About the Team

PRIMARY RESEARCHER:

Kaile Smith

Kaile Smith is a current student in the MSc Psychology of the Arts, Neuroaesthetics & Creativity programme at Goldsmiths, University of London. Previous to pursuing her interests in neuroaesthetics and the psychology of creativity, she spent fifteen years living and working in New York City as a designer and creative director. She completed her BFA in Communication Design at Parsons the New School for Design.

Kaile is curious about the complex relationships between creativity, emotions, identity, motivation, and well-being. She is passionate about integrating her psychological research with her real-world experience working in creative industries, managing creative teams, and first-hand knowledge of the pressures placed on creatives in their work and everyday lives. She joins Rollo May in asking… “what if imagination and art are not frosting at all, but the fountainhead of human experience?”

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PRIMARY RESEARCH SUPERVISOR:

Dr. Joydeep Bhattacharya

Joy Bhattacharya is a Professor of Psychology and the Director of Research in the Department of Psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London. He also leads the Departmental Research Group of Cognitive and Neuroscience. Joy was earlier associated with Max Planck Institute in Germany, Austrian Academy of Sciences in Austria, and California Institute of Technology in the US. Joy is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and Association for Psychological Science.

Joy is fascinated equally by the challenges to understand ever changing brainwaves and the spectrum of complex behaviour what makes us human. How do we experience emotions while listening to music? What is its nature? Can music be used to promote health and well-being? How do we solve problems? What happens when we have an Aha! moment? How do we create?

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RESEARCH SUPERVISOR:

Dr. Alan Pickering

Alan Pickering is a Professor of Psychology and former Dean of the Graduate School at Goldsmiths, University of London (2016-2020). He was also Deputy Director (2016-2019) of the SeNSS ESRC Doctoral Training Partnership involving 10 universities in the south-east of the UK. Alan was earlier associated with King's College London and St George’s Medical School. 

Alan wants to understand why certain people learn especially well when they are rewarded, whereas other people do not benefit as much when their behaviour is reinforced by rewards. This may have something to do with the way that particular brain pathways, and receptors on certain brain cells, operate differently in different people. It seems that these differences might be found on brain pathways and receptors that particularly rely upon a chemical called dopamine.

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