The Art of Sexual Selection

In recent years the once minor field of sexual selection has become an important topic within evolutionary biology. Both theoretical and empirical research in this area offers novel insights into human aesthetics and the design of the human mind. Using facial beauty as an example of a sexually selected trait, this talk examines both the biological factors that underlie attractive facial traits and their interaction with the observer’s neural organization.

Dr. Victor Johnston is a prominent psychologist whose areas of study include cognitive engineering, biopsychology, and cognitive psychology. His major research interests are evolutionary psychology, electrophysiology and genetic algorithms. Dr. Johnston received his B.Sc. in psychology in 1964 at Queens University, Belfast, N. Ireland and a Ph.D. in psychopharmacology in 1967 at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. His doctoral research on the biochemistry of Schizophrenia was awarded the A.E. Bennett Neuropsychiatric Research Foundation Award. He has written over one hundred papers on the biology of the brain and the influence of sexual selection. In 2000 he published the book “Why we feel. The origin and functions of human emotions” and recently developed a software program called FacePrints that allows a human face to be evolved from computer genes.

A talk on the relationship between evolutionary biology and aesthetics

By Dr. Victor Johnston, Professor Emeritus of Biopsychology,
New Mexico State University, USA.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008 – 6.00 pm
The American University of Rome
Auriana Auditorium Via P. Roselli 4, 00153 Rome

The seminar will be open to all.
For further information please contact Maurizia Garzia, The American University of Rome, tel 06 58330919 – E-mail: m.garzia@aur.edu