The Land Mondrian Experiment

Welcome

The Laboratory of Neurobiology is devoted to the study of the visual brain, its organization and its functioning in health and in disease.

We use a variety of techniques: anatomical to study the structure and connections of the visual brain; electro-physiological and electro-encephalographic to study the way in which cells constituting the visual brain respond to visual stimuli; psychophysical to study the perceptual capacities and limitations of the visual brain; imaging to determine the location and functioning of the many parallel and specialized sub-systems in the visual brain; and inactivation techniques to learn about what happens when a given area of the visual brain is temporarily and reversibly inactivated. We also study patients whose visual brain is damaged in order to characterize better how the visual brain functions.

More recently, we have used the information gained from the study of the brain over the past forty years to study the relationship of visual art to the functioning of the visual brain, the field which we refer to as neuroesthetics.

The Laboratory of Neurobiology is supported by the Wellcome Trust, London.

Announcing a series of upcoming events by the Institute of Neuroesthetics

Click here for details

Latest news

  • New vacancy: A postdoctoral position in the Laboratory of Neurobiology has become available. The deadline for applications is November 30th 2009. Further information is available on the vacancies page.
  • 25 November 2009: Semir Zeki will take part in a dialogue with the artist Anton Burdakov on the Forms of Space. Hosted by the Association of Neuroesthetics. Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Luisenstr. 56, 2nd Floor, Festsaal, 10117, Berlin.
  • 26 November 2009: Semir Zeki, neurobiologist and Professor of Neuroesthetics at University College London, discusses his work with Martin Ingvar, Head of the Osher Centre for Integrative Medicine and of the Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, and with internationally renowned novelist Dame Antonia Byatt, whose latest work, The Children‘s Book, is on the shortlist for the 2009 ManBooker Prize. This discussion takes place in The Residence of the Ambassador of Sweden, 27 Portland Place, London W1 1QA (entrance in New Cavendish Street). 7pm.
  • 5 December 2009: Semir Zeki will give the closing lecture, entitled "La neurobiologie de l'amour et de la haine", at the December 2009 meeting of the French Congress of Psychiatry, in Nice Acropolis. 11:30-12:30 at the Amphitheatre Athena. The lecture will be delivered in French.
  • 11 December 2009: Semir Zeki will give a talk entitled 'The elusive search for the unified consciousness'. A discussion will follow, coordinated by Stella Vosniadou with discussants Irini Skallora, Philip Kargopoulos and Konstantinos Moutoussis. The event will take place at 18:00 in the New Amphitheatre, Central Building, Panepistimiou 30, Athens. Sponsored by the University of Athens, the Greek Society for Neuroscience and Gutenburg Publications.
  • 16 January 2010: The annual meeting in neuroesthetics will be held at the Berkeley Art Museum, California, on the topic of Time and Timing. Details to be announced soon.
  • 4 February 2010: Improvisation, Creativity and Music: Gilad Atzmon, jazz musician, in dialogue with Jessica Grahn and Stefan Koelsch. Visit the Institute of Neuroesthetics website for more details.
  • 18-22 May 2010: Semir Zeki will give a talk entitled A neurobiological examination of the art of Francis Bacon at the Cognitive VII meeting in Istanbul, Turkey.
  • Now available: 'Maravillas y miserias del cerebro humano' by Semir Zeki (published by Wiley-Blackwell). See the cover.
  • Now available: 'Splendours and Miseries of the Brain: Love, Creativity and the Quest for Human Happiness' by Semir Zeki (published by Blackwell). Soon to be published in Greek, Italian, Polish and German. See the cover.