coggroup February 2020

coggroup@mx1.psych.mcgill.ca

1 participants
3 discussions

[Coggroup] CRAM THURSDAY FEB 13TH
by Cognitive Research at McGill 24 Feb '20

24 Feb '20

Hi Everyone, We are excited to announce that the next CRAM session will take place this THURSDAY, February 13th, at 12-1PM in room 461 (2001 McGill College). We will have the pleasure of hearing from Dr. Brendan Johns, our department's latest faculty hire. See below for the title and abstract of the talk. As usual, snacks will be provided. All are welcome. Best Regards, The CRAM Team ---------------------- Title: The Continued Importance of Theory: Lessons from Big Data Approaches to Cognition Abstract: The cognitive sciences have begun to collect, collate, and use large natural language corpora to understand human lexical behavior. That effort is facilitated by impressive new machine learning techniques and technologies. The exercise has advanced the field and produced insights that would have otherwise remained hidden. However, it is important to consider the tradition and practice of big data within the history of cognitive science and to consider the potential costs associated with an over enthusiastic and unreflective embrace of the new way. By tradition, cognitive science is an empirical science grounded in the experimental hypothetico-deductive method. In short, theories produce a priori predictions and those predictions are tested in controlled targeted experiments. To the extent that the data match the theoretical predictions, the theories are sound. When data mismatch the theory, the data prevail. In contrast, the standard practice in big data is abductive: explanations are provided for found data. As any logician would tell you, deduction and abduction are not equivalent. In light of the current scenario, that difference forces a meaningful but sometimes overlooked distinction in the purpose as well as explanatory role of classical versus big data methods for understanding human behavior. I will articulate the distinction and present examples using computational models of language processing.

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[Coggroup] Dr. Drew Rendall CRLBM Talks This Friday
by Cognitive Research at McGill 10 Feb '20

10 Feb '20

Hi Everyone, There will also be a couple of CRLBM talks this Friday by Dr. Drew Rendall that might be of interest to some of you. Please see below for more information. Best, The CRAM Team ----- Drew Rendall (Departments of Biology and Psychology, University of New Brunswick) When: Friday, February 14, 10:00am (note change in schedule) Where: 2001 McGill-College, room 461 (McGill Psychology) Title: Comparative perspectives on language structure and evolution: grounding linguistic meaning in shared processes of vocal production, perception, affect and cognition in human and nonhuman primates A key problem for cognitive science is to explain the structure and evolution of language, given its centrality to modern human behavior and mind, and their origins. Unfortunately, progress can be hampered by two faulty assumptions: one that language is special, the other that it is not. The former, conventional stance, assumes language is special, unique, without evolutionary precedent. It therefore struggles to explain the evolution of something complex from nothing. The latter stance reflects more recent comparative research in animal communication which has been extremely productive. However, some segments of comparative research, particularly that focused on nonhuman primates, have appropriated core linguistic constructs such as semantics, meaning, information, syntax, intentionality, and used them in loose and metaphorical ways that fundamentally distort their linguistic significance in an effort to demonstrate continuity to language. This approach risks trivializing distinctive properties of language and overstating continuity with primate communication, thereby leaving little to explain about the evolution of language. In this talk, I will try to better align comparisons between the two groups by highlighting the importance of low-level features of communication indisputably common to both including: common features of vocal anatomy, voice production and resulting vocal signal structures as well as conserved processes of voice perception and perceptuo-cognitive biases that together undergird fundamental dimensions of social communication important to both kinds of primates. Embracing these foundational building blocks opens a variety of possible productive avenues for future research in language structure and evolution. In particular, I will suggest that perceptual and cognitive biases that promote certain types of â??signal-meaningâ?? mappings provide a natural, bio-semantic substrate on which more robust communicative systems can by built. Dr Drew Rendall is professor of Biology and Psychology at the University of New Brunswick. He is interested in the structure, function and evolution of communication systems. He worked for many years on nonhuman primates- monkeys- but now works on birds where he is particularly interested to understand the evolution of song complexity and the underlying proximate mechanisms that support their production. Please contact Jon Sakata (jon.sakata(a)mcgill.ca) if you would like to meet with Dr Rendall separately. https://crblm.ca/drew-rendall-departments-of-biology-and-psychology-univers… ----- He will also giving a talk in Biology: Thursday 13 feb- 15:30, Redpath (museum) Auditorium Title: A Potpourri of Puzzles and Paradoxes in the Evolution of (Complex) Communication in Humans, Nonhuman Primates and Birds Abstract: Complexity features prominently in research and theorizing in biology and the wider life sciences. For example, an abiding puzzle in evolutionary biology concerns whether and why natural systems tend to evolve to increasingly complex states. Complexity features prominently also in signaling research and theory, including in studies of natural communication systems in animals. Here, complexity is often benchmarked against human language, typically regarded as the epitome of a complex natural communication system. In this talk, I will first outline some of the key features of language that define its complexity and then provide overviews of vocal communication in nonhuman primates and birds, two very distinct taxa that nevertheless share the distinction of being frequent comparative models for the evolution of language-like communication complexity. The comparisons will highlight a paradox that vocal communication in nonhuman primates, despite being close phylogenetic relatives of humans, manifests few obvious similarities to language, while birds, effectively unrelated to humans, show far more parallels. And this brings to light some other puzzles in the evolution of communication in each of these groups, as well as some broader possible lessons in the practise of comparative research and theorizing.

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[Coggroup] CRAM Data Blitz This Friday Feb 7
by Cognitive Research at McGill 07 Feb '20

07 Feb '20

Hi Everyone, We are excited to announce that the next CRAM session will take place this Friday, February 7th, at 12-1PM in room 1552 (2001 McGill College). We will have the pleasure of hearing more about the interesting research some of our very own graduate students and post-docs are conducting. Please see below for the list of speakers. As usual, snacks will be provided. All are welcome. Best Regards, The CRAM Team __________________________ Mehrgol Tiv A look into mental state vs. logical inferences during bilingual first and second language reading Shannon Wright Physiological Markers of Individual Differences in Musicians' Performance Rates Jason Gullifer The impacts of bilingual language experience on proactive executive control

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coggroup February 2020