Glaser, Dr. Daniel

Art and Mind, Café Culture, Matter into Imagination

http://danielglaser.blogspot.com/

Daniel Glaser is a brain scientist studying how experience changes the way we see the world.

Daniel Glaser is an imaging neuroscientist and Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London. He uses fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) to examine human brain function. This involves putting people into a powerful magnet to see which bits of the brain are active when they perform various tasks. He is particularly interested in top-down influences on low-level visual processing. This is how experience, prejudice and expectation alter the way we see the world. He's involved in a collaborative project with dance experts examining the connection between seeing and doing. How does being an expert in ballet change how you see ballet? He comes from an unusual academic background having studied maths and then English literature at Cambridge, doing a masters in cognitive science at Sussex University, and graduate work in neurobiology.

In 2002 he was appointed 'Scientist in Residence' at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London. This was the first appointment of its kind at an arts institution. During his residency he collaborated with the ICA curators to put on talks, panel discussions, dance workshops and psychological experiments. He has made numerous appearances on national and local radio and has featured in articles in daily newspapers and on the Internet. He chairs the ICA's Cafe Scientifique which is the London branch of a national series providing a new way for scientists to interact with a general public. He has developed a new version of this format with the British Council using a video conference link. He's interested in public engagement with science and finding novel ways for scientists to collaborate with non-scientists, particularly arts practitioners. He has been an invited speaker at conferences in Japan, New Zealand and Europe.