Time: Thursday May 5 at 13.15-14.45 
Auditorium: Samfundsmedicinsk

Understanding creativity in the brain has the unique potential to finally reveal the secret of what makes us human. The path to understanding creativity passes through the latest technical advances in neuroimaging, as well as requiring an open and constant interaction with psychologists, who provide the right definitions and models, and artists, who allows us to update those definitions to encompass all the recognised forms and frontiers of creative work. The session ‘The creative brain’ will provide a snapshot of the complex interaction between neuroscientists, artists, and psychologists in the attempt to unlock the secret of who we truly are as humans.

Chair: 

Elvira Brattico, Professor, Aarhus University  

Speakers:

Andreas Roepstorff, Professor, Aarhus University
How Does Art Talk to Our Brain

Lene Tanggard Pedersen, Professor, Aalborg University
The Creative Brain and Why Creativity is Distributed in the Wider Ecology of the Mind

Bo Stjerne Thomsen, Chair of Learning Through Play, LEGO Foundation
Creative Play and the Brain


Flash talks by:

Gith Noes-Holt, PhD student, Department of Neuroscience, University of Copenhagen

Valentina Khalil, PhD Student, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University

Time: Thursday May 5 at 15.20-16.50
Auditorium: Samfundsmedicinsk

Throughout human evolution, pleasure has served to sustain life, promoting our survival by encouraging us to prioritise food and sex. Over the last twenty years, researchers have worked to elucidate the underlying pleasure network. It has has become clear that the lack of pleasure, or anhedonia, is one of the most important symptoms of many mental illnesses, including depression. The session ‘Pleasure and the lack of pleasure’ will present these exciting findings, from animal models to human neuroimaging and whole-brain models.

Chair: 

Arne Møller, Clinical Associate Professor, Aarhus University  

Speakers:

Morten Kringelbach, Professor, Aarhus University
Flourishing and Suffering: The Hedonic System in the Brain  

Peter Vuust, Professor, Aarhus University
Music in the Brain - the Predictive Brain  

Anne Marie Pahuus, Vice-dean, Faculty of Arts, Aarhus University
With a Little Help From My Brain? Love and Infatuation


Flash talks by:

Tine Gehrt, Postdoc, Department of Psychology and Behavioural Sciences, Aarhus University

Mads Eskesen Christensen, PhD student, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University

Time: Friday May 6 at 10.30-12.00
Auditorium: Merethe Barker

The brain is the foundation of how we feel. Certain chemical compounds are critically involved in generating or modulating emotions; these are termed neurotransmitters, and they serve to enable communication between the brain cells. In this session, we will see how different neurotransmitter systems are involved in a wide range of psychophysiological functions. A majority of the drugs used for treating brain disorders also interact with these neurotransmitter systems. The methods for examining the effects of brain signaling in humans will be discussed, and examples of how drugs can modulate these effects will be presented. 

Chair: 

Gregers Wegener, Professor, Aarhus University  

Speakers:

Gitte Moos Knudsen, Professor, University of Copenhagen
Serotonin as a Neuromodulator of Psychological Functions  

Gregers Wegener, Professor, Aarhus University
Psyhopharmacology  

Martin Korsbak Madsen, MD, PhD, Copenhagen University Hospital
Psychedelics and the Brain


Flash talks by:

Morten Riemenschneider, Postdoc, Department of Public Health, Aarhus University

Mikael Palner, Associate Professor, Department of Clinical Resarch, University of Southern Denmark

Time: Friday May 6 at 13.15-14.45
Auditorium: Merethe Barker

Emotions such as anxiety, fear and passion are fundamental drivers of our behavior and are regulated by parts of the limbic system in the brain, which means they can be traced back to more primitive animals than humans. In this session you will hear about how studying sexual behavior in fruit flies can teach us about emotions and brain connections. This session will take you up the evolutionary scale to reptiles and finally humans, where emotions also play a role in making decisions. 

Chair: 

Daniel Otzen, Professor, Aarhus University  

Speakers:

Anne von Philipsborn, Professor, University of Fribourg
How Does the Nervous System Shape Communication During Sexual Behavior?

Tobias Wang, Professor, Aarhus University
Reptiles and Their Brains

Dan Mønster, Associate Professor, Aarhus University
Emotions and Decision Making in Humans


Flash talks by:

Catherine Williams, Postdoc, Department of Biology, Aarhus University

Monica Dahlstrup Sietam, PhD student, Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University