4 de Dezembro, 2014: Conferência - THE PATH TO HAPPINESS, PEACE OR PLEASURE?

Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown

Av. Brasília, Lisboa

às 21:00

"Most people want to be happy. We all intuitively know it when we feel it, yet we are surprisingly poor at predicting what will bring us happiness.

Is it the pleasure of good wine or great sex?
The lasting pleasure of helping people in need?
Or perhaps it is simply the quiet moments free from stress when we are truly relaxed? 

Finding a definition that truly captures this feeling is not as easy as we might expect. For thousands of years ancient contemplative traditions have examined the nature of happiness. More recently, the fields of neuroscience and positive psychology have attempted to do the same. 

While these efforts have produced many theories of happiness, there are two apparently divergent approaches to how to achieve it. One that has emerged from psychology focuses on a “happiness of pursuit” by searching for pleasurable and meaningful experiences. Another, which comes from ancient contemplative traditions, views happiness as being quite separate from the search for pleasure. Instead, it sees it as a skill that can be trained through meditation.

Join us on December 4, 9pm, at the Champalimaud Center of the Unknown for a thought-provoking exploration of these two paths, and how they impact the brain. Dr. Morten Kringelbach, a professor at Oxford University will tell us about the neuroscience of pleasure. Scott Rennie, a PhD student at the Champalimaud Neuroscience Programme, will talk about meditative practices and their impact on how the brain functions.

Nuno Loureiro studied Engineering Physics at Instituto Superior Tecnico in Lisboa, before

working as an aerospace engineer at the European Space Agency. For his PhD, he joined

the Neurobiology of Action Lab at the CNP. His project aims at understanding the

dynamics of learning during an arbitrary task by using brain-machine interfaces (BMI).

Marina Fridman studied neuroscience and philosophy in Montreal before moving to

Germany for her Master's. Now she is a PhD student at the CNP in the Cortical Circuits

lab where she is examining how cognitive processes affect perception.

Entrance is free and subject to availability. Ticket reservations must be done through our Eventbrite website. Reservations will be available November 28th (this Friday) at 1pm. Limited seats will be available to people without reservations on the event evening on a first come, first served basis. People with reservations MUST arrive before 8.55pm on the evening of the event. After that, tickets will be given for people without reservations.

Live streaming will be available during the event at the following website: http://live.fccn.pt/champalimaud/ar"

Transportes

Autocarros: 723, 729, 750, 751, 776

Comboio: Algés

Eléctrico: 15

Fonte e imagem: http://ar.neuro.fchampalimaud.org/event/path-happiness