SU 26 Winner: Zlata Krasovska

Brief Theme Overview

The 2026 NeuroArt Summer Cohort explored “Waves of Thought”, a theme centered around cognitive neuroscience, pattern recognition, memory and the ever-changing activity of the mind. From scientific research to creative expression, participants were challenged to consider how our thoughts, emotions, and neurological processes can be understood—and represented—through their work.

The Inspiration Behind the Research

Zlata's research explores how the physical brain transforms thoughts and experiences into conscious reactions, using the social phenomenon of rejection as a lens for understanding this process.

Social rejection is an experience that many people encounter, yet the neurological processes behind our responses to exclusion can often go unnoticed. Through the lens of pattern recognition and cognitive neuroscience, Zlata examines how social exclusion can affect the brain and consciousness, particularly when experiences of rejection contribute to maladaptive patterns.

Rather than looking at rejection solely as a social or emotional experience, her work asks us to look deeper—to consider what happens within the brain as we process these experiences and turn them into thoughts, interpretations, and conscious responses.

Connecting to “Waves of Thought”

The connection to this year's theme lies in the movement from brain activity to conscious experience.

Our thoughts do not exist independently from the physical systems that produce them. Zlata's research explores this transition: how information is processed across different stages and functions of the brain before becoming part of our conscious experience.

In this sense, the “waves” in Waves of Thought become more than a metaphor. They represent the continuous flow of information through the brain as we recognize patterns, interpret experiences, and form conscious responses.

Social rejection provides a particularly meaningful example of this process. A single interaction can produce a chain of cognitive and emotional responses, while repeated experiences may influence the patterns through which future experiences are understood.

A Message Beyond the Research and Artwork

As the winner of the N.E.U.R.O. Pathway, Zlata's work represents NeuroArt's goal of bringing different forms of thinking together.

Her submission demonstrates how a complex scientific question can begin with something deeply human: the experience of feeling excluded. By connecting social behavior with cognitive neuroscience and the physical processes of the brain, Chronic Rejection encourages us to look beneath an experience we may otherwise take for granted. The result is an exploration of how our brains, our thoughts, and our social experiences continually influence one another.

Explore the Research

Read Zlata Krasovska's full submission: [View Research PDF →https://drive.google.com/file/d/168orXSaFBqwFwYTh7J0bA7HSDn8Ujava/view?usp=sharing] (Artwork + Research Included!)