Steven Brown

Dr. Steven Brown is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour at McMaster University, where he directs the NeuroArts Lab. His interdisciplinary research bridges neuroscience, psychology, and the arts to explore the neural foundations of artistic expression and appreciation across multiple domains.

• PhD Pharmacology, Columbia University (1993)
• MPhil Pharmacology, Columbia University (1989)
• MA Pharmacology, Columbia University (1987)
• Postdoctoral Fellow at Pasteur Institute (1996-2001), Karolinska Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center, and Simon Fraser University

Dr. Brown's research focuses on the neural basis of the arts, with particular emphasis on music, dance, acting, storytelling, cinema, drawing, aesthetics, and creativity. His work combines cognitive neuroscience with arts scholarship to understand how artistic expression emerges from brain function. He has pioneered research in neuroaesthetics and the cognitive science of performance, exploring the biological foundations of artistic creation and appreciation. His methodology often incorporates neuroimaging techniques to map brain activity during artistic processes, revealing how different art forms share common neural mechanisms.

His recent publications demonstrate a clear trajectory toward unifying theories of artistic expression. Dr. Brown's work increasingly examines the common neural substrates underlying music, dance, and narrative, with significant contributions to understanding musical scales from evolutionary and perceptual perspectives. His research on character portrayal has illuminated the multimodal nature of acting, showing how body, face, and voice synchronize during performance. His publications consistently move from studying individual art forms toward developing comprehensive frameworks for understanding the arts as an integrated cognitive domain.

Dr. Brown teaches courses including Contemporary Problems in Psychology, The Mind as a Work of Art, and The Science of Performance. His teaching reflects his research interests, emphasizing the intersection of neuroscience and artistic expression. He has supervised numerous student research projects in the NeuroArts Lab and has secured funding for interdisciplinary projects that bridge neuroscience and the arts, collaborating with researchers across multiple departments and institutions.

As director of the NeuroArts Lab, Dr. Brown leads a research team investigating the neural correlates of artistic creation and appreciation. The lab employs fMRI, behavioral experiments, and computational modeling to study how the brain processes musical, visual, and narrative arts. Current projects focus on character portrayal, musical scale perception, and the evolutionary origins of artistic expression, with implications for understanding human cognition, evolution, and potential therapeutic applications of the arts.