Neuroaesthetics
Embodiment
Collective aesthetic experience
Hyperscanning and inter-brain synchrony
Interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research
Haeeun Lee (Hennie) is a researcher in neuroaesthetics, with a background in theatre and performance design (B.A Hons, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London). Her research has focused on the collective dimension of aesthetic experience, particularly on the neural entrainment underlying joint action.
She has recently finished her PhD in Psychology (Science) at Goldsmiths, University of London, on the topic of Social Neuroaesthetics, while being part of an ERC-granted project, NEUROLIVE (Horizon 2020 grant No. 864420), as a research assistant at the Movement and Performance Group, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, UCL. In parallel, she has worked as a lead researcher for a Neuroaesthetics studio, KINDA, using mobile EEG and other physiological sensors to capture the impact of various products on users’ well-being.
As a co-founder of multidisciplinary arts collective Ludic, Hennie has produced various performing arts projects in London, Seoul, Bucharest, Den Haag and Gothenburg, on acknowledging and unlearning cognitive and behavioural schemata in humans.
Publications
Rai, L., Lee, H., Becke, E., Trenado, C., Abad-Hernando, S., Sperling, M., Vidaurre, D., Wald-Fuhrmann, M., Richardson, D.C., Ward, J.A., Orgs, G. (2025). Delta band inter-brain synchrony reflects collective audience engagement with live dance performances, iScience. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2025.112922
Lee, H., Ashwell, C., Sperling, M., Rai, L., & Orgs, G. (2025) Engaged and confused: Aesthetic appreciation of live and screened contemporary dance, Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000727
Lee, H., & Orgs, G. (2022). ‘Experiencing art in communal settings’ in Nadal, M. & Skov, M. (ed.) The Routledge International Handbook of Neuroaesthetics.
Cracco, E., Lee, H., van Belle, G., Quenon, L., Haggard, P., Rossion, B., & Orgs, G. (2022). EEG Frequency Tagging Reveals the Integration of Form and Motion Cues into the Perception of Group Movement. Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991), 32(13), 2843–2857. doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhab385
Lee, H., & Maracine, I. (2021). User-friendly-guides Series: Somatics and Eco-Consciousness. Journal of Dance & Somatic Practices. doi.org/10.1386/jdsp_00046_1
Williams, C., T.H. Bui, K. Yoshida and Lee, H.E. (2018) Art as peace education at “dark” museums and sites in UK, Europe and South East Asia. Asian Journal of Peacebuilding. http://hdl.handle.net/10371/142685
Conference presentations
Lee, H., Ward, J.A., Rai, L., Trenado, C., & Orgs, G. (2024) ‘Investigating Social Neuroaesthetics with Pairwise Inter-brain Synchrony in Live Dance – a Hyperscanning Study’,
- Oral presentation as part of ‘Engagement and Dance’ session at the Visual Science of Art Conference, University of Aberdeen.
- Poster presentation at the Congress of the British Association of Cognitive Neuroscience, City, University of London.
Lee, H. (2022). ‘Social Neuroaesthetics: Investigating the live, in-situ and social accounts for real-life aesthetic experience with interbrain synchrony’,
- Oral presentation at Inidividual Talk Session ‘Aesthetics and the Self’, XXVII Congress of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics, Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics, UPeNN.