IMPULSE-Focus I with Anna Abraham
IMPULSE-Focus with Anna Abraham: March 18–19, 2026
With a public lecture entitled “Understanding the Human Imagination: A Neurophilosophical Framework”, Prof. Dr. Anna Abraham (University of Georgia) inaugurated the IMPULSE-Focus Event Series 2026/27. Drawing on neuroscientific, psychological, and philosophical perspectives, she explored the human imagination as a central capacity for cognition and creativity. The lecture was aimed at a broad audience and invited open discussion.
Doctoral researchers and postdoctoral scholars were additionally invited to take part in a transdisciplinary exploration in the form of a one-day workshop at Uni Bonn’s new IMPULSE – House for Intellectual Innovation and Creativity (Adenauerallee 131). Built on the public lecture, the workshop brought together Anna Abraham and colleagues from Bonn to explore questions of imagination and creativity at the intersection of medicine, the humanities, and artistic research. Through inputs from different disciplines and co-creative working formats, participants jointly investigated connections between human imagination, creativity, (ambiguous) soundscapes, and visual imagery. The workshop was conceived as an experimental space for shared inquiry, dialogue, and intellectual exploration.
IMPULSE Focus I - Video Anna Abraham
Bild © IMPULSE House - Bonn University / YouTube
Event Overview
Lecture “Understanding the Human Imagination: A Neurophilosophical Framework”
Speaker: Prof. Dr. Anna Abraham (University of Georgia)
· March 18, 2026: 6 pm to 8 pm
Transdisciplinary Workshop "Exploring Imagination Through Sensory Experiences and Co-Creation" (for PhD candidates & postdoctoral scholars)
· March 19, 2026: 9:30 am to 5 pm
· IMPULSE – House for Intellectual Innovation and Creativity
Adenauerallee 131, 53113 Bonn
Our Guest
Prof. Dr. Anna Abraham
Anna Abraham is the E. Paul Torrance Professor and Director of the Torrance Center for Creativity at the University of Georgia, USA. Dr. Abraham investigates the psychological and neurophysiological mechanisms underlying creativity and other aspects of the human imagination, including the reality-fiction distinction, mental time travel, social and self-referential cognition, aesthetic experience, and mental state reasoning.
Her educational and professional training has been within the disciplines of psychology and neuroscience, and she has worked across a diverse range of academic departments and institutions the world over, all of which have informed her cross-cultural and multidisciplinary focus.
She has penned numerous publications including the 2018 book, The Neuroscience of Creativity (Cambridge University Press), and 2020 edited volume, The Cambridge Handbook of the Imagination. Her latest book is The Creative Brain: Myths and Truths (2024, MIT Press).
