Anjan Chatterjee (born October 22, 1958) is a professor of

neurology Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal ...

at the

Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania The Perelman School of Medicine, commonly known as Penn Med, is the medical school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1765, the Perelman School of Medicine is the oldest me ...

. He is director of the Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics (PCfN) and a member of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience. His research focuses on

spatial cognition Spatial cognition is the acquisition, organization, utilization, and revision of knowledge about spatial environments. It is most about how animals including humans behave within space and the knowledge they built around it, rather than space itsel ...

and its relationship to language. He also conducts neuroaesthetics research and writes about the ethical use of neuroscience findings in society. He is the past president of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics and the past chair of the Society for Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology.

Background

Chatterjee obtained his BA in philosophy from Haverford College in 1980 and his MD from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universit ...

in 1985. After his internship at the Medical College of Pennsylvania, he trained in neurology at The

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

. He then completed two research fellowships, one at

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established in 1967, when Western Reserve University, founded in 1826 and named for its location in the Connecticut Western Res ...

with Peter Whitehouse] and a second at The

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

with

Kenneth Heilman Kenneth M. Heilman (born 1938) is an American behavioral neurologist He is considered one of the fathers of modern-day behavioral neurology. Early life and career Heilman was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He attended college at the Univ ...

. He was a member of the neurology faculty at The

University of Alabama at Birmingham The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is a public research university in Birmingham, Alabama. Developed from an academic extension center established in 1936, the institution became a four-year campus in 1966 and a fully autonomous univ ...

before returning to the

. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology and a founding board member of the International Neuroethics Society. He is also a board member for Haverford College, the Associated Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired], and Universal Promise (a non-profit educational organization). He is on the editorial boards of: ''The Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience'', ''Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology'', ''Behavioural Neurology'', ''European Neurology'', ''Neuropsychology'', ''Empirical Studies of the Arts'', and the ''American Journal of Bioethics: Neuroscience''.

Research interests

Spatial cognition, event representation and language

Chatterjee combines functional neuroimaging and studies with patients with neurological disease to probe cognitive systems. He has investigated the neural representations of actions, spatial, and causal relations. He is also interested in the relationship of perception and conception and language. Based on his research, he has been skeptical of strong views of embodied cognition.

Neuroaesthetics

Chatterjee has examined the paradoxical facilitation of artistic production. Some individuals' art changes and even improves after brain damage and tries to understand what such phenomena tell us about the nature of artistic practices. More generally, he has been instrumental in articulating the promise and limitations of neuroaesthetics.

Neuroethics

In 2004, Chatterjee coined the term “cosmetic neurology” to describe how advances in clinical neurosciences might be used to enhance the abilities of healthy people and the ethical issues that follow from this practice. He has argued that some form of enhancement is here to stay and that we should be mindful of the shape that these practices take. He has also written about the problems that arise when commercial and health care interests collide.

Selected publications

* A. Chatterjee & M. J. Farah (eds.). (2013). ''Neuroethics in Practice''. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

References

External links

Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics (PCfN) at University of Pennsylvania

ChatLab research group at University of Pennsylvania

Center for Neuroscience & Society at University of Pennsylvania

Spatial Intelligence and Learning Center

Amazon.com link to the book: ''Neuroethics in Practice''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chatterjee, Anjan Living people 1958 births American neuroscientists University of Pennsylvania faculty Haverford College alumni Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania alumni Indian emigrants to the United States Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania faculty