Chatterjee, Anjan
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Publication Cosmetic Neurology and Cosmetic Surgery: Parallels, Predictions, and Challenges(2007-01-01) Chatterjee, AnjanAs our knowledge of the functional and pharmacological architecture of the nervous system increases, we are getting better at treating cognitive and affective disorders. Along with the ability to modify cognitive and affective systems in disease, we are also learning how to modify these systems in health. “Cosmetic neurology,” the practice of intervening to improve cognition and affect in healthy individuals, raises several ethical concerns.1 However, its advent seems inevitable.2 In this paper I examine this claim of inevitability by reviewing the evolution of another medical practice, cosmetic surgery. Cosmetic surgery also enhances healthy people and, despite many critics, it is practiced widely. Can we expect the same of cosmetic neurology? The claim of inevitability poses a challenge for both physicians and bioethicists. How will physicians reconsider their professional role? Will bioethicists influence the shape of cosmetic neurology? But first, how did cosmetic surgery become common?Publication Buildings, Beauty, and the Brain: A Neuroscience of Architectural Experience(2017-09-01) Coburn, Alex; Vartanian, Oshin; Chatterjee, AnjanA burgeoning interest in the intersection of neuroscience and architecture promises to offer biologically inspired insights into the design of spaces. The goal of such interdisciplinary approaches to architecture is to motivate construction of environments that would contribute to peoples' flourishing in behavior, health, and well-being. We suggest that this nascent field of neuroarchitecture is at a pivotal point in which neuroscience and architecture are poised to extend to a neuroscience of architecture. In such a research program, architectural experiences themselves are the target of neuroscientific inquiry. Here, we draw lessons from recent developments in neuroaesthetics to suggest how neuroarchitecture might mature into an experimental science. We review the extant literature and offer an initial framework from which to contextualize such research. Finally, we outline theoretical and technical challenges that lie ahead.Publication Neural Substrates of Action Event Knowledge(2002-07-01) Kable, Joseph W; Chatterjee, Anjan; Lease-Spellmeyer, JessicaHuman concepts can be roughly divided into entities (prototypically referred to in language by nouns) and events (prototypically referred to in language by verbs). While much work in cognitive neuroscience has investigated how the brain represents different categories of entities, less attention has been given to the more basic distinction between entities and events. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine brain activity while subjects performed a conceptual matching task that required them to access knowledge of objects and actions, using either pictures or words. Since action events involve movement through space, we hypothesized that accessing knowledge of actions would cause greater activation in brain regions involved in motion or spatial processing. In comparison to objects, accessing knowledge of actions through pictures was accompanied by increased activity bilaterally in the human MT/MST and nearby regions of the lateral temporal cortex. Accessing knowledge of actions through words activated areas just anterior and dorsal to area MT/MST on the left, within the posterior aspect of the middle and superior temporal gyri. We propose that the lateral occipital temporal cortex contains a mosaic of neural regions that processes different kinds of motion, ranging from the perception of objects moving in the world to the conception of movement implied in action verbs. The lateral occipital temporal cortex mediates the perceptual and conceptual features of action events, similar to the way that the ventral occipital temporal cortex processes the perceptual and conceptual features of entities.Publication Is it acceptable for people to take methylphenidate to enhance performance? No(2009-06-18) Chatterjee, AnjanA drug that can improve your exam results may sound tempting, and John Harris believes that we should embrace its possibilities. Anjan Chatterjee, however, argues that the dangers have been underplayedPublication Common and Unique Representations in pFC for Place Attractiveness(2015-05-01) Kable, Joseph W; Pegors, Teresa K; Chatterjee, Anjan; Epstein, Russell AAlthough previous neuroimaging research has identified overlapping correlates of subjective value across different reward types in the ventromedial pFC (vmPFC), it is not clear whether this “common currency” evaluative signal extends to the aesthetic domain. To examine this issue, we scanned human participants with fMRI while they made attractiveness judgments of faces and places—two stimulus categories that are associated with different underlying rewards, have very different visual properties, and are rarely compared with each other. We found overlapping signals for face and place attractiveness in the vmPFC, consistent with the idea that this region codes a signal for value that applies across disparate reward types and across both economic and aesthetic judgments. However, we also identified a subregion of vmPFC within which activity patterns for face and place attractiveness were distinguishable, suggesting that some category-specific attractiveness information is retained in this region. Finally, we observed two separate functional regions in lateral OFC: one region that exhibited a category-unique response to face attractiveness and another region that responded strongly to faces but was insensitive to their value. Our results suggest that vmPFC supports a common mechanism for reward evaluation while also retaining a degree of category-specific information, whereas lateral OFC may be involved in basic reward processing that is specific to only some stimulus categories.Publication Cosmetic Neurology: For Physicians the Future is Now(2004-08-01) Chatterjee, AnjanPublication Framing Pains, Pills, and Professors(2008-01-01) Chatterjee, AnjanExcerpt: "We are accustomed to anabolic athletes, medicated musicians and souped-up students. Now it appears that we can add pill-popping professors to this list (Sahakian and Morein-Zamir 2007). “Cosmetic neurology” is the term I used to describe the practice of using neurologic interventions to improve movement, mood, and mentation in healthy individuals. The specific kinds of enhancements that might be possible and the ethical concerns (safety, distributive justice, coercion, and the erosion of character) they raise are detailed elsewhere (Chatterjee 2004, 2006). Despite ethical concerns, I have argued that the practice of cosmetic neurology is likely to become widespread (Chatterjee 2007). This point is predictive, not prescriptive. It means, though, that it is likely less useful to discuss whether this practice should occur than to consider what form this practice should take. Sorting this out will prove to be quite difficult itself, because translating principle into practice runs up against the problem of conflicting reference frames that can alter one’s view of the practice. These multiple reference frames determine what it means to be a good person or to construct a good society. I hope to illustrate the problem of conflicting reference frames by examining a special case, before returning to the issue that triggered this commentary— that of pill-popping professors...."Publication Specificity of Action Representations in the Lateral Occipitotemporal Cortex(2006-09-01) Kable, Joseph W; Chatterjee, AnjanThe ability to recognize actions is important for cognitive development and social cognition. Areas in the lateral occipitotemporal cortex show increased activity when subjects view action sequences; however, whether this activity distinguishes between specific actions as necessary for action recognition is unclear. We used a functional magnetic resonance imaging adaptation paradigm to test for brain regions that exhibit action-specific activity. Subjects watched a series of action sequences in which the action performed or the person performing the action could be repeated from a previous scan. Three regions—the superior temporal sulcus (pSTS), human motion-sensitive cortex (MT/MST), and extrastriate body area (EBA)—showed decreased activity for previously seen actions, even when the actions were novel exemplars because the persons involved had not been seen previously. These action-specific adaptation effects provide compelling evidence that representations in the pSTS, MT/MST, and EBA abstract actions from the agents involved and distinguish between different particular actions.Publication Action Concepts in the Brain: An Activation Likelihood Estimation Meta-Analysis(2013-08-01) Watson, Christine E; Cardillo, Eileen R; Chatterjee, Anjan; Ianni, Geena RMany recent neuroimaging studies have investigated the representation of semantic memory for actions in the brain. We used activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analyses to answer two outstanding questions about the neural basis of action concepts. First, on an “embodied” view of semantic memory, evidence to date is unclear regarding whether visual motion or motor systems are more consistently engaged by action concepts. Second, few studies have directly investigated the possibility that action concepts accessed verbally or nonverbally recruit different areas of the brain. Because our meta-analyses did not include studies requiring the perception of dynamic depictions of actions or action execution, we were able to determine whether conceptual processing alone recruits visual motion and motor systems. Significant concordance in brain regions within or adjacent to visual motion areas emerged in all meta-analyses. By contrast, we did not observe significant concordance in motor or premotor cortices in any analysis. Neural differences between action images and action verbs followed a gradient of abstraction among representations derived from visual motion information in the left lateral temporal and occipital cortex. The consistent involvement of visual motion but not motor brain regions in representing action concepts may reflect differences in the variability of experience across individuals with perceiving versus performing actions.Publication Artistic Production Following Brain Damage: A Study of Three Artists(2011-10-01) Chatterjee, Anjan; Bromberger, Bianca; Smith, William B; Sternschein, Rebecca; Widick, PageWe know little about the neurologic bases of art production. The idea that the right brain hemisphere is the “artistic brain” is widely held, despite the lack of evidence for this claim. Artists with brain damage can offer insight into these laterality questions. The authors used an instrument called the Assessment of Art Attributes to examine the work of two individuals with left-brain damage and one with right-hemisphere damage. In each case, their art became more abstract and distorted and less realistic. They also painted with looser strokes, less depth and more vibrant colors. No unique pattern was observed following right-brain damage. However, art produced after left-brain damage also became more symbolic. These results show that the neural basis of art production is distributed across both hemispheres in the human brain.