Colloquia, Workshops, Dialogues And Tutorials
2024-2025
Fall
CogSci Kickoff!
Date: October 1st @ 4:00pmLocation: Five and Dime
Dr. Paula Rubio-Fernández, Max-Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
Date: October 15th, 4:00pm
Location: Swift Hall 107
Website: Paula Rubio-Fernández
Title: The Cognitive Trinity of Common Ground
Abstract:
Human communication is built around interlocutors’ common ground (CG), or the information they assume to share. Despite having been the focus of intense interdisciplinary research for more than 60 years, we do not yet understand how CG works, or even what exactly it is. In this talk I will introduce a new research program that is essential to understanding CG: I propose to study CG as a product of cultural evolution. This approach requires identifying (i) those cognitive capacities that are required for the emergence of CG in human cognition, and (ii) how those capacities interact in (a) the development of CG through children’s social learning across cultures; (b) its formation through social interaction across the lifespan, and (c) its management in conversation across languages. I hypothesize that forming and using CG is a complex human ability that emerges from the interaction of three cognitive capacities — joint attention, shared memory, and the use of reference systems — under a rationality principle. This is what I informally call the Cognitive Trinity of Common Ground, which could also be described as a naïve model of rational memory.
Dr. Rachel Ryskin, University of California, Merced
Date: November 12, 4:00pm
Location: Swift Hall 107
Website: Rachel Ryskin
(Local Host: Matt Goldrick)
Title: Language comprehension adapted to the environment
Abstract:
In order to understand each other across diverse contexts and situations, humans must continuously adapt their linguistic expectations. Yet, the core of their language knowledge must remain stable. Research in my lab aims to understand how humans balance flexibility and stability in language comprehension in order to efficiently exchange information in the face of variability and noise. In this talk, I will first review evidence that comprehenders learn from their environment at multiple levels including adapting to the informativity of the speaker, the probability of syntactic structures, the kinds of errors the speaker makes, and the noise in the input. I will then discuss work investigating the constraints on this continuous learning. For instance, studies with individuals across the lifespan indicate that word meanings and syntactic biases are learned on different timescales. And work with individuals with aphasia — a language disorder caused by stroke — suggests that they may not update their representations of errors in the environment as rapidly as healthy language users. I will close by discussing future directions and implications for the neural mechanisms underlying language adaptation.
Winter
Dr. Laura Dabbish, Heinz College at Carnegie Mellon University
Date: January 21st, 4:00pm
Location: Swift Hall 107
Website:
(Local Host: Elizabeth Gerber)
Title: DESIGNING INCLUSIVECOLLABORATION: LESSONSFROM OPEN-SOURCESOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
Abstract:
Collaboration involves complex processes such as decision-making,communication, identity management, and problem-solving within and acrossgroups. Open-source software (OSS)—projects where individuals collaborate todevelop freely available software—provides a rich context for studying theseprocesses at multiple levels, from individual cognition to group dynamics andorganizational systems. OSS contributors must coordinate their work across timezones, cultural differences, and varying levels of expertise, often withouthierarchical structures or face-to-face interactions. In this talk I will discuss howcognitive science concepts like group coordination, social identity, and decision-making apply to OSS communities. The unit of analysis spans individuals (e.g.,contributors’ motivations and barriers), interactions (e.g., moderation of toxicbehavior), and systems (e.g., organizational policies shaping collaboration).Drawing on empirical studies, I will explore how design principles can enhanceinclusivity, equity, and sustainability in OSS and other open collaborationenvironments, offering insights for cognitive science research and application.
Faculty Flash Talks
Date: February 11th, 4:00pm
Location: Swift Hall 107
Faculty speakers
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Title: “Auditory processing as a window into cognition and computation in minds and machines” Abstract: Humans and other biological beings have to constantly interact with a tremendously complex and dynamic environment, requiring them to exhibit intelligent and adaptive behavior. Using auditory processing as a model mechanism, we will explore how generalization and the potentially underlying transformations might support this impressive ability, as well as how comparing these computations across biological and artificial minds might help to reveal more fine-grained insights. |
Title : "Adolescent neurodevelopment of motivation and learning" Abstract: Adolescence is a transitional phase of the lifespan that offers a window into how the mind and brain develop and adapt to changing environments. This period of the lifespan is characterized by dynamic changes in brain function, which create unique opportunities for learning and growth. In this talk, I will present ongoing work that characterizes how the neurodevelopment of multiple learning and memory systems guides motivated behavior during adolescence.
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Title: On the Validity of Self-Report Surveys of Racial Discrimination Abstract: Researchers in psychology, public health, and political science sometimes measure racial discrimination using self-report surveys. There are many benefits; self-report surveys are easy to employ, provide comparable data across timescales and location, and privilege the perspectives of victims of discrimination. Yet even these measures’ proponents worry that measurement bias might undermine their validity. In this talk, I propose that arguments for the validity of self-report measures of racial discrimination should be supported by theoretical commitments about racial discrimination based on testimony from impacted communities. I contrast this with validation arguments appealing to creation of a new construct (‘perceived racial discrimination’) and the psychometric properties of the surveys. |
Dr. Chaz Firestone, Johns Hopkins University
Date: March 4th, 4:00pm
Location: Swift Hall 107
Website: Chaz Firestone
Title: Seeing "How"
Abstract:
What is perception? The most intuitive and influential answer to this question has long been the one given by David Marr: To see the world is “to know what is where by looking” — to transform light into representations of objects and their features, located somewhere in space. But is this all that perception delivers? Consider the figure [below]; certainly you see some colored shapes, as well as where they are located. Yet, beyond this, you may also see how they relate to one another: The green piece can fit into the others, and even create a new object with a shape of its own.
In this talk, I present evidence that perception extracts relations between objects in much the same way as it processes the objects themselves, and that these relations are abstract, structured, and surprisingly sophisticated. We’ll explore (and experience) the perception of several sophisticated relations between objects, including combining, supporting, containing, covering, and fastening — as well as relational “illusions” in which objects appear to interact with mysteriously invisible entities. Together, this work suggests that we see not only “what” and “where”, but also “how”.
Spring
2025 DISCOURSE in Psychosis Consortium
Date: April 3rd, 2025 9:00am-6:00pm
Location: Lurie Medical Research Center, 303 E Superior Street, Chicago, IL Baldwin Auditorium Room Lurie 1-123
This event will bring together scholars working in the fields of psychiatry, psychology, and linguistics to promote the theoretical and empirical investigation of thought, language and communication disturbances in psychosis. All are welcome, especially Cognitive Scientists!
Dr. Tina Tallon, Ohio State University
Date: April 8th, 4:00pm
Location: Swift Hall 107
Website: Tina Tallon
Title: Machine Learning, Music, and Medicine
Abstract: Recent developments in machine learning allow for high-resolution and data-driven multimodal approaches to the development and deployment of adaptive technologies and music-based therapeutic interventions for a wide variety of disabilities and diseases. There is a wealth of behavioral data that correlates participation in musical activities to improved lucidity, memory, emotional regulation, social interaction, and overall well-being for patients with neurodegenerative diseases, though the precise mechanism of action is as of yet not well-understood. This talk explores three different nascent research projects aimed at leveraging various integrative approaches to understanding music cognition and creativity to not only better understand the effects of musical stimuli (whether patient-directed or patient-initiated) on arousal, attention, and emotion, but also to develop adaptive technologies that expand access to music-making opportunities and allow patients to extend their participation in these activities through periods of cognitive decline.