IRCA 2026 - Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Aphantasia

Aphantasia, characterised as a reduction or absent vividness in voluntary visual imagery, has emerged over the past decade as a rapidly developing area of interdisciplinary research.

IRCA – the Interdisciplinary Reading Club on Aphantasia – is now hosting the first interdisciplinary conference on aphantasia in collaboration with University of Glasgow’s Centre for the Study of Perceptual Experience. The conference will be held over three days and aims to bring together international researchers from psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, and related disciplines. The conference seeks to foster discussion on aphantasia, consolidate current empirical and theoretical knowledge, and promote collaboration on future research directions.

The program will include five keynote speakers, as well as contributed talks and poster presentations selected from submitted abstracts.

Keynote speakers: 

Wilma Bainbridge

Andrea Blomkvist

Jorge Morales

Lars Muckli

Adam Zeman

**** ABSTRACT SUBMISSION OPEN ****

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

Abstract submission link: https://sites.google.com/view/irca-conference-2026/call-for-abstracts?authuser=0

Abstracts should be no longer than 1000 words (excluding references) and submitted as a Word or PDF file.

Deadline for abstract submission: 17/04/2026 (23:59, BST)

Notification of acceptance for talk or poster: End of April 2026

Conference registration open: Early May 2026

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

Cognitive and Perceptual Processes

• Mental imagery

• Perception

• Spatial cognition

• Memory

• Attention

• Interoception

• Unconscious mental imagery

• Inner speech

Representational and Metacognitive Approaches

• Representational formats and computational mechanisms

• Metacognition and introspective access

• Phenomenology of imagery

Neural and Methodological Approaches

• Psychophysics

• Neuroimaging

Developmental, Clinical, and Mental Health Perspectives

• Neurodevelopmental aspects of aphantasia

• Clinical and mental health perspectives

Philosophical and theoretical questions

• How to define aphantasia

• Theories of aphantasia

• Historical perspectives on aphantasia

We hope to see you in Glasgow!

ORGANISERS 

Andrea Blomkvist

Jianghao Liu

Christian O. Scholz