Medical illustration and medical imaging are both indispensable components of comprehensive medical images. This paper elucidated the cognitive components of traditional medical illustration and compared the differences between China and the West in this regard. Specifically， Western medical illustration since the Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution has exhibited characteristics of mechanism， reductionism， and individualism， while traditional Chinese medical illustration， including the “Confucian medicine” culture represented by Neo-Confucianism since the Tang and Song dynasties， has been characterized by the complementarity of yin and yang， harmony， and holism. This paper further summarized the humanistic elements of medical illustration， revealing that traditional Western medical illustration has a tendency towards individualistic humanistic care， whereas the humanistic care of Chinese medical illustration has the characteristics of familism. By introducing contemporary medical imaging， it was pointed out that it was superior to medical illustration in terms of cognitive science， but it lacked the values of humanistic care. Meanwhile， the development of individual liberalism in contemporary Western medical illustration and the familistic characteristics of contemporary Chinese medical illustration were highlighted. It was also suggested that appropriate medical humanistic care should be maintained and developed in the era of medical imaging with the rapid development of artificial intelligence.

As an education content and mode advocated by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and recommended to the world in recent years, the cultivation of lateral capacity are increasingly seen by higher education institutions. Taking Northern Beijing Vocational Education Institutes as a case study, this paper made a useful discussion on how to use art education to enhance the lateral capacity of students by the way of ques-tionnaire survey.