CFP: Second International Conference on Beauty and Change - "Aesthetic Experience: Philosophical, Psychological and Neuroscientific Perspectives"

Call for Abstracts

Second International Conference on Beauty and Change

“Aesthetic Experience: Philosophical, Psychological and Neuroscientific Perspectives”

Turin, Italy, 2-4 November 2023

Deadline for submissions:  31 July 2023

The Brain Plasticity and Behaviour Change (BIP) Group at the Department of Psychology, University of Turin and the Giorgio Amendola Foundation are delighted to invite contributions for the Second International Conference on Beauty and Change, a three-day international and interdisciplinary conference that will be held in Turin, Italy on 2-4 November 2023.

The conference follows the First International Conference on Beauty and Change in 2022, which established a highly successful interdisciplinary forum for discussing recent advancements in philosophical and empirical aesthetics. This year’s conference will be devoted to the theme “Aesthetic Experience: Philosophical, Psychological and Neuroscientific Perspectives” and will gather leading scholars from the three fields of philosophy, psychology and neuroscience to strengthen the emerging interdisciplinary interest around the notion of aesthetic experience.

Confirmed invited speakers:

Elvira Brattico (Aarhus University & University of Bari Aldo Moro)

Beatriz Calvo-Merino (City, University of London)

Ana Clemente (University of Barcelona)

Gregory Currie (University of York)

Marcos Nadal (University of the Balearic Islands)

Bence Nanay (University of Antwerp)

Sander Van de Cruys (University of Antwerp)

The Theme

Recent years have seen a surge of attention in the interdisciplinary study of aesthetics, with philosophers, psychologists and neuroscientists converging on many core interests and new research aims. On the one hand, philosophers are rediscovering the original vocation of aesthetics as a “science of sensuous cognition” and are looking with increasing interest at the results of the empirical sciences of mind. On the other hand, psychologists are elaborating wide-ranging theories that connect aesthetic experience to other psychological phenomena of general interest such as learning, affect, valence, attention, motivation, memory, well-being, and the dynamics of personal and sub-personal experience. From yet another disciplinary perspective, neuroscientists interested in the study of art and aesthetics are animating the booming subfield of neuroaesthetics, whose latest developments have abandoned overly reductionistic premises and are starting to deliver nuanced insights on several aspects of our aesthetic encounters.

The Second International Conference on Beauty and Change aims at surveying this new and fast-growing interdisciplinary landscape, tackling remaining contrasts between theoretical perspectives and attempting broader syntheses. It will provide a forum where all disciplines can contribute as equal partners in the study of human aesthetic experiences and other crucial aspects of our cognitive makeup. To that end, we are looking for well-informed theoretical or empirical contributions that might be of interest to an interdisciplinary audience. Topics include but are not limited to:

• Philosophical, psychological and neuroscientific perspectives on the definition of aesthetic experience and related concepts (liking, hedonic experience, aesthetic judgement, taste, aesthetic sensitivity, etc.);
• Philosophical, psychological and neuroscientific perspectives on the differences and continuities between aesthetic and non-aesthetic experience;
• The relationship between aesthetic experience and other psychological phenomena such as learning, affect, valence, curiosity, attention, motivation, etc;
• The relationship between the phenomenology of our aesthetic encounters and underlying neural and psychological processes;
• The contribution of particular psychological and neuroscientific theories (e.g. flow, processing fluency, predictive processing, embodied simulation theory, etc.) to our understanding of aesthetic experience;
• Aesthetic experiences in different media and with different art forms;
• Therapeutical and clinical applications of research on art and aesthetic experience;
• The respective roles of philosophy, psychology and neuroscience in the interdisciplinary study of aesthetics;
• Future aims and challenges for the interdisciplinary study of aesthetics.

Submission Guidelines

We accept two types of submissions: talks (20 minutes + 10 minutes for discussion) and posters. For both types of submission, please send an abstract of no more than 300 words in WORD or PDF format to [email protected] by 31 July 2023.

Abstracts must be written in English and prepared for blind review. In the body of your email, please indicate the names and affiliations of all the authors (specifying the presenting author), your preferred presentation type (talk or poster), and your preferred conference session (Philosophy, Psychology or Neuroscience).

We especially encourage submissions from women, early career researchers and members of underrepresented groups, and we will take diversity into account when making decisions for inclusion in the programme.

Important Dates

Deadline for submissions: 31 July 2023
Notification of acceptance: 15 August 2023

Conference dates: 2-4 November 2023

Conference Costs

Conference fee for students (BA and MA): free

Conference fee for untenured researchers (PhD students and postdocs): €100

Conference fee for tenured researchers: €200

Conference dinner (optional): €40

Scientific Committee

Alice Cancer (Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan)

Jacopo Frascaroli (University of Turin)

Irene Ronga (University of Turin)

Maria Luisa Rusconi (University of Bergamo)

Katiuscia Sacco (University of Turin)

Pietro Sarasso (University of Turin)

Sander Van de Cruys (University of Antwerp)

Other Information

Information about venue, travel and accommodation will be made available on the conference website in due course.

We aim to make the conference as accessible as possible. Please do not hesitate to contact the conference organisers to discuss accessibility requirements.

All questions and correspondence should be addressed to the Organising Committee at: [email protected]