BIOLOGY OF FREEDOM

November 12, Monday, 7:30 PM at
The Philoctetes Center for the Multidisciplinary Study of Imagination
247 East 82nd Street
New York, NY

Participants: Christina Alberini, François Ansermet, Pierre Magistretti, Donald Pfaff, Daniel Schecter, Edward Nersessian (moderator)

The discovery of plasticity in neural networks and neurophysiological mechanisms responsible for the alteration of brain structure provide the scientific evidence for what is, in some ways, already obvious – namely, the effect of the environment on brain activity and micro-anatomy. Without such alterations and modifications, learning and memory – that is to say the impact of lived experience – would not be possible. A consequence of this discovery has been to open the door to a dialogue between mind-science and brain-science. While the languages of the two disciplines (psychology and neurology, in broad terms) are still very different, the hope is that dialogue will lead to the discovery of areas where the building of preliminary bridges can be contemplated. The roundtable will address this subject, with representatives of the brain (neuroscientists) engaging in a conversation with representatives of the mind (psychoanalysts).

Christina Alberini is Associate Professor of Neuroscience, Psychiatry, and Structural and Chemical Biology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Her current research is in learning and memory.

François Ansermet is a psychoanalyst and Professor and Head of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the School of Medicine at the University of Geneva. He is a member of the World Association of Psychoanalysis (WAP).

Edward Nersessian (moderator) is Co-Director of the Philoctetes Center. He is a psychoanalyst and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Weill-Cornell Medical College.

Donald Pfaff is Professor and Head of the Laboratory of Neurobiology and Behavior at Rockefeller University, a Fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the Advisory Board of the National Academy of Sciences.

Daniel Schechter is Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry in Pediatrics at Columbia University Medical Center and serves on the faculty of the Parent-Infant Program of the Columbia Psychoanalytic Center.