book by Antonio Damasio on the formation of cultures 

                                   

  November 30, 2017 • Madrid: The Future Trends Forum on Longevity

  Antonio Damasio and Aubrey de Grey debated the issue of immortality

   

  

   

   

  November 28, 2017 • Music Training can Change Children's Brain Sturcture and Boost the Decision-Making

  The Brain and Creativity Institute's Music and the Brain Program was featured in the USC Dornsife Connect publication. The article highlights two new studies from the BCI that show that as little as two years of music instruction has tangible benefits. "Music training can change both the structure of the brain’s white matter, which carries signals through the brain, and gray matter, which contains most of the brain’s neurons that are active in processing information. Music instruction also boosts engagement of brain networks that are responsible for decision-making and the ability to focus attention and inhibit impulses." The article can be found here.

  Gustavo Dudamel, conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, leads the Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles. Photo by Craig T. Mathew, Mathew Imaging.

   

  November 24, 2017 • Antonio Damasio Receives the 1st International Freud Prize  

  The “Breukvlakken” Foundation, founded by Rolien van Mechelen and Regina van Gelderen and currently chaired by Professor Jan Swinkels, The Royal Dutch Academy of Science and Arts, the Dutch Psychoanalytic Association, the Dutch Association of Psychoanalytical Psychotherapy and the Psychoanalytic Funds Foundation are pleased to announce that the Freud Medal for the year 2017 has been awarded to Professor Antonio Damasio. Neuroscientific pioneer Antonio Damasio received the Freud Medal 2017 for his original and groundbreaking contributions to researching the neurobiology of the mind, and especially the neural substrate of emotions and the central role that feelings play in consciousness. Dr. Damasio also gave the keynote adress, entitled Reflecting on the Nature of Feeling. The 2017 jury consisted of Professor Don Linszen (chair), Professor Mark Solms, Professor Jan Swinkels, Professor René Kahn (on behalf of the Royal Dutch Academy of Science and Arts) and Dr Rien Van (on behalf of the Dutch Psychoanalytic Institute).

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

  October 20, 2017 • Reading Stories and the Brain

  Psychology Today featured research by Morteza Dehghani and Antonio Damasio of the USC Dornsife College's Brain and Creativity Institute found that reading produces the same brain activity in three different languages. Researchers also found that the experience of reading stories may result in people feeling greater empathy for each other, regardless of a person's origin or language. "Even given these fundamental differences in language, which can be read in a different direction or contain a completely different alphabet altogether, there is something universal about what occurs in the brain at the point when we are processing narratives," said Dehghani. This research was also featured in Daily Mail UK, Medical News Today, The Economic Times, and Big Think.

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   October 5, 2017 • Emotional Experience and Cultural Difference 

  The Atlantic highlighted research by Mary Helen Immordino-Yang of the USC Rossier School that examined how neural activity due to emotional experiences is impacted by cultural differences. The part of the brain that maps visceral states and makes people aware of their feelings displayed differences based on cultural differences.

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   October 3, 2017 • VICELAND - Season 2 Episode 1

  BCI Assistant Research Professor Dr. Jonas Kaplan was featured on Season 2 Episode 1 of VICELAND Cyberwar, entitled "The Great Meme War." Dr. Kaplan discussed his study on belief and what happens in the brain when one in confronted with challenges to strongly held beliefs. You can watch the episode here.

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

  September 22, 2017 • Drs. Antonio and Hanna Damasio speak at the 2017 Alzheimer's Global Research Summit

  Antonio and Hanna Damasio gave a keynote lecture, entitled “Human Memory: The Neurocognitive Perspective” at the Global Summit on Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Neurodegenerative Disorders, in Lisbon, Portugal.

  

   

  August 28, 2017 • Dr. Rael Cahn

  Daily Mail (UK) and The Science Times featured research by Rael Cahn of the Keck School of Medicine of USC on how yoga and meditation can improve an individual's stress resilience, benefits the central nervous system and strengthens immunity. "To our knowledge, our study is the first to examine a broad range of pro- and anti-inflammatory markers in a healthy population before and after a yoga-meditation intervention," said Cahn.

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

  March 24,25, 2017 • Sketches of Miles 

  

  An innovative  concert by Etienne Gara (violin), Ian Wurlf (percussion), Edwin Livingston (bass), and Patrice Rushen (piano), honoring the life and work of Miles Davis. The show brought together the worlds of classical music and jazz,

  and was followed by a discussion, moderated by Dr. Antonio Damasio. This event kicks off a year-long series of events surrounding Miles Davis. 

   

  February 7, 2017 • Languages of Body and Mind: Homeostasis, Feeling, and Creative Intelligence 

  

  Dr. Antonio Damasio gave the keynote address, entitled "Languages of Body and Mind: Homeostasis, Feeling, and Creative Intelligence," at the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. For the video of his talk, click here.

   

  December 24, 2016 • When the Brain Won't Change its Mind 

  New research from BCI members Jonas Kaplan and Sarah Gimbel, along with Sam Harris was published in Scientific Reports. The new work, entitled "Neural correlates of maintaining one's political beliefs in the face of counterevidence," explores the brain activation elicited when people with strongly held beliefs are confronted with challenges to those beliefs. Challenges to political beliefs produced increased activity in the default mode network—a set of interconnected structures associated with self-representation and disengagement from the external world. Trials with greater belief resistance showed increased response in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and decreased activity in the orbitofrontal cortex. Also, participants who changed their minds more showed less BOLD signal in the insula and the amygdala when evaluating counterevidence. These results highlight the role of emotion in belief-change resistance and offer insight into the neural systems involved in belief maintenance, motivated reasoning, and related phenomena. Click here to see the article.  News coverage in CNN, Yahoo News, Vox, Science Daily, and Mashable, and interviews on KPCC and with Dr. Drew For the USC Dornsife Press Release, click here.

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

  November 7, 2016 • How to Build... Everything

  Dr. Justin Haldar was featured on the Discovery Channel show How to Build... Everything: Rocketship Revealed. To watch the episode, click here.

  

    

  October 19, 2016 • Dornsife Faculty Recognition

  Professor Antonio Damasio, Dornsife professor of neuroscience, psychology and philosophy and director of the Brain and Creativity Institute at USC Dornsife, was awarded the 2016 Mind and Brain Prize, in recognition of his fundamental investigations

  of brain processes underlying emotions, decision making and consciousness and for his contributions to the modern discussion of the mind/body problem. Established in 2003 by the Center for Cognitive Science of the University of Turin, the Mind and

  Brain Prize is awarded to scientists whose research has significantly advanced the understanding of the human mind and brain, by a jury of international peers. 

  Click here to see the article.

  

   

  October 6, 2016 • The Mystery of Consciousness

  The Mystery of Consciousness: A Dialogue Between a Neuroscientist and a Philosopher

  Featuring neuroscientist Antonio Damasio and philosopher David Chalmers, and moderated by physicist Marcelo Gleiser, this public dialogue explored what we know and don’t know about human consciousness, and whether science will ever be able to understand what makes you, you.

  

  Click here to watch the conversation. 

   

  August 29, 2016 • Neural Development in Children

  MSNBC and Newsweek featured research by Mary Helen Immordino-Yang of the USC Rossier School on how culture, family, exposure to violence and other factors affect a child's neural development. Immordino-Yang has found that among low-income teens, those who grow up among higher levels of violence have weaker connections in the areas of their brains that control awareness, judgment, and ethical and emotional processing. Familial and other relationship can help teens develop empathy and be resilient.

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

  November 4, 2015 • Being Grateful 

  Publication of results on how the human mind and brain operate during the experience of gratitude has been received with great interest. The work, spearheaded by postdoctoral researcher Glenn Fox at the Brain and Creativity Institute, reveals the individual and social significance of this remarkable emotion. Click here to see the article. News coverage in The Guardian, The Washington Post, Psychology Today, Daily Mail, Medical Daily, BrainDecoder, Psyblog. For the USC Dornsife Press Release, click here.

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

  September 17, 2015 •  Université Paris Descartes (Sorbonne)

   

  Professor Olivier Houdé

   

         

   

         
  
  

  Professors Hanna Damasio and Antonio Damasio received Doctor Honoris Causa degrees from the Université Paris Descartes (Sorbonne).  The formal ceremony took place on September 17.  The degrees were proposed by the Faculty of Psychology. 

  Psychology has one of the grand scientific traditions at the Sorbonne where pioneers like Alfred Binet and Jean Piaget helped create and shape the field. 

   

  September 16, 2015 • Psychology lecture at the Sorbonne 

  

            

  Hanna and Antonio Damasio spoke to the faculty and students of Psychology at the Sorbonne about their careers in cognitive neuroscience.

   

  March 18, 2016 • 27th Annual Meeting of the American Neuropsychiatric Association 

   

  Antonio Damasio presented the keynote address, A Neurobiology for Feelings and Consciousness, at the 27th Annual Meeting of the American Neuropsychiatric Association in San Diego, California.  Pictured with Drs. Antonio and Hanna Damasio is Dr. Jeremy Schmahmann, Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, and President, American Neuropsychiatric Association.

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

  February 22, 2016 • An All Bach Concert in Honor of Ursula Bellugi
  

  

   

   

   

  November 18, 2015 • Violinist Etienne Gara and the Sunset Club Trio

   

   

  
  Etienne Gara, Michael Gratovich, and Inez Thomé, The Sunset Club Trio, performed a program of music for violin and piano arranged for violin and guitars. The capacity audience insisted on an encore: Vivaldi. Composer Adam Borecki

  was also in the program with a piece commissioned by the Sunset Club Trio and written for violin, flamenco guitar, and electric guitar.

  You can hear Etienne Gara in a recent recording of French violin and piano music here.  

   

   

  July 4, 2015 • Life, Brains and the Arts at the Montreux Jazz Festival 

  

  Antonio Damasio led a workshop entitled "Life, Brains and the Arts" at the Montreux Jazz Festival, Montreux, Switzerland.

   

   

  July 2, 2015 • "New Perspectives on Human Nature from Neurobiology: Feelings, Decisions, and Automation" at the Aula Magna of the University of Porto

        

        

  Antonio Damasio presented a lecture titled "New Perspectives on Human Nature from Neurobiology: Feelings, Decisions, and Automation" at the Aula Magna of the University of Porto, followed by a discussion with Professor Castro Caldas and Eng. Paulo de Azevedo, organized by SONAE.

   

   

  Spring, 2015 • One for All (Einer für Alles)

  

  German photographer Martin Liebscher has become justly famous for his photographs of leading world theaters in which he occupies every seat.  The title of the series - One for All (Einer für Alles) -  gives the gist of the work but one would never

  predict the invention with which Liebscher as actor plays every member of the audience and many other people beside.  The beauty of the compositions is striking and the humor and intrigue are irresistible.  Now Liebscher has added the

  Brain and Creativity Institute's Cammilleri Hall to his list of venues. He plays the Hall's Steinway too and he and his many aliases listen to his performance with anything from delight to boredom.  The piece was installed Spring, 2015.

   

   

  April 24, 2015 • NORMAN KRIEGER IN RECITAL                                                                                                                                                  

  Norman Krieger played pieces by Beethoven, Lazarof, Gershwin, and Chopin.  The evening included a conversation with Krieger and Damasio on the reasons behind programming choices.

   

   

  April 9, 2015 • Meeting of the Institute for New Economic Thinking
  

        

  The 2015 meeting of the Institute for New Economic Thnking (INET) in Paris, France featured a session on the role of emotions and feeling in economic thinking. Participants included Antonio Damasio, Tania Singer, and Dennis Snower.  George Soros discussed.  Robert Johnson was the moderator. 

   

   

  April 1, 2015
  

  

  "Creativity: What, Why and How?", a lecture by Antonio Damasio, at the opening of the IPSEN/Harvard Bioscience Grand Opening in Cambridge, MA. 

   

   

  March 27, 2015 • BIG DATA TALK- Olaf Sporns

  Recent years have seen significant advances in mapping structural and functional brain connectivity across several species, including humans. Common features of brain networks encountered in numerous studies are network modules (clusters of densely connected network elements) and hubs (nodes that are highly connected, central or vulnerable). The potentially important roles of modules and hubs are highlighted by the consideration of “communication dynamcis” – the ebb and flow of information within the overall network.  This talk will focus on the structural and functional roles of network modules and hubs in brain networks. I will discuss how hubs are defined and detected in structural and functional network data, and what predictions network models make about their contribution to signaling and communication processes. I will review recent work on how brain hubs are linked into “cores” or “rich clubs” and what this type of network architecture can tell us about integrative brain function.  I will end with a discussion of how a better understanding of brain networks may provide new insights into the network basis of human individuality and variation.

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

  March 25, 2015 • IMAGINARY FEASTS - Film and Symposium

  A showing of the film "Imaginary Feasts" was followed by a symposium with the director, Anne Georget, Dr. Stephen Smith of the Shoah Foundation and Dr. Antonio Damasio of the Brain and Creativity Institute.  For a brief preview of the film, please click here

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

  March 11, 2015 • Conversation and Performance:  Reports from USC Brain and Creativity Institute’s 5-year Longitudinal Study Involving YOLA at HOLA Students

  In 2012, the USC Brain and Creativity Institute, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, and Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA) embarked upon a long-term research collaboration to investigate the emotional, social, and cognitive effects of musical training on childhood brain development. On March 11, LA Phil CEO and President Deborah Borda and Heart of Los Angeles Executive Director Tony Brown will discuss the study’s implications with USC College Brain and Creativity Institute Director Dr. Antonio Damasio, Dr. Assal Habibi, the lead investigator of the project, and Dr. Hanna Damasio, Director of Dornsife Neuroimaging Center. The investigators will offer insights on the study’s findings to date.The audience learned about the fascinating intersection of music, the brain, and the development of youth in underserved communities.

   
  

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

  February 25, 2015 • BIG DATA TALK - Winter Mason                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

  Prior research has shown a direct causal link between expressions of gratitude and multiple measures of well-being (Wood, Froh, & Geraghty, 2010).  In this study, we examined expressions of gratitude on Facebook using two sources.  First, we looked at people who indicate they are being thankful using a feature that tags a post with a feeling, in this case “feeling grateful”, “feeling thankful”, and “feeling blessed.”  Second, we looked at a meme in which friends challenged friends to post a list things they were grateful over a series of 5-7 days.  We find that although there are differences in the things for which people feel thankful, there are many more topics in common.  Additionally, we see that the thankfulness meme reached a large number of people through word of mouth.  Finally, we compare how people’s behavior changed after sharing the things for which they were grateful.

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

  January 31, 2015 • Discussion with Philosopher Martha Nussbaum and Neuroscientist Antonio Damasio
  

  Antonio Damasio held a dialogue on science, the humanities and education with philosopher Martha Nussbaum.  Stefania Gaini, Italian Minister of Education and Research, participated in the event which was moderated by writer Armando Maserenti.

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

  October 27, 2014 • Musics of Memory
  

  Musics of Memory, based on writings about how memory works in the brain by Antonio Damasio.

   

   

  September 27, 2014 • Sophisticated Lady jazz quartet 

  Evening concert featuring Sophisticated Lady jazz quartet, to celebrate the first album recorded at the USC Brain and Creativity Institute’s Cammilleri Hall.  The album, also called “Sophisticated Lady”, is produced by Yarlung Records and will be released in September, 2014.The members of the quartet are Misha Adair, JJ Kirkpatrick, Andrew Boyle and Gary Wicks.Excerpts from the concert, including an improvisation, can be seen here, here, here and here.

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

  June 10, 2014 • "Visualizing Human Brain Anatomy" at the Organization for Human Brain Mapping meeting
  
  

      

  Dr. Hanna Damasio presented a keynote lecture entitled "Visualizing Human Brain Anatomy" at 
  the Organization for Human Brain Mapping meeting in Hamburg, Germany.

   

   

  April 15, 2014 • Grawemeyer Award in Psychology

  On April 15th, 2014, Dr. Antonio Damasio received the 2014  Grawemeyer Award in Psychology. The  award was presented to Damasio in a ceremony at the University of Louisville, KY.

   

   

  April 4, 2014, • A Colloquium with Photographer Jean-Baptiste Huynh, LACMA's Britt Salvesen, and Antoino Damasio in Cammilleri Hall

  Jean-Baptiste Huynh, one of the most brilliant visual artists of his generation, joins LACMA's Britt Salvesen and BCI's Antonio Damasio in a conversation about photography.  The film features images of his work.  April 4, 2014, Los Angeles. To watch the video, please click HERE.

  April 9, 2014 • Pianist Zora Mikhailovich

  Another noon concert by this admired artist.

   

   

  March 25, 2014 • Jazz in the Noon and MR Physics in the Afternoon

  Graham Wiggins, composer and pianist, was joinged by two colleagues (on bass and drums) for a concert at BCI's Cammilleri Hall. Graham Wiggins talked to the BCI group about his work on MR physics, focusing on the role of 7 Tesla in human brain imaging.

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

  November 9, 2013 - Fred Kavli Public Symposium on Creativity at the Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting

   

  November 2013 • Creativity 

            Creativity is one of the defining traits of humanity. It manifests itself in the organization of social systems (e.g. moral, political, and economic), in the arts (from music, painting, and theater to literature and film), and inall manner of inventions (from scientific explanations and technical instruments to complex engineered systems). How does the brain work to produce such extraordinary results? Do these varied endeavors share brain strategies and structures? Join two neuroscientists,a composer (and a piano), a visual artist, and an inventor/scientist/engineer for a discussion on the neuroscience of creativity. Organized and chaired by Antonio Damasio. Participants included Bruce Adolphe, Vik Muniz, Danny Hillis and Kay Jamison. November 19, 2013 • Scott Atran "The Devoted Actor: An Alternative Framework for Existential Conflict and Decision Making"

       

  Professor Scott Atran is tenured as Research Director in Anthropology at France’s National Center for Scientific Research, Institut Jean Nicod-Ecole Normale Supérieure, in Paris. He also holds positions as Presidential Scholar,

  John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York; Adjunct Professor Psychology and Public Policy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor;and Director of Research, ARTIS Research and Risk Modeling. He is currently also a Fellow at: Northwestern University,

  Stanford University, University of Maryland and University of Oxford (Harris Manchester College). He received his B.A. and Ph.D. in anthropology from Columbia University (and an M.A. in social relations from Johns Hopkins). His research interests include 

  the ways scientists and ordinary people categorize and reason about nature, on the cognitive and evolutionary psychology of religion, and on the limits ofrational choice in political and cultural conflict.His publications include Cognitive Foundations of

  Natural History: Towards an Anthropology of Science (Cambridge Univ. Press), In Gods We Trust: The Evolutionary Landscape of Religion (Oxford Univ. Press), The Native Mind and the Cultural Construction of Nature (MIT Press),

  and Talking to the Enemy: Violent Extremism, Sacred Values, and What It Means to Be Human (Penguin)

  November 1,2 and 3, 2013 • Thornton Chamber Opera - "Brigadoon" and "Sunday in the Park with George"

     

  October 30, 2013 - "Jazz in the Afternoon" with Andrew Gordon and Marco Agrisani  

  

  October 16, 2013 - Jean-Guihen Queyras Master Class (with Midori). 

   

  October 9, 2013 • COPENHAGEN by Michael Frayn. A Staged Reading Directed by Jack Row  

  

   

  A USC Visions and Voices presentation.  In a 1941 encounter in Copenhagen, physicists Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg exchanged heated words and profound ideas relating to the moral questions of scientists working on nuclear weapons.

  MichaelFrayn’s Tony Award–winning play Copenhagen is a fictional account of that exchange. Ben Brantley of the New York Times called Copenhagen “endlessly fascinating...the most invigorating and ingenious play of ideas in many a year and

  a work of art that humanizes physics in a way no other has done.”  The production will be directed by Jack Rowe, director of the BFA program in acting and associate dean of the USC School of Dramatic Art

   

   

   

  August 26, 2013 • Yo-Yo Ma Visits the BCI

  

  An intimate group inside the Brain and Creativity Institute’s Joyce J. Cammilleri Hall are privy to a tête-à-tête between world renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and University Professor and neuroscientist Antonio Damasio on August 26, 2013.

  /news/stories/1482/edge-effect/

  July 22,2013 • Performance by the Students of YOLA at HOLA and CONVERSATION About a Longtudinal Study on the Influence of Music on Brain Development

   

  July 20 and 21, 2013 • Master Classes on Classica Persian Instruments Setar and Tar with Hossein Alizadeh

  July 19, 2013 • An Evening of Persian Music with Hossein Alizadeh and Pehman Hadadi 

     
  
  
  
  June 19, 2013 • Cloud Tectonics by Jose Rivera - A Staged Reading Directed by Jonathan Munoz-Proulx 
  

  

   

  June 8, 2013 - TV Globo News (Brazil) aired an interview with Antonio Damasio on June 8, 2013, taped during the World Congress on Brain, Behavior and Emotion in São Paulo, Brazil.  Antonio and Hanna Damasio gave the inaugural lectures at the Congress.  USC’s Antoine Bechara also lectured at the Congress.

  http://g1.globo.com/globo-news/ciencia-e-tecnologia/videos/t/todos-os-videos/v/neurocientista-antonio-damasio-desvenda-misterios-do-cerebro-humano/2680567

   

   

  April 24, 2013 • A Noon Screening of "The Mayor" by BCI Alum Jared Scheib 

    

   

   

  April 23, 2013 • A Noon Concert with Pianist Zora Mihailovich

   

   

   

  April 19, 2013 • Free Classical Improvisations by the Analogue Ensemble

   

   

   

   

  March 27, 2013 • 

     

  Double celebration: the first evening event at the Joyce J. Cammilleri Hall which was also the 30th anniversary of virtuoso violinist Midori’s  debut.  A video of her performance may be viewed here.

   

   

  February 4, 2013 • Doctorate Honoris Causa from the University of Leuven

  

  Antonio Damasio received a Doctorate Honoris Causa from the University of Leuven, in Belgium, on February 4, 2013.

   

  January 9, 2013 • ESCOLA SECUNDARIA ANTONIO DAMASIO

  

  The ESCOLA SECUNDARIA ANTONIO DAMASIO in Lisbon, Portugal, was dedicated in the presence of  Antonio Damasio, the Portuguese Minister of Education and Science(Nuno Crato), and the Mayor of Lisbon (António Costa).  This modern school’s curriculum emphasizes the sciences and the arts.  The Damasio School’s Director is António Rodrigo Pinto da Cruz.

   

  November 6, 2012 • BCI Building Opens

  

   New BCI Building opens.

   

  November 2, 2012 •  Dr. Hanna Damasio receives Doctorate Honoris Causa from the University of Catalonia

  

  The Open University of Catalonia presented USC Dornsife’s Hanna Damasio with a Doctorate Honoris Causa degree for her brain imaging research.

   

  October 9, 2012 - The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association (LA Phil), the Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA) and the Brain and Creativity Institute announced a research collaboration to investigate the emotional, social and cognitive effects of musical training on childhood brain development.

   

   

  March 1, 2011 - Antonio Damasio spoke at the TED conference on  
  

   

  

   

  January 12, 2011 - Antonio and Hanna Damasio have been appointed USC University Professors

   

  Self Comes to Mind in Science Humaines - February 16, 2011

  

   

  Self Comes to Mind selected as Book of the Week by The Guardian - February 12, 2011

  

   

  Financial Times review of Self Comes to Mind - January 14, 2011

  Antonio Damasio's Self Comes to Mind has been selected by the Financial Times as one of the best books of the year - November 27, 2010

  

   

  Hanna Damasio and Antonio Damasio awarded

  Doctor Honoris Causa, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (Swiss Institute of Technology), 2011

  

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

  February 7, 2012 - Los Angeles Review of Books "The Symphony of Self" 

  

   

  Corine International Book Prize (for Self Comes to Mind), Germany, 2011

   

  Dallas Morning News Review of Self Comes to Mind -November 14, 2010

  

   

   

   

   

  November 8, 2010 - Wired.com - Interview with Jonah Lehrer

  

   

   

  September 21, 2010 - Antonio Damasio Wins International Honda Prize, Announced 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

   

   

   

   

   

  

   

  Fall, 2010 - Antonio Damasio's new book, Self Comes to Mind, was published by Pantheon.

   

   

   

   

   

  The Institute's New Building Has Been Completely Funded - The new building of USC's Brain and Creativity Institute has now been completed.

  The lead gift for the building is from Dana and David Dornsife. Other important gifts are from Joyce Cammilleri and Warren Cross.

   

  The architectual firm of Perkins + Will has finalized the project based on conceptual plans previously prepared by Michael Maltzan Architecture:

  New York Times article on Michael Maltzan 

  USC News: David and Dana Dornsife

  USC News: Joyce J. Cammilleri 

   

  November 5 & 6, 2012-  Pepe Romero Master Class co-sponsored by the USC Thornton School of Music and the Brain and Creativity Institute 

   

  September 14, 2010

  Brain and Creativity Institute Lab Meeting with Jaron Lanier, author of You Are Not a Gadget

   

   

   

   

   

   

  May 30, 2010

  REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater) and the Brain and Creativity Institute presented "Myth, Wagner and the Human Brain", a colloquium featuring theater and opera director Peter Sellars, visual artist Bill Viola, and Antonio Damasio as part of the city-wide Ring Festival LA, which involved collaborations with a number of Los Angeles institutions in conjunction with LA Opera's performance of Richard Wagner's four-part Der Ring des Nibelungen.

  www.redcat.org

   May 26, 2010Charley Rose Brain Series Episode Eight 

   

   

  April 25, 2010

  BCI Article Receives Prize from the National Academy of Sciences

  Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, Andrea McColl, Hanna Damasio, and Antonio Damasio have been been named recipients of the 2009 Cozzarelli Prize, given annually to one paper from each of the six categories published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, for their paper "Neural correlates of admiration and compassion".

  The awardees were recognized during the National Academy of Sciences Annual Meeting in National Harbor, Maryland.

   

   

  March 8, 2010

  The Brain and Creativity Insitute presented a lecture by Dr. Jean-Pierre Changeux, entitled "Neuronal Architectures for Conscious Processing and the Global Neuronal Workspace Model".

   

   

   

   

   

  February 8, 2010

  Antonio Damasio received an Honorary Doctorate (honoris causa) from Leiden University, the Netherlands' oldest university (founded in 1575). Also receiving honorary degrees were novelist and essayist Dame Antonia S. Byatt (A.S. Byatt) and astrophysicist Prof. Reinhard Genzel (Max Planck Institute and UC Berkeley). See pictures from the ceremony here.

   

   

   

  January 22, 2010

  The USC School of Cinematic Arts presented "The Brain and Creativity", a conversation with Dr. Antonio Damasio and
  7-time Academy Award-winner (and USC Cinema alumnus) Gary Rydstrom, as part of the 2010 Sloan Science Seminar.

   

   

   

  January 2010

  In the January issue of Sciences Humaines, Antonio Damasio's Descartes' Error is named as one of the 20 books published between 1989 and 2009 that have changed our vision of the world.

   

   

   

   

   

  July 2009

  Antonio Damasio was interviewed by David Brooks at the Aspen Institute's Aspen Ideas Festival.

  See the full interview here

   

   

   

   

  Sunday, May 4, 2009

  Yo-Yo Ma performs composer Bruce Adolphe's "Self Comes to Mind", a 30-minute work for cello and two percussionists, based on texts by Antonio Damasio. Accompanied by video imagery by Ioana Uricaru and Diego Miralles, based on images from Hannah Damasio, the piece premiered at the American Museum of Natural History.

  Reviewed by the New York Times

  Advertised in The New Yorker

  Discussed on NPR's All Things Considered

   

   

   

  

  Friday, March 6, 2009

  Of Mind, Medicine, and Music. Visions and Voices event. Antonio Damasio and composer Bruce Adolphe present their neuroscience-inspired musical work Memories of a Possible Future. USC, Health Sciences Campus, Mayer Auditorim.

  Bruce Adolphe's Learning Maestros

   

  

   

  Monday, November 24, 2008

  Challenges in Neuroimaging Workshop, with Dr. Marcus Raichle, Arthur Toga, and Van Wedeen.

   

   

   

   

  

   

   

  Wednesday, November 5, 2008

  The Musical Mind

  The Tokyo String Quartet and Drs. Antonio and Hanna Damasio discuss the neurological aspects of music making, particularly memory and the unique qualities of a "creative Brain." This event was sponsored by USC's Visions and Voices.

   

   

   

  

   

  Thursday, October 2, 2008

  Professor Olaf Sporns gives a talk entitled "Mapping and Network Analysis of the Human Cerebral Cortex".

   

   

   

   

  

   

  Tuesday, May 6, 2008

  Philosophy Professor Patricia Churchland gives a lecture entitled "How Do Brains Navigate Teir Social/Moral Worlds?"

   

   

   

   

  

   

  Wednesday, February 13, 2008

  Nobel Laureate Eric Kandel gives a talk entitled: "Mechanisms for the Initiation and Persistence of Long Term Memory Storage".

  Other BCI Visitors

   

   

   

  Tuesday, April 3, 2007

  Renowned Neuroscientist Giacomo Rizzolatti from Parma spoke on "Mirror Neurons"

   

   

   

   

  Monday, March 12, 2007

  Acclaimed Pianist Alfred Brendel read his Poetry and engaged in a conversation on creativity with Antonio Damasio.

  See article about Brendel Event in the USC Chronicle: "Pianist with a Penchant for Poetry" (March 23, 2007)

   

   

   

   

  Friday, March 2, 2007

  Nobel Laureate David Hubel (Enders Professor of Neurobiology, Harvard University) discussed his pioneering work on brain and vision. The title of the lecture was:

  "The crystalline organization of the visual cortex

   

   

   

  Thursday, March 1, 2007

  Star pianist Piotr Anderszewski talked with Antonio Damasio about brain and music and played out his ideas at 4:00 PM at Alfred Newman Hall, University Park Campus, USC.

  Co-sponsored with the Thornton School of Music

   

   

   

  Thursday, October 26, 2006

  The Brain and Creativity Institute hosted a conversation between John Burnham Schwartz and Antonio Damasio.

  Acclaimed novelist John Burnham Schwartz read from his novel "Reservation Road" and discussed his writing of the screenplay with neuroscientist Antonio Damasio.

   

   

   

   

  Tuesday, June, 22, 2006,

   

  The Brain and Creativity Institute hosted a screening of "House of Sand", directed by Andrucha Waddington.

   

   

   

   

  De Groene Amsterdammer (January 1, 2012)

   

  Big Think: Consciousness is How We Know We Exist. (September 1, 2010)

   

  National Public Radio:Our Storied Lives: The Quest for 'Something More' (August 31, 2010)

   

  Guardian.co.uk Science Blog: "Can I hear the sound of silence? (2010)

   

  Discover presents The Brain: "Speed Freaks" Dr. Antonio Damasio ( 2009)

   

  The Washington Diplomat: "Arts Smart" Dr. Mary Helen Immordino-Yang is profiled discussing "the Mozart effect".(2008)

   

  The National: "Mirror, mirror in the brain" (2008)

   

  Boston Globe: "The Next Decider" (2008)

   

  Newsweek: "Heard Any Good Stories Lately?" (2008 page 2)

   

  International Herald Tribune: "Portugal among world's scientific elite?" (2008)

   

  Wired Science: "What Does it Mean to be Human", World Science Festival (2008)

   

  New York Times: "The Neural Buddhists", Op Ed by David Brooks (2008)

   

  Times Higher Education: "More Than a Feeling" (2008)

   

  Sunday Independent (South Africa): "In Search of Spinoza and Adebayor: Jeremy Gordin recalls a family pilgrimage that rekindled his faith in philosophy, football and the study of Hebrew" (2008)

   

  New York Times: "Counseling Democrats to Go for the Gut" (2007)

   

  Boston Globe: "Hearts and Minds" (April 29, 2007)

   

  USC Chronicle:"Moral Judgment Fails Without Feelings"(2007)

   

  Publico (Portugal): (2007)

   

  New Scientist: "Impaired Emotional Processing Affects Moral Judgement" (2007)

   

  London Telegraph: "Feelings Guide You Round the Moral Maze" (2007)

   

  LA Times: "Empathy is hard-wired into the mind, study finds" (2007)

   

  NY Times: "Brain Injury Said to Affect Moral Choice" (2007)

   

  Reuters: "Brain Damaged People Give Insights into Morality" (2007)

   

  ScienceNow: "How the Heart Can Rule the Head" (2007)

   

  Open Source Interview with Antonio Damasio on Spinoza (2007)

   

  USC Chronicle: Brain injury and smoking (2007)

   

  TIME Magazine: (MIND AND BODY SPECIAL ISSUE: 2007)

   

  International Herald Tribune: "Brain injury can break smoking habit, study says" (2007)

   

  NY Times: "In Clue to Addiction, Brain Injury Halts Smoking" (2007) 

   

  Goose Bumps: The Science of Fear was at the California Science Center. The work of the Damasio lab was featured prominently in this

  popular exhibition which travelled to the Museum of Science, Boston, MA; Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, Portland, OR; Science

  Museum of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN; COSI, Columbus, OH; Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, fort Worth, TX; and Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, PA.

    

   

  Movies on the Mind: Psychology and Film Since Sigmund Freud was at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sci