Event

Sorting Brains Out: Tasks, Tests, and Trials in the Neuro- and Mind Sciences, 1890-2015

Since the late nineteenth century, scientists have devised an ever-increasing number of tasks, tests, and trials in order to explore the relationships between the brain, the mind, individual personalities, and social behaviors. Standardized assessments, physiological experiments, and imaging technologies have formed a core aspect of brain and mind research. This conference is a forum to compare, contrast, and continue the histories of tasks, tests, and trials in those sciences over the past 125 years. We will discuss the social, philosophical, political, and ethical commitments that have been reflected, reinforced, denounced, or discarded by the psy- and neuro-fields, and we will explore to what extent, if at all, contemporary conceptions of mind and brain prolong and elaborate much older ideas.

For more details about the conference schedule and speakers see: https://hss.sas.upenn.edu/events/sorting-brains-out