G. Gabrielle Starr

President of 麻豆影视; McConnell Professor of Human Relations; Professor of English and Neuroscience
With Pomona Since: 2017
  • Expertise

    Expertise

    I work on aesthetics: how human beings engage with not just the content of art works, but how artworks affect us physically, emotionally, intellectually and socially. I also work on how objects in the natural world have aesthetic effects too. I do this using the tools of neuroscience and behavioral psychology, as well as from the perspectives of philosophy and criticism.

    I enjoy teaching, writing about, and reading poetry, and write and teach about 18th-century British literature and literary form.

    Research Interests

    • Neuroaesthetics
    • Aesthetics
    • Poetry
    • Literary Form
    • Literary History
    • British Literature

    Areas of Expertise

    • Neuroaesthetics
    • Aesthetics
    • Poetry
    • Literary Form
    • Literary History
    • British Literature
  • Work

    Work

    鈥淚maging the Subjective鈥
    Neuroaesthetics in Focus, ed. Anjan Chatterjee and Eileen Carrillo (forthcoming, Oxford University Press)
    (Edward A. Vessel and G. Gabrielle Starr)

    鈥淔orm and Perception: Wallace Stevens and Cognitive Perspectives on Aesthetics鈥
    Cambridge Companion to Wallace Stevens, ed. Barry Eeckhout and G眉l Han. New York: Cambridge University Press (forthcoming)

    鈥淧rogress and Promise in Neuroaesthetics鈥
    Neuron (forthcoming, 25 November 2020)
    (Kyohito Iigaya, John P. O鈥橠oherty, G. Gabrielle Starr)

    鈥淧濒别补蝉耻谤别鈥
    Further Reading, ed. Matthew Rubery and Leah Price. New York: Oxford University Press (2020): 282-293.
    (G. Gabrielle Starr and Amy M. Belfi)

    鈥淭he default-mode network represents aesthetic appeal that generalizes across visual domains鈥
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 116:38 (2019), 19155-19164.
    (Edward A. Vessel, Asye Ilkay Isik, Amy M. Belfi, Jonathan L. Stahl, G. Gabrielle Starr)

    鈥淒ynamics of aesthetic experience are reflected in the default-mode network鈥
    NeuroImage 188 (2019): 584-597.
    (Amy M. Belfi, Edward A. Vessel, Aenne Brielmann, Ayse Ilkay Isik, Anjan Chatterjee, Helmut Leder, Denis G. Pelli, G. Gabrielle Starr) 

    鈥溾&苍产蝉辫;Cognition (2018)
    (Edward A. Vessel, Natalia Maurer, Alexander H. Denker, and G. Gabrielle Starr)

    鈥淩apid timing of musical aesthetic judgments鈥
    Journal of Experimental Psychology: General (2018): 147:10, 1531-1543
    (Amy M. Belfi, Anna Kasdan, Jess Rowland, Edward A. Vessel, G. Gabrielle Starr, David Poeppel)

    鈥淐ognitive Literary Criticism鈥
    Companion to Literary Theory, ed. David Richter
    London: Wiley (2018): 408-22. 

    鈥淏别补耻迟测鈥
    The SAGE Encyclopedia of Lifespan Human Development, ed. Marc H. Bornstein, Martha E. Arterberry, Karen L. Fingerman, and Jennifer E. Lansfords
    Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE (2018)

    鈥溾
    Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts (2017)
    (Amy M. Belfi, Edward A. Vessel, and G. Gabrielle Starr)

    鈥淢otion in Stevens and Frost鈥
    The Wallace Stevens Journal 44:1 (2017): 90-92

    鈥淎esthetics and Impossible Embodiment: Stevens, Imagery and Disorientation鈥
    The Wallace Stevens Journal 39:2 (2015): 157-81.

    鈥淭heorizing Imagery, Aesthetics, and the Idea of Double Direction鈥
    The Oxford Companion to Cognitive Approaches to Literature, ed. Lisa Zunshine
    New York: Oxford University Press (2015): 246-68

    鈥淣euroaesthetics: Art鈥
    The Oxford Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, second edition, ed. Michael Kelly
    New York: Oxford University Press (2014) 4:487-91

    鈥淎esthetics and Taste: The Beautiful, the Sublime, and Beyond in the Eighteenth Century鈥
    A Companion to British Literature: Volume III: Long Eighteenth-Century Literature 1660-1837, ed. Robert DeMaria, Jr., Heesok Chang, and Samantha Zacher
    London: Blackwell (2014): 258-76

    鈥淧ersonalized Visual Aesthetics鈥
    (Edward A. Vessel, Jonathan Stahl, Natalia Maurer, Alexander Denker, G. Gabrielle Starr)
    Proceedings of SPIE: Quality of Experience: Cognition, Emotion and Aesthetics 9014 (2014). doi:10.1117/12.2043126

    鈥淎rt Reaches Within: Aesthetic Experience, the Self and the Default Mode Network鈥
    (Edward A. Vessel, G. Gabrielle Starr and Nava Rubin; 鈥淭ier 2鈥濃攊nvitations for Tier 2 publication are extended to authors whose research received highest ratings in Frontiers journals; refereed)

    Frontiers in Neuroscience 7:258 (2013). doi: 10.3389/fnins.2013.00258


    Nonsite, 鈥淭he Tank: Michael Clune鈥 (2013):

    鈥淓volved Reading and the Science(s) of Literary Study鈥
    Critical Inquiry (Winter 2012): 418-25

    鈥淭he Brain on Art: Intense Aesthetic Experience Activates the Default Mode Network鈥 (Edward A. Vessel, G. Gabrielle Starr and Nava Rubin)

    Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 6:66 (2012) doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2012.00066

    鈥淓办辫丑谤补蝉颈蝉鈥
    The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, ed. Roland Greene
    Princeton: Princeton University Press (2012): 393-94

    鈥沦别苍蝉颈产颈濒颈迟测鈥
    The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, ed. Roland Greene
    Princeton: Princeton University Press (2012): 1290-92

    鈥淥vid, Burney, and the Value of the Beautiful鈥&苍产蝉辫;
    Eighteenth-Century Fiction 24:1 (Fall 2011): 77-104
    (Nominated by Eighteenth-Century Fiction for the James L. Clifford Prize, 2012-13)

    鈥淣arrative and Poesis: Defoe, Ovid and Transformative Writing鈥
    Narrative Developments from Chaucer to Defoe, ed. Gerd Bayer and Ebbe Kiltg氓rd (161-77)
    New York: Routledge, 2010

    鈥淢ulti-sensory Imagery鈥 (invited)
    Introduction to Cognitive Cultural Studies, ed. Lisa Zunshine (275-91)
    Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010 

    鈥淧oetic Subjects and Grecian Urns: Close Reading, Subjective Response, and the Tools of Cognitive Science鈥
    Modern Philology 105:1 (August 2007): 48-61

    鈥淧oetic Making and the Limits of Tropes: A Response to Brett Bourbon鈥
    Modern Philology 105:1 (August 2007): 44-7

    鈥淐avendish, Aesthetics, and the Anti-Platonic Line鈥
    Eighteenth-Century Studies 39:3 (Spring 2006): 295-308

    鈥淥bjects, Imaginings, and Facts: Going Beyond Genre in Behn and Defoe鈥
    Eighteenth-Century Fiction 16:4 (July 2004): 499-518

    鈥淓thics, Meaning, and the Work of Beauty鈥
    Eighteenth-Century Studies 35:3 (Spring 2002): 361-378
    (reprinted in Proust: Modern Critical Interpretations)

    鈥淐larissa鈥檚 Relics and Lyric Community鈥
    Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture 30 (2001): 127-151

    鈥淟ove鈥檚 Proper Musick: Lyric Inflection in Behn鈥檚 Epistles鈥&苍产蝉辫;
    Aphra Behn: Identity, Alterity, Ambiguity
    Paris: L鈥橦armattan, 2000: 111-124

    鈥淩ereading 鈥楶rose Fiction鈥: Lyric Convention in Aphra Behn and Eliza Haywood鈥&苍产蝉辫;
    Eighteenth-Century Fiction 12:1 (October 1999): 1-18

  • Education

    Education

    Postdoctoral Instructor
    Division of Humanities and Social Science
    California Institute of Technology
    Pasadena, CA USA

    Ph.D. in English and American Literature and Language 
    Harvard University 
    Cambridge, MA USA

    Robert T. Jones Scholar
    University of St Andrews
    St Andrews, Scotland
    B.A./M.A. Women鈥檚 Studies
    Emory University
    Atlanta, GA USA 

  • Awards & Honors

    Awards & Honors

    • American Academy of Arts and Sciences
    • Guggenheim Fellowship
    • Mellon New Directions Fellowship