Is the dress black and blue or white and gold? Depending on the individual, they’re both true. The brain's job is to decide whether what comes in through the senses is useful and combine that with its ongoing activity; the outcome is the world you experience moment by moment and it is unique to you. Understanding how the brain relies on the natural environment for stimuli might suggest that our expectations may be leading us to the wrong conclusions. Simon Cropper will recontextualise the brain as part of the natural environment and examine the assumptions and expectations we have about how the brain works.

BIO

Many years ago in a country far far away I wanted to be a vet. This desire coincided with my late teens, which conspired to compromise the likelihood of that happening. I ended up graduating with a degree in Physiology and a choice: get a job or do a PhD and think some more. I chose the latter, studied the human visual system and have never looked back. Rather than freezing in a Yorkshire cowshed, now I get to ask students to watch a Melbourne sunset and call it work.

8:00 PM @Pilgrim Bar, Vaults 15-19 Federation Wharf Federation Square, Melbourne 3000

Entrance over 18  |  The venue is wheelchair accessible.