Conference: Neuroaesthetics: A Methods-Based Introduction, 24-26 June 2022, University of Suceava, The Neuroaesthetics Lab, Suceava, Romania

Conference Call

Conference Photos and Videos

Accommodation and Conference Venue

The Conference room, accommodation, and meals are booked at Hotel Bucovina. Please come to the hotel reception to register and pick up room keys.
Hotel address: Bulevardul Ana Ipătescu nr. 5, Suceava 720042 – România
https://hotelbucovina.ro/

Celebrating Suceava

The period of the conference coincides with an ample cultural programme dedicated to the city of Suceava, organised by the city Town Hall.
Highlights at Casa de Cultura, city centre outdoor stage, 10 minutes walk from the conference hotel:

24 June: 4pm, concert: selection of traditional music from Bucovina
25 June: 7.30 pm, concert: R&B with Alexandra Cuza and Andra.
26 iunie: 7.30pm, concert, pop with The Motans and Inna, fireworks at 10pm

Conference Programme

24 June 2022

4-10 pm: Participants arrival and registration

5.30-6.30 pm: Welcoming session

Presentation of the NeuroArts project and the Neuroaesthetics Lab

Tudor Balinisteanu, Oana Geman, Diana Izdrui, Emanuela Motrescu, University of Suceava

7 pm: Dinner and Welcoming Reception

25 June 2022

7-9 am: Breakfast

9-10.50 am: Practical demonstration:
Recording EEG signal
Oana Geman, Diana Izdrui, University of Suceava

Experience an EEG recording and visualisation session. Members of the audience can volunteer to have their EEG signal read and visualised in real time on a standardised brain map displayed on a screen. The signal will not be recorded.

11-11.50 am: Presentations (15 mins each):
Neural entrainment to poetry rhythm
Tudor Balinisteanu, University of Suceava and Goldsmiths, University of London
Oana Geman, Diana Izdrui, University of Suceava

Neural entrainment is an automatic mechanism linked to reward via pattern recognition. We present our study demonstrating that neural entrainment to the 2Hz rhythm of poetry in English is similar for Romanian-English bilinguals and Romanian monolinguals. Based on our study, we discuss how neural entrainment to regular poetic rhythm is significantly stronger than with irregular poetic rhythm in right parietal and occipital areas. As measure of neural entrainment we used coefficients of correlations between audio signal sound envelope oscillations and EEG oscillations. The main implication is that regular poetic rhythm, superimposed over normal speech rhythm, is a biological universal of the aesthetic pleasure of poetry.

Nonlinear dynamics and neuroaesthetics
Prof. dr. fiz. Ioan Grosu, “Grigore T. Popa” University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Iași

12-12.50 pm: Presentation:
Opportunities for studying Neuroaesthetics at USV
Tudor Balinisteanu

Presentation of three incipient study programmes at the University of Suceava: a neuroaesthetics curriculum and joint Romanian-Norwegian intensive study module implemented in the academic year 2021-2022, a masters level neuroaesthetics module offering beginning in the academic year 2022-2023, and a planned undergraduate semester module. Students who participated in the intensive study programme will share their experiences.

1-3 pm: Lunch

3-3.50 pm: Presentation:
Neuroaesthetics and the industry: Presentation of VIVAET (Visual Identities of Virtual Agents with Empathic Traits)
Tudor Balinisteanu, Oana Geman, University of Suceava

Our industry-focused project, entitled Visual Identities of Virtual Agents with Empathy Traits, or VIVAET©, was seed-funded through a grant from the Next Generation Internet Explorers programme, EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 825183. The project is currently associated with PoeticA, and is being developed in collaboration with the Department of Computer Science, New Mexico State University, Institute of Telecommunications, Lisbon, Department of Art and Media Studies, NTNU, and the Department of Aesthetic Studies, University of Bergen. Still in its concept-prototype phase, this project aims to determine how virtual agents, the avatars of any artificial intelligence, can be created as empathic presences. Will we trust a virtual medical assistant as much as we trust a human medical practitioner? Will we trust a virtual financial assistant when visiting our bank as much as we trust a human advisor? Will we, humans, embrace a stronger human-AI hybridity?

4-4.50 pm: Presentation:
Can Neuroaesthetics make business more beautiful?
BeiBei Song, Stanford University

With a brief retrospective on the relationship between aesthetics and commerce through history, the presentation will focus on the attitude around aesthetics in business philosophy today. It will identify the practice of aesthetics in various aspects of business life such as product design, customer experience, and organizational culture, with case studies of 3-4 companies that exhibit aesthetics as a key value, consciously or unconsciously. It will speculate on future trends that may redefine the aesthetics of business, driven by environmental, technological, cultural, and demographic forces.
The presentation will then set forth questions for the role of neuroaesthetics in business:

• Can it validate aesthetics with measurements and data, shedding more light on their connection with outcomes relevant to organizations?
• Can it bring aesthetics into the forefront of business consciousness, motivating companies to pursue it as a strategic advantage as well as a part of their larger purpose?
• Can it inspire more beauty in industries, which in turn contributes to a healthier, more sustainable, and more beautiful world?

The discussion hopes to introduce perspectives from business enterprise to the conference audience, stimulate input on the questions above and/or provoke other pertinent questions, and generate promising collaborations.

5-5.50 pm: Student presentation (10 mins each):
The importance of aesthetics in ancient Greece

Victor Popescu, Teodora Palasanu, Bianca Enache, “Vasile Alecsandri” University of Bacau
Coordinator:  Prof Catalina  Ababei, “Vasile Alecsandri” University of Bacau

The Neuroaesthetics of competitive ballroom dancing
Romeo-Iulian Tănasă, Gina-Maria Tudor, “Vasile Alecsandri” University of Bacau
Coordinator:  Prof Catalina  Ababei, “Vasile Alecsandri” University of Bacau

Maintaining psychophysical stability by means of fitness programs
Svetlana Shablova, State University of Physical Education and Sports of the Republic of Moldova
Coordinator – Prof Olga Aftimichuk, State University of Physical Education and Sports of the Republic of Moldova

To determine the impact of fitness programs on the physical and psychological state, level, and lifestyle, as well as to study the subjective attitude of people to their own psychophysical state and physical state, an online sociological survey was conducted, which involved 94 people aged 15 to 50+ years, representatives of 6 countries: Republic of Moldova, Russia, Ukraine, Germany, Republic of Belarus, Poland. The questionnaire included 29 questions to determine a number of provisions: a general attitude to the concept of a psychophysical state; assessment of the physical and psychological state of the respondents; attitude towards their own health and fitness; the place of physical activity in the lives of respondents; willingness to engage in fitness to improve their condition.
The results of a sociological study made it possible to state the positive impact of fitness on the formation of the psychophysical stability of the personality of a modern person. This, in turn, directs us to continue research in this direction in order to increase people’s awareness of psychophysical stability and the importance of health in the future, draw people’s attention to the psychological component of health and convince them of the effectiveness of physical activity as a means of improving the psychological state and psychophysical in general.

The specifity of functional training
Denis Craijdan, State University of Physical Education and Sports of the Republic of Moldova
Coordinator – Prof Olga Craijdan and Prof Ion Carp, State University of Physical Education and Sports of the Republic of Moldova

This paper describes the specifics of creating effective functional training. Also, the practical-methodical aspects of the development of the functional trainings are presented.

7 pm: Dinner

26 June 2022

7-9 am: Breakfast

9-10.50 am: Student-led roundtable:
The artistic life of the brain
Tatiana Negara, University of Suceava

With the development of the exact sciences and the study of the human body, it became clear that such a sensual phenomenon as art does not begin at all with the heart. All roads lead to the brain. As Plato put it, “Beauty exists independently of the eye of the beholder.” During this round-table we will ask and debate the following questions:
Is the perception of art influenced by evolution?

Given that vision helped humans to recognize three important aspects of ancestral life, namely threat, prey, and partner, how does this evolutionary understanding of vision link with the visual perception of art?
Is art a problem-solving exercise?
What is the role of mirror neurons in aesthetic experience?

11 am-11.30 pm: Summative roundtable
Tudor Balinisteanu, Oana Geman, Diana Izdrui, Emanuela Motrescu

11.30 am: Participants’ departure