Sponsors: National Science Foundation Award #1933178, the IUCRC BRAIN Center, the
Katherine G. McGovern College of the Arts at the University of Houston, and the International
Graphonomics Society.
Sunday, June 9, 2019
SIGN-IN
6:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Sign-in and get your welcome package at the Conference Hospitality Desk, located in the hotel lobby
WELCOME DINNER
7:00 – 11:00 p.m.
Enjoy a Maya Buffet, Azur Pool
WELCOME
8:00 p.m.
Azur Pool
Conference Chair: Jose Luis Contreras-Vidal, Director of the University of Houston NSF IUCRC BRAIN Center, and
International Graphonomics Society President (IGS): Claudio De Stefano, University of Cassino and Southern Latium
Monday, June 10, 2019
Conference Center Room Aqua 2
Neuroaesthetics, Creativity & the Neuroscience of Graphonomic Skills
9:00 – 9:10 a.m.
Introduction to IGS2019: Your Brain on Art, Creativity and Innovation, the BRAIN Roadmap, and the NSF Doctoral Consortium
Jose L. Contreras-Vidal, University of Houston, USA
Director, University of Houston IUCRC BRAIN
IGS2019 Chair
9:10 – 9:40 a.m.
PLENARY TALK: Embodied Writing in Material Contexts: Towards Uncovering Neural Representations and Creativity
Cristina Rivera-Garza
Distinguished Professor, Hispanic Studies + Creative Writing
Director of PhD Creative Writing in Spanish
University of Houston and
Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages
Stanford University
Abstract: Writing is not an ethereal and mysterious activity better left unexplored, but a practice that engages both body and material surroundings. Based on
collaborative and interdisciplinary work with the NSF BRAIN Center at the University of Houston, we have closely followed the creative process of a group of
bilingual students enrolled in an undergraduate creative writing workshop that asked them to develop writing exercises while physically engaging with a
predominantly Mexican neighborhood surrounding the main campus. We measured brain activity as students prepared for and developed writing exercises,
and as they participated both in walking tours and in writing workshops. As this data allowed us to measure change over the course of the semester,
it became clear that heightening awareness of the embodied nature of the creative and writing process resulted in writing practices that transcended
established notions of genre, generating cross-genre pieces of sound aesthetic value. It also invited a greater cross- and interdisciplinary exploration of text and
image, and a more conscious and innovative use of the page space. Data gathered in this format has allowed us to compare and contrast the brain activity of creative
writers as they wrote in Spanish and/or in English—an emerging area in the ample field of neuroscience. Furthermore, because students were able to see and
interrogate how their own brains behaved while writing, they connected practices usually perceived as unrelated such as science and creative writing.
Chair: Jose ‘Pepe’ Contreras-Vidal, University of Houston, USA
9:40 – 10:40 a.m.
Panel: How the creative arts and aesthetic experiences engage the human mind and promote creativity and innovation?
Chair: Dario Robleto, Conceptual Artist and Artist-at-Large at Northwestern University’s McCormick School of Engineering, USA
This panel (15 min/speaker) is dedicated to summarizing the state-of-the-art, and/or identifying challenges in research on neuroaesthetics and creativity.
The Integration of the Humanities and Arts with Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in Higher Education (Discussion of Branches from
the Same Tree (2018) report)
J.D. Talasek
Director of Cultural Programs of the National Academy of Sciences (CPNAS), Washington, D.C., USA
Characterizing the stages of creative writing from frontal and temporal mobile EEG data using Partial Directed Coherence
Jesus Gabriel Cruz-Garza, Akshay Sujatha Ravindran, Cristina Rivera Garza and Jose Luis Contreras-Vidal
University of Houston, USA
How and What a Motivated-reinforcement-learning Theory of Aesthetic Values Learns
Norberto Grzywacz and Hassan Aleem
Georgetown University, USA
Body is Other: Mediations and Translations in Creative Writing and Neuroaesthetics
Maria Jose Delgadillo, Jesús Cruz Garza and Cristina Rivera Garza
University of Houston, USA
9:40 – 10:40 a.m.
Open Forum and Discussion
Scribes will document the session and report back to the audience at the conclusion of the conference
ART & SCIENCE CAFÉ
Aqua Room 1A-C
11:00 – 11:30 a.m.
Mobile Brain-Body Imaging (MoBI) Technology Demonstrations
Exhibitors will showcase the latest MoBI technologies to record and analyze the brain in action.
11:30 – 12:30 p.m.