Objectives and Scope

Pleasure can be thought of as evolution’s boldest trick, serving to motivate an individual to pursue rewards necessary for fitness, yet in modern environments of abundance, also inducing maladaptive pursuits such as addictions. Pleasure is the fundamental motivational trigger for human and animal behavior at all levels of neural, mental and behavioral complexity; even for decision-making which is considered as the highest level of cognitive process of human mind. In this respect, pleasure has been an intriguing issue for various subfields of philosopy and scientific study throughout intellectual history. Recent evidence from neuroimaging studies expand our knowledge of the underlying mechanisms and adaptive functions of pleasure. Surprisingly, similar neural circuitry is argued to be activated by quite diverse pleasures (sensorial, cognitive, social, aesthetic and moral pleasures) suggesting a common mechanism shared by all. MUISC 2020 will hopefully provide participants from around the world with an interdisciplinary platform to discuss and critically evaluate recent research from a theoretical and empirical perspective.