Psychology academics to take part in Norwich Science Festival to exhibit Me, Human project

The Me, Human project explores who humans are and how we are connected to the natural world.
During the festival, the research team will be holding three events: Live Science, Soapbox Talks and Psyched! Talk. 

The ‘Live Science’ experiments aim to inspire visitors to participate in fun, engaging experiments, which reveal how your two brain hemispheres affect your movements and decisions and explore how ancient vertebrate brain traits still underpin some of our most unique human behaviours. The experiments will be held at a variety of ‘stations’ to explore different areas of the brain, including the Information Station, Manipulation Station, Memorisation Station and Explanation Station. The Live Science experiments will take place on 29-30 October and are inclusive, informative and suitable for all ages. 

Soapbox Talks are short science talks with props for all ages. During the Norwich Science Festival, the team will conduct two hours of rotating short talks for attendees to learn about different topics around the brain. Professor Loveday will talk about lockdown and memory, while Dr Ballieux will discuss visual illusions and what they tell us about how human vision works. 

The panel will also be hosting their interactive science event ‘Psyched! Talk’ on 29 October, which is a cabaret-style science evening exploring cutting-edge research into the origins of human language. They will tackle an array of insightful topics, including understanding why our human language took millions of years to emerge, yet babies are born ‘language ready’.

Dr Ballieux also worked on the event ‘Me, Human: The Big Discussion’ which formed part of the team’s 12-week live experiment at the Science Museum in London. A viewing and participation session of the experiment was held at the museum, as well as a panel discussion with the project team and special guests, where panellists discussed the evolution and development of the human brain and links to the natural world.

Guests were also invited to take part in the various experiments involving your hands, ears and eyes to find out more about how the brain works. During the live experiments, the project used museum visitors as participants, from young children to adults.

Talking about their participation in the Norwich Science Festival, Professor Catherine Loveday said: “I’m really excited to be taking part in the Norwich Science Festival, which has really grown over the last few years. It’s always fun and rewarding to chat about science, but I particularly love doing the live music memory demonstrations.” 

Dr Haiko Ballieux added: “I’m really looking forward to engaging with the general public at this great science festival, and show them how our human visual system sometimes seems to work in mysterious ways.”

Find out more about the upcoming events on the Norwich Science Festival website.