Speaker Series | Workshops | Events
Stay connected with the Cognitive Science Program through our events, including colloquia featuring leading researchers, workshops, tutorials, and special events. These gatherings foster interdisciplinary exchange, showcase emerging research, and provide opportunities for learning, collaboration, and community engagement.
fall 2026
COGSCI KICK OFF
Date: September 28th
Time: 4:00pm-6:00pm
Location: Five & Dime 1026 Davis St., Evanston, IL 60201
Cognitive Science Speaker Series
Anna Papafragou, Professor of Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania
Date : October 13, 2026
Time : 4:00pm - 5:00pm (light reception to follow)
Location : 2001 Sheridan Rd, Room 1205
Title: Dynamic events in mind and language
Abstract:
Humans are surprisingly adept at interpreting what is happening around them and organizing this information in terms of dynamic events. Furthermore, across human communities, language is used to describe the events that we experience. But what, exactly, is an event? In this talk, I propose a theory of eventhood that combines insights from logico-philosophical analysis, cognitive psychology and linguistic theory. On this theory, the representational units of events in cognition rely on abstract underlying structure, including temporal boundaries. In that sense, events are similar to objects (since objects also involve abstract structure, including spatial boundaries). This proposal predicts systematic patterns in the way people spontaneously perceive unfolding events. It also explains otherwise mysterious similarities in how events and objects behave as cognitive entities. Finally, this proposal naturally accounts for the existence of a homology between the cognitive and linguistic structure of events. This framework opens up exciting possibilities for future research on how people represent, remember and talk about what happens.
Cognitive Science Speaker Series
Karen Emmorey, Professor in Speech Language, San Diego State University
Date : November 10, 2026
Time : 4:00pm - 5:00pm (light reception to follow)
Location : 2001 Sheridan Rd, Room 1205
Title: Linguistic and neural consequences of iconicity in American Sign Language
Abstract:
Iconicity (a resemblance between form and meaning) in sign languages appears to be much more pervasive and structured compared to spoken languages. Currently, however, we know very little about how iconicity might impact the structure of the lexicon or whether iconic signs are processed differently in the brain. My colleagues and I have been exploring the nature of the distribution of iconic forms in the American Sign Language (ASL) lexicon, what drives the iconic depiction of semantic features, and whether iconic signs are perceived and processed differently than non-iconic signs. We have used Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) to examine whether iconic signs exhibit a distinct “neural signature” for deaf fluent signers or for hearing new learners and whether effects of iconicity are task-dependent. Thus far, this work indicates a) iconic signs have a unique lexical distribution that differs from that of iconic spoken words, b) salient/distinctive semantic features are more likely to be iconically depicted in signs, c) there appears to be no neural signature that tracks with the strength of iconicity during sign recognition for fluent signers, d) the effects of sign iconicity are task-dependent, facilitating picture-naming but not word-to-sign translation, and e) neural effects of iconicity diminish with learning. Overall, the results reveal linguistic consequences for grounding language in the body that shape the structure of the lexicon, but neural effects of iconicity may only occur under certain circumstances.
Winter 2027
COGSCI SOCIAL
Date : TBD
Cognitive Science Speaker Series
Faculty Flash Talks
Date : February 2, 2027
Time : 4:00pm - 5:00pm (light reception to follow)
Location : TBA
Speakers: Ruohan Zhang (Computer Science) and Sameer Ashaie (Communication Sciences and Disorders).
ERP BOOTCAMP
Date : March 9-10
Spring 2027
Cognitive Science Speaker Series
Judith Fan, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Stanford University
Date : April 13, 2027
Time : 4:00pm - 5:00pm (light reception to follow)
Location : Swift Hall 107, 2029 Sheridan Road, Evanston IL 60208
Title: Cognitive tools for uncovering useful abstractions
Abstract:
In the 17th century, the Cartesian coordinate system was groundbreaking. It exposed the unity between algebra and geometry, accelerating the development of the math that took humans to the moon. It was not just another concept, but a cognitive tool that people could wield to express abstract ideas in visual form, thereby expanding their capacity to think and generate new insights about a variety of other problems. Research in my lab investigates how the mind creates and uses such tools, guided by the hypothesis that even the most rarefied cognitive tools are forged by the need to coordinate perception, cognition, and action in the service of concrete goals. I will begin with an overview of our work investigating drawing—one of humanity's most enduring and versatile cognitive tools. A recurring theme is that what a drawing looks like underdetermines what it means: people produce and interpret drawings at varying levels of abstraction depending on what they can see, what they know, and what they wish to communicate. Next, I will describe an emerging line of work investigating data visualization, a modern cognitive tool used to make sense of phenomena that would otherwise be too difficult to observe directly. I will then share our work using physical assembly tasks as a way to track the emergence of useful abstractions: as people build a structure, they discover procedural abstractions that support planning, and use speech, drawing, and gesture to converge on shared ways of thinking and communicating about the problem. I will close by noting how evaluating AI systems on the same tasks can help to locate human cognition within the broader space of possible solutions to them, and how such studies might inform the development of new tools for expanding people's capacity to learn, share knowledge, and create new things.
COGSCI Fest
Date : TBD