Events

SLAC/NBL/COGS Talk: Dr. Cristiano Chesi on 3/27

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Dr. Cristiano Chesi, University School for Advanced Studies (IUSS) in Pavia, Italy

Date: Monday, 3/27/2023

Time: 12:20 PM

Place: BOUS A-106

 

Talk Title: Testing grammaticality through minimal-pairs sensitivity in (deaf) children (and ChatGPT): The COnVERSA test Cristiano Chesi 

 

Bio: Cristiano Chesi is Associate Professor of Linguistics at the University School for Advanced Studies (IUSS) in Pavia, Italy, where he serves as Director of NeTS, the IUSS Laboratory for Neurolinguistics, Computational Linguistics, and Theoretical Syntax. His research interests include computational linguistics, language acquisition, and linguistic disabilities. 

Presented by the UConn Programs in SLAC (the Science of Learning and the Art of Communication) and NBL (the Neurobiology of Language), with co-sponsorship by UConn’s Cognitive Science Program 

 

To request an appointment with Dr. Chesi, please contact William Snyder (william.snyder@uconn.edu).

COGS & SLAC Talk on 12/16: Jonathan Peelle

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The Cognitive Science and SLAC programs invite you to a talk on 12/16! 

 

 

 

Speaker: Dr. JonathanPeelle, an Associate Professor from theCenter for Cognitive and Brain Health at Northeastern University.

Time & Location: The talk will begin at 4PM, Friday December 16th, 2022, in the Dodd Center Konover Auditorium. Light refreshments will be available at 3:15PM. Please RSVP in advance. Virtual Attendance options are provided in the form. 

Talk Title:“Cognitive consequences of acoustic challenge during spoken communication”

Abstract: Everyday communication is full of acoustic challenges, including background noise, competing talkers, or assistive devices. How do listeners understand speech in the midst of this noise? Evidence from multiple sources is consistent with a shared resource framework of speech comprehension in which domain-general cognitive processes supported by discrete regions of frontal cortex are required for successfully understanding speech. These increased cognitive demands can be captured using behavior, pupillometry, and functional brain imaging. Although frequently studied in the context of hearing loss, these principles have broader implications for our understanding of how auditory and cognitive factors interact during spoken language comprehension.

Bio: Jonathan is a cognitive neuroscientist who studies the neuroscience of human communication, aging, and hearing impairment at the Center for Cognitive and Brain Health at Northeastern University. He also has two podcasts: “The Brain Made Plain” where he interviews cognitive neuroscientists about their work, and “The Juice and the Squeeze” in which he and a co-host talk about different aspects of being in academia.

 

 

NEUROSCIENCE at STORRS: CALL FOR PARTICIPATION

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Dear Colleagues,

You are cordially invited to the 25th annual Neuroscience at Storrs event, which will be held on Tuesday November 8th and Wednesday November 9th 2022.  This event is hosted by the Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, and it is the oldest cross-discipline neuroscience event on campus.  Please forward this message to any interested people.

DAY I. Tuesday November 8th 4:00 pm, Dodd Center Konover Auditorium  

Amanda Lauer Ph.D., Associate Professor of Otolaryngology, Johns Hopkins University  

Title: “Role of the auditory brain-to-ear efferent feedback system in hearing across the lifespan”  

  

DAY II. Wednesday November 9th

Dodd Center Konover Auditorium  

3:00-3:45 Grad Student/Postdoc Data Blitz  

3:45-4:30 Trainee Career Panel  

4:30-5:30 Amy Newman Ph.D., Scientific Director, NIDA Intramural Research Program  

Title: “Novel and atypical dopamine transport inhibitors for the treatment of psychostimulant use disorders”  

Bousfield PSYC Atrium   

6:00-8:30 Poster Session and Reception  

 

CALL FOR POSTERS AND DATA BLITZ PRESENTATIONS: 

We will be hosting short-format podium presentations (data blitz) from grad students and postdocs (up to 8 possible 5-minute talks), and a poster session from grad students, postdocs, and undergrads. Students and postdoctoral fellows FROM ALL AREAS OF NEUROSCIENCE are enthusiastically encouraged to participate in the poster or data blitz presentations. Please sign up at: 

https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fneuroscience.uconn.edu%2Fneuroscience-at-storrs-rsvp%2F&data=05%7C01%7C%7Cb19e263ac50f4cca8f1d08dab2cfbde1%7C17f1a87e2a254eaab9df9d439034b080%7C0%7C0%7C638018902554103725%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=j4Ucn2eD7ATqzQqAvmXY%2FxOWom9k1OzmJJhN177dFDk%3D&reserved=0

INSTRUCTIONS: 

The website lists information about the event, and below that there are menus for entering information if you are either a) attending only b) presenting a poster, and c) presenting at the data blitz (limited numbers only). Please follow the link, scroll through the menu and enter the relevant information by Thursday November 3rd.  

Oct 21/22: Workshop “Conditional Thought and Talk”

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Dear all:

We are pleased to announce our workshop

Conditional Thought and Talk: Semantic, Pragmatic, and Cross-linguistic Perspectives

held at the Heritage Room (Homer Babbidge Library, Room 4118) on Friday, October 21 and Saturday, October 22.

organized by Mitch Green (Philosophy) and Magdalena and Stefan Kaufmann (Linguistics) as part of theSuppositional Thought and Talk project. The project explores conditional sentences and related expressions from different perspectives at the intersection between Linguistics, Philosophy and Psychology: their form and meaning across languages, their logical properties, and the reasoning behind their use and interpretation. We have assembled a group of top international experts on these topics for what we expect will be two stimulating days of presentations and discussions. For details on the program, as well as more background on the project, please check the workshop webpage, and keep checking back for updates.

The workshop will be in-person and open to all (subject to seating availability). Do drop us a line if you plan to attend. Let us know if you have any questions.

We gratefully acknowledge support for this event from UConn College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; the UConn Humanities Institute; the UConn Cognitive Science Program; and the National Science Foundation.

Best regards,

Stefan, Magda, and Mitch

10/24: Student Abroad Program in Tel Aviv, Israel Info Session

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UConn Brain and Behavior Student Abroad Program in Tel Aviv, Israel
Information Session on Monday, Oct. 24th at 5pm in Psychology (Bousfield) room A101

http://www.tausummerneuroscience.uconn.edu/

This year there will be two UCONN classes to choose from – both giving Honor’s credit

·        PSYC2209 Learning and Memory: From Brain to Behavior

Students can also choose a second class offered by Tel Aviv university.

This program is eligible for the COGS Study Abroad Travel Award !

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Join us for COGS Colloquium: Dr. Hady Ba

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Please join the Cognitive Science Program on 4/22 for our next Colloquium!
 
Image of Hady Ba

Speaker: Dr. Hady Ba, Associate-Professor of Philosophy at Cheikh Anta Diop University, Visiting Fullbright Scholar  

Time & Location: 4pm, Friday, April 22, 2022 in Oak 117. Light refreshments will be provided. 

Talk Title: Ape Linguistics and the Chomsky/Norvig debate 

Abstract: According to Chomsky, statistical models of language, even though pragmatically successful can’t teach us anything about the nature of language which is rule based. Norvig disagree. According to him science goes from accumulation of data to explanation and back. In this talk, I’ll first show that despite advances in the statistical treatment of language, what happens is that the most successful algorithms for translation, completion and dialogue seem to mimic our brains treatment of language but have some limitations that we don’t know yet how to get rid of. Does this mean that we need better linguistic theories to get to the next step? To respond to this question, I will use data from animal linguistic cognition. I’ll argue that our experiments in teaching language to monkeys and the use by some researchers of tools from linguistics to analyze natural communicative production of apes show that there is a very specific, probably innate, component in humans’ ability to not only produce but also understand language. I will argue that contrary to what Chomsky think, this component goes beyond universal grammar and is probably due to the very peculiar nature of human sociability.  

Bio: An Associate-Professor of Philosophy at Cheikh Anta Diop University, Hady BA is a Fulbright Scholar from Senegal. He holds a PhD in Cognitive Science from The Jean Nicod Institute in Paris. Before coming back to Dakar, Hady Ba has worked on the development of Natural Language Processing tools that uses open-source resources like the web to detect and anticipate security threats. He’s currently writing a book on the epistemology of the Global South and has an ongoing project on animal cognition comparing human and non-human cognition.  

Meeting opportunities: Dr. Ba will be available during the day of his talk for individual or small-group meetings on Zoom or in-person. Please contact Crystal at crystal.mills@uconn.edu if you are interested.

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

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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. 

CogSci Colloquium: Dr. Lewis Gordon on 4/2/21

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The Cognitive Science Colloquium Series is proud to present Dr. Lewis Gordon, Ph.D.

Department Head of Philosophy at UConn

Photo of Dr. Lewis Gordon

Friday, April 2nd, 4pm, virtually on Zoom

REGISTER HERE (required)

Talk Title: “The Colonization and Decolonization of Disciplines, Especially in the Human Sciences”

Bio: Lewis R. Gordon is Professor and Head of the Department of Philosophy at UCONN-Storrs; Honorary President of the Global Center for Advanced Studies; Visiting Professor at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa; and Honorary Professor in the Unit for the Humanities at Rhodes University, South Africa. He previously taught at Brown University, where he founded the Department of Africana Studies, and Temple University, where was the Laura H. Carnell Professor of Philosophy and founder of the Center for Afro-Jewish Studies and the Institute for the Study of Race and Social Thought. He co-edits with Jane Anna Gordon the journal Philosophy and Global Affairs, the Rowman & Littlefield book series Global Critical Caribbean Thought, and, with Rozena Maart, Epifania Amoo-Adare, and Sayan Dey, the Routledge-India book series Academics, Politics and Society in the Post-Covid World. He is the author of many books, including Freedom, Justice, and Decolonization (Routledge, 2021) and the forthcoming 论哲学、去殖民化与种族 (“On Philosophy, Decolonization, and Race”), trans. Li Beilei (Wuhan, China: Wuhan University Press, fall 2021) and Fear of Black Consciousness (Farrar, Straus and Giroux in the USA and Penguin Book in the UK; German translation, Ullstein Verlag in Germany; Portuguese translation, Todavia in Brazil,  forthcoming 2022).

Virtual AI/Computational Modeling Meet & Speak on 5/6

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Dear Research Community, 

Leslie Shor (Associate Dean, Engineering) and Gerry Altmann (Director, Institute for the Brain and Cognitive Sciences) have organized aMeet & Speakthat will bring together researchers from CLAS and Engineering with an interest in computational modeling / machine learning / and AI. The aim is for the different communities across the colleges to better understand the research that we are each engaged in. The meeting will offer an opportunity to foster greater cross-college discourse and collaboration, and may serve as a foundation for greater university investment in computational modeling. The Meet & Speak is scheduled for May 6th, 12pm-3pm on Zoom. You will be able to join the meeting by visiting this webpage.

Attendees will be able to submit questions during each talk using the Q&A feature. Our hosts will select questions during/after the talk. If your question is selected, the host will temporarily turn on your microphone and call on you to ask your question directly. 

There will be 12 speakers, each taking up a 12-minute slot including questions (speakers have been asked to limit their talks to 8-9 minutes). These speakers are a sample of faculty with interests in computational modeling. We could not include all the faculty with such interests and our apologies if we did not include you – one purpose of this meeting is to use this as a starting point for identifying researchers at UConn who share these computational interests.

Speakers (and relevant research interests):


1. Gerry Altmann (Director, IBACS; Psychological Sciences): Language and event comprehension in Recurrent Neural Networks.

2. Jim Magnuson (Psychological Sciences): Bridging the gaps between automatic speech recognition and human speech recognition.

3. Whit Tabor (Psychological Sciences): Language processing within a Dynamical Systems approach to Cognition.

4. Jay Rueckl (Psychological Sciences): Connectionist modeling of literacy development.

5. Ed Large (Psychological Sciences): Oscillator models of rhythm and music perception.

6. Ian Stevenson (Psychology): Modeling neural dynamics and information encoding within the human brain.

7. Monty Escabi (Biomedical Engineering): Algorithms for modeling how neurons process complex sounds.

8. Sabato Santaniello (Biomedical Engineering): Biophysically-principled modeling for brain disorders and neuromodulation

9. Derek Aguiar (Computer Science & Engineering): Probabilistic machine learning models to better understand genomics and genetics data applied to complex disease.

10. Jinbo Bi (Associate Head, Computer Science & Engineering): Machine learning and Data mining for Bioinformatics, Medical informatics, and Drug discovery

11. Ranjan Srivastava (Head of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering): Mathematical models of biological systems. 

12. Caiwen Ding (Computer Science & Engineering): Machine Learning & Deep Neural Networks

Further details (including schedule of talks, with titles and abstracts when available) can be found at ibacs.uconn.edu/events-may6/. 

Best Wishes,
Crystal Mastrangelo
Institute Coordinator, IBACS

IBACS Meet & Speak Registration

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Dear Research Community,

The CT Institute for the Brain and Cognitive Sciences (IBACS) invites you to our annual “Meet and Speak” event on Saturday, March 28th. This year, we hope to showcase more of the interdisciplinary work that our affiliates do, so in addition to having our recent seed recipients to speak, we have asked some specific faculty affiliates from various disciplines to speak as well. These faculty will give up to 10-minute presentations describing, in accessible language, the research they have carried out, or propose carrying out in relation to the Brain and Cognitive Sciences. Graduate students affiliated with the Institute will be providing short “datablitz” style presentations about their involvement in IBACS seed-funded or fellowship-supported research. Following the graduate student blitz, there will be a panel discussion to commemorate our 5-year anniversary. The panel will discuss questions such as the following: What does brain science/cognitive science mean to you? What are the challenges to progress that particularly excite you? What are the opportunities for progress? Where is brain science/cognitive science heading, or where should it head?  
 
We are excited to announce that following the panel discussion, we shall have a keynote by Dr. John Gabrieli, MIT. According to Google Scholar, he is in the top 10 most cited individuals in Cognitive Neuroscience. His talk is entitled “Environmental Influences on Human Brain Development”. More information about Dr. Gabrieli is below.
All sessions will be held in Oak Hall 101 from 9:00am until about 4:00pm. The full program is available on our website. 

This event will provide an opportunity to learn more about the diverse research that IBACS affiliates are engaged in, and will provide a forum for cross-disciplinary networking. Light breakfast, lunch and afternoon refreshments will be provided.
 
We hope you can join us on March 28th to celebrate our 5-year anniversary!


If you are interested in attending all or part of this event, please register by Friday, March 20th. 
 
About John Gabrieli:

Website: https://gablab.mit.edu
Bio: John Gabrieli is the director of the Athinoula A. Martinos Imaging Center at the McGovern Institute. He is an investigator at the McGovern Institute, with faculty appointments in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and the Institute for Medical Engineering & Science, where he holds the Grover Hermann Professorship. He also has appointments in the Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and is the director of the MIT Integrated Learning Initiative. Prior to joining MIT in 2005, he spent 14 years at Stanford University in the Department of Psychology and Neurosciences Program. He received a PhD in Behavioral Neuroscience in MIT’s Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and a BA in English from Yale University.
Talk title: Environmental Influences on Human Brain Development
 
Abstract: Neuroimaging provides new views on how environmental factors influence human brain development.  I will review findings about associations (1) among family socioeconomic status (SES), brain anatomy, and academic performance; (2) between early language experience and brain function and structure; and (3) between stress and brain function and how those can be altered by mindfulness training.