Values are a central component of human decision-making. We have been studying the mechanisms underlying human values, using aesthetic emotions as a paradigm, and employing tools from cognitive and computational neuroscience. These studies have revealed that aesthetic individuality emerges in part from the reinforcement learning of values under varying sensory inputs and interoceptive signals. Diversity of cultural values also contributes to individuality through these learning processes. A surprising and successfully tested prediction emerging from these processes is the relative instability of aesthetic values. We will illustrate these aesthetic-emotion principles with examples of applications to music and visual arts. In upcoming studies, we intent to study populations of individuals learning values from each other through these aesthetic mechanisms. We will probe whether they may give rise to diverging cultures.

And here is a brief bio:

Dr. Norberto Grzywacz is a scientist, engineer, professor, and higher-education administrator. He was born in Brazil and received his education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel (Physics, Mathematics, and Neuroscience). Later, he spent his career in multiple Universities and Institutes. He has worked as a faculty member at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute, University of Southern California, Georgetown University, and Loyola University Chicago. In these various institutions, he has had multiple leadership roles, more recently being Dean and Provost. As an academic leader he has promoted interdisciplinary groups to solve urgent and complex problems in the society.

His early research was at the interface between Computer Vision, Neuroengineering, and Visual Perception in the brain. More recently, his research focus shifted to human values in the brain, specially those devoted to aesthetic emotions. His multi-disciplinary research teams have been highly interdisciplinary. These teams have included students of Engineering, Physics, Applied Mathematics, Neuroscience, Psychology, Sociology, Architecture, Visual Arts, and Music.