Author: Crystal Mills

COGS & ECOM Talk on 4/19: Dr. Psyche Loui

Posted on April 3, 2024April 3, 2024 by Crystal Mills

COGS and ECOM are excited to announce a joint talk on 4/19 by Dr. Psyche Loui from Northeastern University. Psyche Loui, PhD, is a psychology and neuroscience researcher, a musician, Associate Professor of Creativity and Creative Practice at Northeastern University, and Director of the Music, Imaging, and Neural Dynamics Laboratory (MIND Lab).

Date/Time: Friday, 4/19/24 from 4:00pm – 5:30pm Eastern Standard Time

In-Person Location: McHugh Hall 305

Zoom Option: https://uconn-edu.zoom.us/j/97306159796?pwd=ZHI1NTh1R1dPZTdYNS95U3hnN2QyZz09

Meeting ID: 973 0615 9796 Passcode: 391851

Talk Title: The Sciences of New Musical Systems, and Their Implications for Brain Health

Abstract: Music is one of life’s greatest pleasures. While abundant evidence points to the role of predictability (i.e. the knowledge of what comes next) in the experience of pleasure, little is known about how predictable musical features (e.g. melody, harmony, rhythm) come to be rewarding. I will present new work in my lab on behavioral and neuroimaging studies of the relationship between musical predictions and their reward value. Our behavioral studies test whether and how it is possible to acquire reward value solely from newly-formed predictions, by exposing participants to novel, acoustically-controlled musical stimuli with different statistical properties without extrinsic paired rewards. Our neuroimaging studies capitalize on activity of the dopaminergic reward system, and its connectivity to the auditory system, to test for individual differences in reward sensitivity from music. Results show that this reward sensitivity is robust but malleable (i.e. both a state and a trait), and lies at the heart of both active and receptive music-based interventions for a wide range of neurodegenerative disorders.

Meetings: If you are interested in meeting with Dr. Loui during the day or attending dinner in the evening, please email crystal.mills@uconn.edu.

Industry Job Opening – Cognitive Data Scientist

Posted on April 3, 2024 by Crystal Mills

Kairos Research (https://kairosresearch.com) is a young and dynamic company based in Dayton, OH, conducting research at the intersection of human and machine cognition. We currently have an opening for a full-time Cognitive Data Scientist to help execute and grow our expanding portfolio of government-sponsored research in the human sciences. The Cognitive Data Scientist will play a major role in supporting our human performance data modeling and data analytics efforts with the Air Force Research Laboratory, as well as other projects that involve extracting insights from a wide variety of physiological and cognitive datasets (ranging from wearable sensors data to cognitive and behavioral performance data).

The ideal candidate is a highly creative, self-motivated individual who possesses a deep understanding of leading-edge techniques in data science, statistical modeling, and/or machine learning. Candidates who have experience working with hidden Markov models (HMMs) – in particular, experience using HMMs to model a user’s cognitive state (e.g., workload, fatigue, stress, attention) – are especially of interest. The candidate should also possess a strong publication record and a willingness and ability to seek independent research funding. Additionally, because Kairos is a small company with a highly collaborative work culture, we especially seek candidates who are outgoing and enjoy interacting with their colleagues and with our government sponsors.

Other recent Kairos projects span topics such as explainable AI, trust in automation, human-robot interaction, the cognitive science of intelligence analysis, and the identification and tracking of influence narratives on social media. In addition to the Air Force, our current and past sponsors include organizations such as DARPA, IARPA, the Office of Naval Research, the Army SBIR Program, the National Institutes of Health, and Special Operations Command. [Note that prior experience working on projects funded by the Department of Defense (DoD) and/or related to national security is a strong plus but is not required for this position.]

NOTE: This is a great opportunity for an academic research scientist who is seeking a career change but who wants to continue pursuing original research!

JOB LOCATION: Dayton, OH

REQUIRED:
1. US citizenship or green card.
2. PhD in Cognitive Science, Computer Science, Engineering, Psychology, Neuroscience, Social-Behavioral Sciences, Human Factors, or related discipline (the specific field of study is less important than the candidate’s experience and skills).
3. Experience with advanced regression techniques, including hierarchical models, nonlinear models, multivariate (i.e., multiple outcomes) models, mixture models, and ensemble models—all in the context of a variety of outcome types (e.g., binary choices, Likert ratings, response times, etc.).

4. 3+ years research experience (includes postdoctoral research).
5. Excellent written and oral presentation skills.
6. A highly collaborative mindset.

PREFERRED:
1. Familiarity and experience with methods for analyzing noisy, high-dimensional data, including various dimensionality reduction methods (PCA, t-SNE, etc.).

2. Familiarity with contemporary machine learning techniques, including deep neural networks, especially as applied to natural language processing.

3. Experience leading and/or contributing substantially to successful research proposals (need not be defense-related; could include NSF, NIH, etc.).

CONTACT:
Interested candidates should email their CV/resume to Dr. Louis Marti (louis@kairosresearch.com) cc: techadmin@kairosresearch.com

11/10 COGS & SLHS Colloquium: Dr. Samuel Mathias

Posted on October 20, 2023October 20, 2023 by Crystal Mills

The Cognitive Science Program and the Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences Department are co-hosting a talk on 11/10!

Speaker: Dr. Samuel Mathias, Professor of Psychology from the Department of Psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School

Time & Location: 4PM, Friday November 10, 2023, in McHugh Hall Room 206

Talk Title: “Genetic and environmental influences on hearing, cocktail-party listening, and cognition”

Abstract: Everyday hearing requires solving the cocktail-party problem, or segregating and attending to the relevant parts of complex auditory scenes. There are huge individual differences in cocktail-party listening abilities. People with clinical hearing loss generally struggle with cocktail-party listening due to impaired basic auditory sensitivity; however, others experience similar difficulties despite having “normal” sensitivity. Conventional wisdom says that such individual differences are due to a combination of genetic and environmental factors, although the specific factors and their relative weights are poorly understood. This talk will describe preliminary work and future plans to identify specific genetic and environmental factors influencing hearing abilities, including basic auditory sensitivity and cocktail-party listening. We will also discuss how these abilities relate to cognition, with a view towards leveraging these relationships to better understand the distinct and shared etiologies of presbycusis, cognitive decline, and dementia.

Meetings: If you are interested in meeting with Dr. Mathias during the day before his talk or in dinner on Friday evening, please email Crystal: crystal.mills@uconn.edu. Thank you!

Two COGS Undergraduate Course Offerings in Fall 2023

Posted on July 27, 2023July 27, 2023 by Crystal Mills

We are pleased to announce TWO undergraduate course offerings from The Cognitive Science Program in Fall 2023. Seats are filling up quickly so sign up soon!

Coding for Cognitive Science

Course Name: COGS 2500Q: Coding for Cognitive Science

Days and times: Tuesdays & Thursdays from 9:30am – 10:45am

Classroom: Oak 308

Instructor: Dr. Stefan Kaufmann

Instruction mode: Hybrid Limited

Prerequisites: None

Course overview: This course is an introduction to computer programming for students with little or no prior programming experience. Its goal is to familiarize students with core concepts and essential skills, with special emphasis on typical tasks and applications in the Cognitive Sciences. We use the Python programming language because it is both accessible to beginners and widely used in real-world scientific programming. However, the concepts and skills we cover are helpful in mastering other programming languages as well.

Language & Racism

Course Name: COGS 2345/AFRA 2345: Language and Racism

Days and times: Tuesdays & Thursdays from 12:30pm – 1:45pm

Classroom: Arjona 105

Instructors: Drs. Letitia Naigles & Bede Agocha

Instruction Mode: In-Person

Prerequisites: Open to sophomores or higher. Recommended preparation: One course in AFRA or COGS.

Description: This course examines the relationships between language use, both historically and across the lifespan, and the social construction of race, racism, and racial identity, with particular emphasis on racial politics in the United States.

Course overview: LANGUAGE plays an immense, though often underrated role in nearly every domain of students’ lives, including where they live, who they love, what they learn, and whether and how they get and keep a job. Relatedly, then, language can also prevent all of the above. Language is a vehicle of racism because the language used by those in the majority or in power is artfully constructed to categorize people according to race and to place groups in deeply hierarchical relationships to one another.

Our course on Language and Racism deploys tools of the cognitive and psychological sciences to both illuminate and illustrate potential interventions for language racism.

We examine the linguistics and sociolinguistics of the language(s) used by Black communities in the U.S., including their origins, creolization, complex linguistic structure, and issues of stigma versus pride.
We examine the language of racism, including the types of discourse that construct Whiteness as dominant over Color, the processes of language standardization, and the ideologies of language and their interaction with group identity at both the local and national community levels.
We consider antiracism interventions that are language-based.
The course is project-based, with students learning to understand how language is used in their various social contexts as well as in contexts they can access via stored content. Students will learn to analyze their own and others’, famous and commonplace, racist and antiracist linguistic output/texts, using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) computational tool, which analyzes texts as manifesting properties such as anger, authority, in-group, out-group, and fairness.

UConn in Tel Aviv Summer Study Abroad Program

Posted on September 22, 2022 by Crystal Mills

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COGS, IBACS & BIRC Colloquium: Dr. John Hale on 2/18

Posted on February 10, 2022April 6, 2022 by Crystal Mills

Please join us virtually on 2/18 for John Hale’s talk co-sponsored by the Cognitive Science Program. IBACS, and BIRC. Registration in advance is required. Details are below:

Speaker: John Hale, Department of Linguistics, University of Georgia

Time: 4pm, Friday, February 18, 2022

Talk Title: Grammar, Incrementality and fMRI Timecourse

Abstract: What is the physical basis of human language comprehension? What sort of computation makes a stream of words come together, one after another, to yield a communicative or literary experience? This question sets up a scientific challenge for the brain and cognitive sciences. With functional neuroimaging, it is possible to extract a timecourse of brain activity from particular regions and ask how well alternative (psycho)linguistic theories account for the measured signal. This can be done over prolonged periods of time, for instance during the spoken recitation of a literary text. On the basis of such timecourses, this talk argues that our conceptualization of grammar should go beyond simple word-sequences and naive phrase structure. It presents an incremental parsing strategy that is more consistent with neuroimaging data than the simple ones presented in books like Hale (2014). The overall methodology can serve as a positive example of how brain data, syntactic theory and parsing algorithms may productively co-constrain one another.

Bio: John Hale, the Arch Professor of World Languages and Cultures at the University of Georgia, is a professor in the Department of Linguistics at UGA. A computational linguist, he has made significant contributions to the theory of sentence processing over the past two decades and is the author of a valued textbook in the field (Automaton Theories of Human Sentence Comprehension, 2014). Strongly committed to cultivating the vital and also changing character of intellectual pursuit in current times, Professor Hale collaborates with DeepMind and has been active in promoting interaction between industry and academia as a way of getting to the bottom of questions about the nature of mind.

Zoom Registration Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEvfuyrqDItG92U2pqStUoZe77wc0hO4owu

Meeting opportunities: John will be available during the day of his talk (Feb 18) and also during part of the preceding day for individual or small-group meetings on Zoom. Please contact whitney.tabor@uconn.edu if you are interested in meeting with John.

Announcing the CogSci Study Abroad Travel Award Program

Posted on February 2, 2022 by Crystal Mills

The Cognitive Science Program’s mission is to prepare students to tackle global and multicultural challenges. A study abroad experience is vital to this preparation. Yet students majoring in Cognitive Science and related-STEM fields are generally less likely to participate in study abroad programs than other students.

With this in mind, the Cognitive Science Program is excited to launch the Cognitive Science Study Abroad Travel Award Program. We will fund up to three, $2000 awards, to be used towards airfare costs associated with a UConn study abroad program. Any travel costs in excess of the $2000 allotment would be responsibility of the recipient.

These awards are available to UConn undergraduate students majoring or minoring in Cognitive Science who have been accepted into a study abroad program. Priority will be given to students attending the Interdisciplinary Ethnography Field Summer School in Mauritius or the Neuroscience Study Abroad Summer Program in Salamanca, Spain. (Courses taken through these two summer programs can be counted towards the Cognitive Science degree).

This funding scheme operates with a rolling deadline. Once funds are exhausted, the application will close.

Priority consideration will be given to students who (1) are members of a group that is underrepresented at the University of Connecticut; or (2) have overcome obstacles such as socioeconomic, educational, or other societal disadvantages (arising, for example, through prejudice and/or discrimination); or (3) have worked with such groups to help overcome these or other obstacles.

The Cognitive Science program is willing to review other travel abroad scenarios on a case-by-case basis. Questions regarding the Cognitive Science Study Abroad Travel Award Program may be sent to the Cognitive Science Director, erika.skoe@uconn.edu.

Please visit the Study Abroad Travel Award webpage for more information, including eligibility requirements and how to apply.

Postdoc and Research Coordinator Positions at UConn

Posted on January 28, 2022 by Crystal Mills

Dr. Ido Davidesco at UConn’s Learning Sciences Program is recruiting a postdoc and a research coordinator for a recently funded NSF project on the role of internal attention in STEM learning. The project involves EEG and eye-tracking in both laboratory and classroom settings.

For more information:

Postdoc Position: https://jobs.hr.uconn.edu/cw/en-us/job/496010/postdoctoral-research-associate

Research Coordinator Position: https://jobs.hr.uconn.edu/cw/en-us/job/496009/research-coordinator-research-assistant-1

Please share this opportunity with colleagues and students in your network.

Contact Dr. Davidesco (ido.davidesco@uconn.edu) for additional information.

COGS & ECOM: Ani Patel 2/11

Posted on January 20, 2022 by Crystal Mills

Please mark your calendars for our next talk as we will be hosting Prof. Aniruddh Patel (Dept. of Psychology, Tufts Univ.) on Feb 11 (Friday) between 4-5:30 pm (EST) via Zoom as part of our ECOM Speaker Series. The title of his talk is “The speech-to-song illusion: acoustic foundations and individual differences.” Prof. Patel’s talk is co-sponsored by The Cognitive Science Program. Below, you can find the abstract of his talk, along with the event link.

Prof. Patel told us he’d be happy to meet virtually to discuss issues related to his research. There are a couple of slots available to meet with him on Feb 11, Friday, between 12:15 pm – 1:15 pm, and on Feb 14, Monday, between 10:30 am – 11:30 am, and 2:30 pm – 4:30 pm. If you’d like to meet with him, please let me know, and I’ll be happy to make the necessary arrangements.

Abstract: Music often has salient acoustic differences from spoken and environmental sounds, especially with respect to patterns of pitch and timing. Research has shown humans can discriminate spoken and musical sounds within a fraction of second, and neuroimaging research has found distinct neural populations that respond to speech and music. These findings support the notion that music is a kind of sound, with distinct acoustic features and modes of neural processing. In this presentation I explore a phenomenon which challenges this view, and which suggests that music is a kind of perceptual experience, not a kind of sound. In the “speech to song illusion” certain spoken phrases, when played repeatedly, begin to vividly sound like song. Crucially, not all phrases transform in this way, and there are substantial individual differences in how strongly people experience the illusion. I will present research addressing why certain phrases transform more than others and why some listeners hear the illusion more strongly than others. While we have made some progress in answering these questions, much about this illusion remains mysterious, raising questions about why certain sounds are experienced as music.

COGS & IBACS Colloquium: Dr. John Hale on 2/18

Posted on January 19, 2022 by Crystal Mills

The CT Institute for the Brain and Cognitive Sciences and The Cognitive Science Program are excited to jointly host a talk by Dr. John Hale, professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Georgia.

Details can be found below but please note that the choice between an in-person or online talk online has not yet been made so please look out for further details.

Time: 4pm, Friday, February 18

Talk Title: “Grammar, Incrementality and fMRI Timecourse”

Department Website: https://ling.franklin.uga.edu/directory/people/john-hale

If you have any questions or would like to meet with Dr. Hale, please contact Whit Tabor at whitney.tabor@uconn.edu.