Lab Retreat and CAOs Conference (Rovereto, Italy)

14 May of 2024

This year, the Predictive Brain lab embarked on a journey to Italy to have their lab retreat at the city of Rovereto, where our post-doc Ingmar de Vries has been collaborating with colleagues from the Center for Mind and Brain Sciences (CIMEC) for the last couple of years. This activity was combined with the intellectually stimulating Concepts, Actions, and Objects Conference (CAOs), taking place that same week.

After a long train ride from the Netherlands to Italy, we were rewarded with stunning mountain views and a schedule full of team bonding and science activities. The group took part in relaxing early morning meditations, a scientific trivia hike, brainstorming possible collaborations through mind-matching, and thinking about the big questions in science that concern everyone in our lab. 

We then moved towards the buildings of CIMEC to learn about current research on the topics of Concepts, Actions, and Objects. Our PI, Floris, was one of the key speakers at the conference, sharing his knowledge on 'Predictions in Visual Cognition' with everyone. Additionally, both Ingmar de Vries and Mandy Bartsch delivered two inspiring short talks after being recognized with the abstract awards. Overall, it was a week full of science and fun for the lab!