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Inner and Outer Neuroaesthetic

13th SEPTEMBER, 2023

I.C.O.N.S. – Third Edition

Inner and Outer Neuroaesthetics

The Research Institute of Neuroscience, Education and Teaching (RINED) of the Patrizio Paoletti Foundation is organizing the third edition of the international conference on the neurophysiology of silence.

Neuroscientists, philosophers, psychologists and meditation experts will explore the theme of silence with a multidisciplinary approach, both from a theoretical-scientific and practical-applicative perspective.

I.C.O.N.S. has reached hundreds of thousands of people around the world in previous editions, and has resulted in several scientific publications. New for I.C.O.N.S. 2023 is a full day dedicated to art and neuroaesthetics with national and international experts who will address the topic from a theoretical and applied perspective.

Guided hands-on experiences, meditation sessions, and artistic performances will complement the program’s theoretical sessions.

RINED is also organizing the 39th annual meeting of the International Society for Psychophysics (ISP), Fechner Day 2023 from September 10 to 14

Find out more about Fechner Day:

SPEAKERS

Patrizio Paoletti

RINED Research Institute
for Neuroscience Education and Didactics,
Patrizio Paoletti Foundation, Italy


Biography

Patrizio Paoletti is the founder of the Research Institute in Neuroscience, Education and Didactics and of the Paoletti Foundation for Development and Communication. Paoletti developed the Sphere Model of Consciousness, which has been recently considered the most advanced and elegant neuro-phenomenological model for consciousness. His research interests include the investigation of the “consciousness-in-itself”, self-awareness and its neurophysiological correlates; sensorimotor paradigms aimed at the development of attention skills and willpower and their educational applications. Paoletti has created several techniques aimed at enhancing brain functions, including Quadrato Motor Training, a motor training technique that has been shown to benefit in developmental disorders and neurodegenerative states. In the field of education, through its many educational projects, Paoletti promotes a comprehensive approach to human development in terms of bodily experience, emotion regulation, enhancement of attention and self-awareness. The neuroscientific investigation of Paoletti and his Foundation aim to provide scientifically validated educational tools, aimed at different age groups ranging from children to adults, thus at educational professionals and non-specialized audiences. The vision of the Paoletti Foundation is embodied in education for Peace and Awareness as indispensable values for the future of humanity.

Tal Dotan Ben-Soussan

RINED Research Institute
for Neuroscience Education and Didactics,
Patrizio Paoletti Foundation, Italy


Biography

Tal Dotan Ben-Soussan is the director of the Neuroscientific Unit of the Research Institute for Neuroscience, Education, and Didactics, Patrizio Paoletti Foundation. Ben-Soussan leads studies examining the effects of sensorimotor and contemplative training
paradigms on neuroplasticity, cognition, and well-being. Her multidisciplinary approach utilises electrophysiological, neuroanatomical, and molecular tools to examine the underlying mechanisms mediating cognitive and emotional change. Ben-Soussan’s pioneering work on the Quadrato Motor Training has demonstrated that specifically-structured sensorimotor activity can improve neuronal
functions, as well as enhance creativity, reflectivity, and spatial cognition. Together with close collaborations with Sapienza University of Rome and Bar-Ilan University, she is also applying her neuroscientific model to examine the interconnectedness of motion, emotion, and cognition in the
workplace, schools, as well as in learning disorders and neurodegenerative states, such as dyslexia and Alzheimer’s disease.

Joseph Glicksohn

Department of Criminology, Faculty of Social Sciences,
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel;
The Leslie and Susan Gonda (Goldschmied) Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center,
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel

Biography

Joseph Glicksohn is a professor in the Department of Criminology and at the Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center at Bar-Ilan University. He was trained in cognitive psychology, with a focus on the study of subjective experience. His research and areas of interest are interdisciplinary (the study of metaphor, the study of consciousness, the study of time, the study of personality).

Angela Colonna

UNESCO Chair on “Mediterranean Cultural Landscapes
and Communities of Knowledge”
of the University of Basilicata

Biography

Angela Colonna is a researcher of History of Architecture and Landscape at the University of Basilicata. As Chair Holder, he directs the UNESCO Chair (UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs Programme) in Mediterranean Cultural Landscapes and Communities of Knowledge, established at the University of Basilicata in 2016. For the construction of the management tool for the UNESCO site of Matera he co-designed the route and facilitated the grassroots participation process (2012-13) and, together with Domenico Fiore, drafted the Management Plan of the UNESCO site of the Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian Churches of Matera (2014). You carry out research on the landscape heritage and on the identities of the territories in the South, on the UNESCO heritage and on the management strategies of the same through participatory processes; you deal with methodologies of the historiography of art and architecture and in particular with the genealogy of historical processes; she researches and experiments about the teaching of the history of art and architecture. With the UNESCO Chair you have launched a line of research on “Exterior Landscapes and Interior Landscapes” and on “Embodied Knowledge”.

Narayanan Srinivasan

Indian Institute
of Technology Kanpur,
India

Biography

Dr. Narayanan Srinivasan is currently Professor at the Interdisciplinary Program in Cognitive Science at Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur and also Centre of Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences, University of Allahabad. Dr. Srinivasan has been a visiting scientist at the Riken Brain Science Institute and Visiting Professor at University of Rome. He has a Master degree in Electrical
Engineering from Indian Institute of Science and PhD in Psychology from University of Georgia. He worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Louisville. He also worked at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore for two years before joining one of the first centres for Cognitive Science in India. Dr. Srinivasan is interested in understanding mental processes, especially attention, emotions, consciousness, self, and decision making using multiple methodologies. Dr. Srinivasan has edited nine books and four special issues. He has more than 160 journal publications, book chapters and full papers in conference proceedings. Dr. Srinivasan is a fellow of Association for
Psychological Science, National Academy of Psychology (India), and Psychonomic Society. He is
currently an associate editor of Mindfulness, Cognitive Processing, Royal Society Open Science, and Neuroscience of Consciousness. He is currently the President of National Academy of Psychology
(India).

Margriet Sitskoorn

Department of Neurosurgery–Gamma Knife Center, Elisabeth-TweeSteden Hospital, Tilburg,
The Netherlands; Department of Cognitive Neuropsychology,
Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands

Biography

Margriet Sitskoorn is professor of clinical neuropsychology at Tilburg University, best-selling author and consultant. Her expertise is in the interaction between environment, brain and behavior. Margriet Sitskoorn helps companies, organizations, and individuals develop optimally in an ever-changing world.

Jean Yves Beziau

University of Brazil, Brazilian Research Council,
Brazilian Academy of Philosophy,
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Biography

Jean-Yves Beziau is a Swiss Logician, Philosopher and Mathematician, PhD in mathematics and PhD in Philosophy. He has been living and working in different places: France, Brazil, Poland, Corsica, California (UCLA, Stanford, UCSD), Switzerland. He is currently Professor at the University of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro, former Coordinator of Graduate Studies in Philosophy and former President of the Brazilian Academy of Philosophy. He is the creator of the World Logic Day, yearly celebrated on January 14 (UNESCO international days), the World Logic Prizes Contest, the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the book series Logic PhDs and the logic area editor of the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. He is the originator of Universal Logic as a general theory of logical structures, and the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Logica Universalis and book series Studies in Universal Logic, both published by Birkhäuser/Springer. He is organizing a series of events on universal logic around the world: UNILOG – World Congress and School on Universal Logic (Montreux 2005, Xi’an 2007, Lisbon 2010, Rio de Janeiro, 2013, Istanbul 2015, Vichy 2018, Crete 2022). He has revived the study of the square of opposition organizing interdisciplinary world events on this topic SQUARE (Montreux 2007, Corsica 2010, Beirut 2012, Vatican 2014, Easter Island 2016, Crete 2018, Leuven 2022) as well as publication of special issues of journals and books on the subject. He also has been working on imagination, symbolism and semiotics. He has systematically used images to write philosophical papers in a series of imaginary papers and organizing a big international event on imagination in Rio de Janeiro in 2018, L’IMAGINATION. As the President of the Brazilian Academy of Philosophy, he has organized in the marvelous city the event CREATIVITY’2019. In Geneva, he organized the workshop ARBITRARINESS OF THE SIGN part of Saussure CLG Centenary. He is developing a project on the relation between logic and religion and has launched, together with Ricardo Silvestre, the series of events WoCoLoR – World Congress on Logic and Religion (João Pessoa 2015, Warsaw 2017, Varanasi 2022, Sinaia 2023). 

Roberta Lizio

Department of Physiology
and Pharmacology “Vittorio Erspamer”,
Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

Biography

I am an Electronic Engineer and Assistant Professor (RTDa) at the Sapienza University of Rome, a researcher in Neurophysiology and Neuroscience.
I collaborated on numerous national and international projects, and I was the project leader (supervisor) of an Early-Stage Researcher in the Blood Biomarker-based Diagnostic Tools for EarlyStage Alzheimer’s Disease (BBDiag) HORIZON 2020-MSCA-ITN project. I am a co-Author of more than 70 scientific papers published in international journals (32 h-index). I am an expert in recording, analysis, and correlation of clinical, neuropsychological, electroencephalogram (EEG), bioinformatics, structural and functional neuroimaging (MRI, fMRI) data. My research activity aims to understand the neurophysiological mechanisms of cerebral cortex activity during resting state and cognitive-motor tasks in healthy subjects (e.g., athletes) and aged people with neurodegenerative disorders (e.g., Alzheimer’s disease – AD, Parkinson’s disease – PD, Lewy Body Dementia – LBD), cognitive decline, and functional and cognitive frailty.
I am developing and validating protocols for home monitoring of behavioural and physiological variables (e.g., sleep-wake cycle alteration, cognitive fluctuations, motor, and cardiovascular stress load) in cognitively frail elderly patients with neurodegenerative diseases. The objectives include obtaining digital indicators of cognitive-motor function, motility, cardiovascular stress, and sleepwake cycle regulation associated with cognitive-motor deficits and cortical activity regulating vigilance and sleep. The perspective is to have green digital home telemonitoring services within the Precision Medicine and Digital Healthcare framework.

Dean Radin

Institute of Noetic Sciences, Novato, CA, USA;
California Institute of Integral Studies,
San Francisco, CA, USA

Biography

Dean Radin is Chief Scientist at the Institute of Noetic Science (IONS), Associated Distinguished Professor of Integral and Transpersonal Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies, and co-founder and chairman of the genetic neuroengineering company, Cognigenics, Inc. His early career track as a concert violinist shifted into science after earning a BS degree in electrical engineering (magna cum laude, with honors in physics) from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and then an MS in electrical engineering and PhD in psychology from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. In 2022, he was awarded an honorary DSc (doctor of science) from the Swami Vivekananda University near Bangalore, India. For nearly four decades his research has focused on the nature and capacities of consciousness, primarily its nonlocal aspects (called “psi” for short). Before joining the IONS research staff in 2001, he worked at AT&T Bell Labs, GTE Labs, Princeton University, University of Edinburgh, and SRI International, where he spent a year on the now declassified “Star Gate” program of psychic espionage for the US government.

ROUND TABLE

Patrizio Paoletti

RINED Research Institute
for Neuroscience Education and Didactics,
Patrizio Paoletti Foundation, Italy

Biography

Patrizio Paoletti is the Founder of Fondazione Patrizio Paoletti. He promotes individuals’ awareness as the key to overcoming current global crises. He has developed theoretical models (e.g., Sphere Model of Consciousness), methods (e.g., One Minute Meditation), and evidence-based techniques (e.g., Quadrato Motor Training) to increase humans’ self-awareness. His “Sphere Model of Consciousness” is the result of two decades of neuroscientific research and it has been widely studied in the field of neuroscience and education. He is the creator of the interdisciplinary approach named “Pedagogy for the Third Millennium”.

Tania Di Giuseppe

RINED Research Institute
for Neuroscience Education and Didactics,
Patrizio Paoletti Foundation, Italy

Biography

Tania di Giuseppe is a psychologist, a psychotherapist, and the director of the Department of Psychological Research and Didactics at Fondazione Patrizio Paoletti’s RINED institute. She is an expert in resilience, hope, and projects to help individuals and communities facing emergencies. She is head of the project Envisioning the Future targeted at sharing knowledge about human functioning to help individuals face stress, gain awareness, and acquire the ability to reprogram the future.

Giulia Perasso

RINED Research Institute
for Neuroscience Education and Didactics,
Patrizio Paoletti Foundation, Italy

Biography

Giulia Perasso is a researcher at Fondazione Patrizio Paoletti working on preventative and intervention strategies to promote resilience. After research experience at the Centre for Abuse andTrauma Studies of the Middlesex University (London, UK) she earned her Ph.D in Psychology at the University of Pavia (Italy) and teaches Developmental Psychology to social work bachelor’s degree students at University of Genoa.

Grazia Serantoni

RINED Research Institute
for Neuroscience Education and Didactics,
Patrizio Paoletti Foundation, Italy

Biography

Grazia Serantoni is a researcher at Fondazione Patrizio Paoletti. She is a Psychologist -Psychotherapist at Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome. Main areas of research and clinical practice: Bereavement and Grief; Psycho-Oncology; Epidemiology and Prevention; Management and Development of Social and Health Programmes.

Alessandro Maculan

Department of Philosophy, Sociology,
Pedagogy, and Applied Psychology,
University of Padua, Padua, Italy

Biography

Alessandro Maculan has a PhD in Social Sciences from the University of Padua. He is a member of the Antigone Onlus Association and coordinates the Veneto observatory on detention conditions. He worked at the European Prison Observatory. His main research interests are the sociology of total institutions (e.g., prisons, centres for migrants), prisons’ ethnography, and detention conditions both in Italy and in Europe.

Francesca Vianello

Department of Philosophy, Sociology,
Pedagogy, and Applied Psychology,
University of Padua, Padua, Italy

Biography

Francesca Vianello, associate professor of Sociology of Law and Deviance at the University of Padua, is Director of the inter-university Master’s programme in Critical Criminology and Social Security at the University of Padua and Bologna. Scientific director of several research projects on detention conditions and alternative measures to prison, she is delegate of the rector for the University Prison Pole at the Padua Prison House.

PROGRAM

09.00 Opening and Institutional

| Chair: Ben-Soussan T.D.

09.30 Ben-Soussan T.D. and Paoletti P.
The importance of inner and outer silence – theoretical and practical implications in light of SMC

10.00 Sitskoorn M.
The art of silence – The relation between neuroplasticity, art, silence and wellbeing

10.30 Glicksohn J.
Discontinuity in time production, or inadequacy of psychophysical fit?

11.00 Coffee break

11.30 Srinivasan N.
Disinterested attention and aesthetic experience

12.00 Lizio R.
rsEEG rhythms across neurodegenerative diseases

12.30 Beziau J.Y.
The Logic of Silence

13.00 Lunch

14.30 Colonna A.
Landscape, architecture, and embodied cognition – notes for research, university education, and the profession

15.00 Radin D.
Fechner’s other psychophysics

15.30 Coffee break

I.C.O.N.S. Round Table

| Chair: Di Giuseppe T.

16.00 Meditation Practice

16.30 Round Table: Spherical Resilience And Silence: Promoting The Positive Resources Of The Prison Community
Paoletti P. 
– Shperical Resilience: I, We, Other than Us
Di Giuseppe T. – Envisioning the Future: A neuropsycho-pedagogical training for creating resilient communities
Vianello F. – Challenges and resources in the prison community
Serantoni G. – Coping with and transforming emergency situations: qualitative and quantitative studies on Envisioning the Future and the practice of silence for prisoners and prison community workers
Perasso G. – A quantitative study of emotion regulation and predictors of resilience in prisoners before and after Envisioning the Future
Maculan A. – Narratives and resources of the prison and educational community. Qualitative findings on the experience of Envisioning the Future.

18.00 Short break

18.30 Harp Music Workshop
Marianne Gubrì

Previous editions of I.C.O.N.S.

The first edition of I.C.O.N.S. was held in July 2019 in Nocera Umbra
and resulted in a research topic in the journal Frontiers

The second edition of I.C.O.N.S. was held in July 2021 in Nocera Umbra and was attended by many international experts in person and online. It also produced an ECM course for continued education

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

Patrizio Paoletti (Main Organizer) 

Tal Dotan Ben-Soussan (Main Organizer): t.b.soussan@fondazionepatriziopaoletti.org 

Michele Pellegrino: m.pellegrino@fondazionepatriziopaoletti.org

Fabio Marson: f.marson@fondazionepatriziopaoletti.org

ORGANIZERS

Patrizio Paoletti Foundation

20 years of passionate commitment

It is a non-profit research organisation that has been dedicated to the study of human functioning for 20 years. Through interdisciplinary research, the results of which are applied in the field of education and didactics, the organisation promotes the best talents in children and adults.
The Foundation, through its Research Institute for Neuroscience, Education and Didactics (RINED), studies how man grows, learns, gets excited and improves, with the aim of creating practical, immediate, innovative and effective tools that support people in learning how to know how to do, how to live in order to ‘be’ in a constantly changing world.
Through its educational projects, the Foundation works so that every adult becomes more aware of his or her own resources, role and responsibility towards others and the planet; so that every child, in every part of the world, finds the right conditions to fully express his or her potential.

Research Institute for Neuroscience, Education, and Didactics

RINED

Research Institute for Neuroscience, Education, and Didactics (RINED) is part of the Fondazione Patrizio Paoletti (FPP) which is an Italian foundation registered in the National Register of Research at the Ministry of Education, University, and Research (MIUR).

The main goal of RINED, and FPP in general, is to individualize new theoretical and practical models of knowledge which promote cognitive, physical, psychological, and emotional health and wellbeing from childhood to old age.

Patrizio Paoletti Foundation
Via Nazionale 230 – 00184 Rome
Tel. +39 06 8082599 – Fax +39 06 92912688
fondazione@fondazionepatriziopaoletti.org

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