Past event
2025 Conference: Image Neuroscience and the Arts
Overview
The 2025 Conference, “Image Neuroscience and the Arts,” was held from October 19 to 25, 2025 in Shanghai, China. The conference brought together researchers, artists, theorists, and scholars from multiple disciplines to explore the relationship between image, brain, aesthetic experience, creative expression, and the arts.
The conference focused on Image Neuroscience as an emerging interdisciplinary field concerned with the neural basis of aesthetic experience, visual perception, artistic creation, and image-based cognition. It provided an academic platform for examining how the brain responds to artistic and visual stimuli, how aesthetic judgment may be understood through cognitive and neural mechanisms, and how the arts can contribute to new conceptual frameworks for understanding the human mind.
Under the theme “Image Neuroscience and the Arts,” the conference connected cognitive neuroscience, neuroaesthetics, psychology, image studies, art history, digital media, philosophy, linguistics, and artistic practice. Through keynote lectures, conference sessions, open discussions, cultural visits, and institutional exchange, the event fostered interdisciplinary dialogue and international collaboration around image-based research and the scientific study of art.
The conference was also associated with the 23rd Conference on International Exchange of Professionals, during which the inauguration ceremony of the Neurocognitive Image Laboratory (NIL) and related institutional exchange activities took place.
Organizers
The conference was hosted by Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) and organized by:
- Neurocognitive Image Laboratory (NIL), SISU
- World Arthistory Institute (WAI), SISU
- Institute of Language Sciences (ILS), SISU
- Office of International Cooperation and Exchange (OICE), SISU
The conference was held with support from national and municipal partners associated with the 23rd Conference on International Exchange of Professionals.
At a Glance
| Item | Information |
|---|---|
| Title | 2025 Conference: Image Neuroscience and the Arts |
| Date | October 19-25, 2025 |
| Location | Shanghai, China |
| Main venue | Shanghai International Studies University |
| Event type | International interdisciplinary conference |
| Main themes | Image neuroscience, neuroaesthetics, visual perception, cognition, artistic creation, image studies, and the arts |
| Status | Past event |
Program Snapshot
The conference program included several connected components across Shanghai and SISU:
- Arrival, registration, and reception activities
- Cultural visits and academic exchange in Shanghai
- Participation in the 23rd Conference on International Exchange of Professionals
- Inauguration ceremony of the Neurocognitive Image Laboratory (NIL)
- Institutional exchange and signing of memoranda of understanding
- Multi-session academic conference on image neuroscience and the arts
- Conference sessions at the Expo Center and at SISU
- Open discussions, comments, and concluding reflections
- Continuation into the Autumn School program after the conference
The SISU sessions included presentations and discussions on topics such as creative inference, temporal windows in the brain, eye movements in aesthetic perception, photography and neuroimaging, image and word interaction, art perception, neural self-processing, fractal contours, and the neurobiology of aesthetics.
Academic Themes
The conference addressed questions including:
- How aesthetic experience is represented and processed in the brain
- How artistic creation and visual perception can be studied through cognitive neuroscience
- How image-based research can connect neuroscience, art history, psychology, linguistics, and philosophy
- How digital media, artistic practice, and neuroimaging may jointly contribute to new understandings of cognition
- How cross-cultural and interdisciplinary dialogue can shape the future of image neuroscience
Highlights
- The 2025 Conference marked an important interdisciplinary gathering around the emerging field of image neuroscience.
- The conference connected neuroscience, cognition, aesthetics, art history, image studies, linguistics, philosophy, and artistic practice.
- The event was linked to the 23rd Conference on International Exchange of Professionals.
- The Neurocognitive Image Laboratory (NIL) was inaugurated during the conference period.
- The program included institutional exchange, academic sessions, open discussions, cultural visits, and continued training activities through the Autumn School.
- The conference strengthened NIL’s role as an international platform for research on image, aesthetics, cognition, and the arts.
Selected Moments
A selection of photos from the 2025 Conference, including academic sessions, institutional exchange, discussions, cultural visits, and informal scholarly interaction.
