events

events@mx1.psych.mcgill.ca

37 discussions

[Events] McGill Psychology Hebb Lecture - Dr. Frans de Waal, Friday, March 18th, 3:30PM, at Stewart Bio S1/3
by Karim Nader, Prof 08 Mar '16

08 Mar '16

Dear all, On Friday, March 18 will be our next Hebb lecture by Dr. Frans de Waal, Charles Howard Candler professor in the Psychology Department of Emory University<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emory_University> and Director of the Living Links Center at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, in Atlanta, Georgia.. Dr. Waal is well-known for his work focused on the behavior and social intelligence of primates. He has been elected to thee US National Academy of Sciences and the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences. In 2007, he was selected by Time as one of The Worlds’ 100 Most Influential People Today. Please put this event (see title and abstract of the talk below) on your calendar and kindly distribute it broadly. Frans de Waal, Emory University March 18, 3:30 Stewart Biological Sciences Building, Room S1/3 Followed by wine and cheese reception on the 8th floor of Stewart Biology. We hope you can join us. Karim Title: Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? Abstract: Despite the mechanistic view of animals that prevailed during last century, an undercurrent of scientists nourished a more cognitive approach. Initially, their research was ridiculed and suppressed, while a firm taboo was placed on anthropomorphism. They were told to favor simple explanations of behavior. From a Darwinian perspective, however, the simplest assumption about related species (such as humans and apes) is that behavioral similarity reflects psychological and mental similarity. Cognitive continuity ought to be the default assumption. Neuroscience increasingly supports homology, and human uniqueness claims have fallen one by one. Other primates are now being depicted as political, cultural, even moral beings. The wall between human and animal cognition has begun to resemble a Swiss cheese. This cognitive revolution is not limited to the primates, however. It is rippling across the entire animal kingdom, from tool-using crows to cooperating fish. Many unexpected new capacities have come to light, such as that animals monitor their own knowledge (metacognition) or reflect on past and future (time travel). Cognitive capacities are often the product of convergent evolution, and cannot be compared on a linear scale from “lower” to “higher” forms. Instead of universal learning mechanisms that apply to all animals equally, we see highly variable cognitions connected to the ecological demands of each species. I will provide a general overview of the methods and findings of this new science, known as evolutionary cognition, with an accent on primates and elephants, but also including octopuses, corvids, cetaceans, and fish. The central message is one of cognition on demand.

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[Events] McGill Psychology Hebb Lecture -- Dr Daniel Klein, Friday, February 19th, 3:30pm. Location: MCMED 504
by Anna Elizabeth Fago Weinberg, Dr 19 Feb '16

19 Feb '16

Dear Colleagues, On Friday, February 19th, the McGill Psychology Department will be hosting Dr. Daniel Klein, distinguished professor of Clinical Psychology at Stony Brook University, who will deliver a Hebb Lecture at 3.30pm in MCMED 504. Dr. Klein is currently a professor at Stony Brook University with joint appointments in Psychiatry and Behavioral Science. Dr. Klein obtained his Ph.D. in 1983 from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and is currently a distinguished professor of clinical psychology at Stony Brook University. Dr. Klein is interested in developmental psychopathology and adult psychopathology, particularly mood disorders in children, adolescents, and adults. His research explores the intergenerational transmission of depression; the roles of temperament and emotional reactivity, and early adversity in the development and course of mood disorders; the long-term course and continuity of mood disorders; the classification of mood disorders; comorbidity between depression and other disorders; and the psychotherapeutic and psychopharmacological treatment of depressive disorders. About: http://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/psychology/faculty/faculty_bio_pages/dkle… Title: A Natural Disaster as a Test of Personality and Neural Diathesis-Stress Models in Children and Mothers Abstract: Natural disasters provide an unfortunate “natural experiment” in which to examine the role of a discrete stressor that is independent of individual’s behavior in exacerbating pre-existing vulnerabilities to psychological symptoms. During the course of an ongoing longitudinal study of young children in Long Island, New York, Hurricane Sandy struck the region. Using information on individual differences collected before the hurricane, we were able to examine the effects of exposure to the disaster on changes in children’s and mothers’ symptoms. I will present data on the effects of child temperament and maternal personality, and an event-related potential (ERP) measure of children’s processing of emotionally salient information on changes in symptoms as a function of exposure to the disaster. In addition, I will examine the effects of hurricane-related stress on changes in ERP measures of children’s processing of reward and threat, and how these changes are moderated by parents’ promotion- and prevention-oriented parenting styles. Following the lecture, everyone is invited to join us for a wine-and-cheese reception in the lobby of the 8th floor of the Stewart Biology Building. Please feel free to circulate this notice widely. Best, Anna Anna Weinberg Assistant Professor Department of Psychology McGill University Stewart Biology Building, Office W8/33A 514-398-4672 1205 Dr. Penfield Avenue Montreal, Quebec H3A 1B1 http://annaweinberg8.wix.com/traclab<http://annaweinberg8.wix.com/traclab#!lab-members/cjg9>

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[Events] Reminder: Macnamara Lecture Friday
by Al Bregman 29 Sep '15

29 Sep '15

[Apologies for cross-posting] Hi folks, Just a note to jog your memories that the 19th Macnamara Lecture will be given by Mike Corballis this Friday. There will also be a morning seminar entitled, "The Lopsided Brain: Evolution of Cerebral Asymmetry and Language. This will occur at 10:30am in Room S2/2 (South wing, 2nd floor, room 2) of the Stewart Building, 1205 Doctor Penfield Ave. The Macnamara Lecture itself is entitled, "The wandering mind: Mental time travel, theory of mind, and language." It will be given at 3:30 pm in room 504 of the McIntyre Medical Building, 3655 Promenade Sir William Osler, (round building, 100m north of the intersection of Drummond and Doctor Penfield Avenues; alternative address 1200 Pine Ave. West). - Al Albert S. Bregman, Emeritus Professor Psychology Department, McGill University Phone: (514) six-five-four-3605, [image: Inline image 1]

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[Events] Michael Corballis's Macnamara Lecture
by Al Bregman 21 Sep '15

21 Sep '15

[Apologies for cross-posting] Dear colleagues and friends, On Friday, October 2nd, Michael Corballis will deliver the 19th Macnamara lecture at McGill. He is world-renowned for his research on the cognitive capacities of the modern human brain, such as its capacity for language and imagination and the lateralization of these and other capacities in the brain, and for his theorizing about the evolution of these capacities. After an early education in mathematics in New Zealand (BSc and MSc), he switched to psychology, and subsequently came to McGill for graduate studies (PhD, 1965). He continued here as a research associate, eventually becoming a full professor before returning to New Zealand' where he now lives. He has had a brilliant career, publishing 11 books, 289 refereed journal articles, 73 book chapters, and 95 reviews and commentaries, and receiving many honours. Here are the details of the Macnamara Lecture and the informal seminar that Dr. Corballis will present. I have also attached a poster for the main Macnamara Lecture. I would greatly appreciate it if you could forward this announcement to others who might be interested and post the poster where interested students could see it. *Date of both presentations: Friday, October 2, 2015* *1. The Macnamara Lecture (afternoon)* Title: *"The wandering mind: Mental time travel, theory of mind, and language"* Time: 3:30 PM Location: * Room 504, McIntyre Medical Building, McGill University, * 3655 Promenade Sir William Osler (round building, just north of the intersection of Drummond and Doctor Penfield Avenues) Abstract : About half the time, the mind wanders away from on-going tasks, into past memories and possible futures events, into the minds of others, and even into unworldly fantasy. Spontaneous activity of the brain is also revealed in dreams and hallucinations, and may well be responsible for creative thinking, the discovery of new and unusual combinations of ideas. It has been argued mind wandering, at least in the form of mental time travel, is unique to humans, but data from hippocampal recording suggesting that even rats appear to “play back” earlier experiences, and even “preplay” new ones. What is unique to humans is language, the adaptation allowing us to relay to others events and information removed from the present in time and place. Through stories, soap operas, gossip, and even lectures, language enables us to share our mind wanderings, understand other minds, and generate social cohesion and culture in the form of folklore, creation myths, religions—and science. *2. Informal seminar (morning):* Title: *"The lopsided brain: Evolution of cerebral asymmetry and language".* Time: 10:30 AM Location: *Room S2/2, South wing of the Stewart Biology Building. * 1205 Doctor Penfield Avenue (between Stanley and Drummond). Enter via the Penfield Avenue entrance. Abstract: Cerebral asymmetry and language have often been considered unique to humans, although evidence now suggests gradual evolution from bilateral networks. One such network is the mirror system identified in the primate brain, and specialized for the observation and execution of action. I will describe evidence from human brain imaging suggesting that the mirror system fissioned during hominin evolution into at least three independent lateralized networks, one correlated with handedness, one with speech, and one with action observation. *POSTER:* [image: Inline image 1]

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[Events] Macnamara Lecture Oct. 2, 2015
by Al Bregman 09 Sep '15

09 Sep '15

[Apologies for cross-posting] Hi folks, Mike Corballis is coming to town! Many of us remember him as a fine squash player during his ten years at McGill. He's done reasonably well since leaving us for the University of Auckland in New Zealand: Somehow he's managed to find time between squash and tennis games to publish 11 books, 289 journal articles, and 73 book chapters, but unfortunately only 95 reviews and commentaries. People seem to think all this is noteworthy: He's been made a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand, an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, and been given a Distinguished Career Award by the International Neuropsychological Society. Other honorary degrees, medals, and what-nots have also dribbled in. His main areas of research and writing have been on the laterality of the human brain and its functions. He's also dabbled in the the study of the evolution of the human mind, what makes it so smart, and how spoken language came to be. Mike will be giving the *Macnamara Lecture on Friday, October 2, 2015*, less than a month from now. Please reserve the date. The lecture is entitled, *"The wandering mind: Mental time travel, theory of mind, and language" and will be given at 3:30 pm in Room 504 of the McIntyre Medical Building,* and followed by a wine-and-cheese reception for all in the Psychology Department. Mike will also give a morning seminar at 10:30 am in Room S2/2 of the Stewart Biology Building, entitled, "The lopsided brain: Evolution of cerebral asymmetry and language". Please put these events on your calendar and kindly forward this message to any person or group that may be interested. Note: These Macnamara events will happen exactly two weeks after Carol Lynne Krumhansl's September 18th Hebb Lecture. Albert S. Bregman, Emeritus Professor Psychology Department, McGill University Phone: (514) six-five-four-3605, Email: al.bregman[AT]mcgill.ca

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[Events] McGill Psychology Special Hebb Lecture: Prof. John O'Keefe - June 1st 2015, 10:00am, MCMED 504
by Yogita Chudasama, Dr. 25 May '15

25 May '15

Dear Colleague, On Monday, June 1st, the McGill Psychology Department will host Dr. John O'Keefe, who will deliver a Special Hebb Lecture which may be of interest to members of your department. I would be grateful if you could circulate this notice on your department's email list or any relevant listserve. ___________ (Apologies for multiple postings) Dear All, A Special Hebb Lecture will be delivered by Prof. John O’Keefe, co-winner of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Medicine on Monday June 1st, at 10:00am, in MCMED 504 (McIntyre Medical Building, 3655 Promenade Sir William Osler). Prof. O’Keefe earned both his Masters and Ph.D. degrees from McGill University in the Department of Psychology supervised by Prof. Ron. Melzack. He then moved to University College London where he is currently Director of the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, and Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience. He is known for his research about how space is encoded in the hippocampus; using a combination of behavioural and electrophysiological methods, Prof. O’Keefe discovered place cells which show a specific kind of temporal coding that enable an animal to recognize and spatially navigate its surroundings. Professor O’Keefe is the recipient of numerous prizes and awards including the Gruber Prize and the Kavli prize in Neuroscience, and is Fellow of the Royal Society and the Academy of Medical Sciences, UK. Main Lecture at 10:00am, MCMED 504 The hippocampus as a cognitive map: How we got here and where we are going Abstract (see also: http://www.psych.mcgill.ca/misc/hebb/hebblectures.html ) Locating ourselves in familiar environments, navigating flexibly around those environments, and remembering where important objects can be found in them represent some of the most fundamental cognitive tasks that the brain performs. Remarkably there is a dedicated set of brain cells located in the hippocampal formation at the centre of a cognitive mapping network which performs these computations. In the first part of my talk, I will describe the place, direction, grid and boundary cells in the hippocampal formation which taken together comprise the cognitive map. I will emphasise the idea that a place cell can be constructed in two independent ways, one relying on current sensory information derived from the environment carried by the boundary cells and the other a path integration system which uses information from the direction and grid cells derived from the animal’s own movements. In addition to providing inputs for the construction of place representations, the grid cells appear to be good candidates to provide the distance metric for the map. In the second part of my talk, I will review recent evidence from our laboratory suggesting firstly that the grid cells are a subset of a more extensive group of spatially periodic EC cells which might also be used to construct place cells and secondly that the grid cell system might not be able to provide the metric for the cognitive map in all environments and under all circumstances. Hope to see you there, Yogita ______________________________ Yogita Chudasama Ph. D Associate Professor McGill University Department of Psychology Laboratory of Brain and Behaviour 1205 Dr. Penfield Avenue Montreal, Quebec, HA3 1B1 Tel: 514 398-3419 Fax: 514 398-4896 Web: chudasamalab.mcgill.ca<http://chudasamalab.mcgill.ca> ______________________________

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[Events] McGill Psychology Hebb Lecture - DR KIA NOBRE - March 20, 2015, STBIO S1/3
by Jelena Ristic 19 Mar '15

19 Mar '15

Dear Colleagues, I would be most grateful if you could forward or circulate this email to your department faculty and students, or any relevant listserve. Apologies for multiple postings. ------------- This is a friendly reminder that Dr. Kia Nobre from University of Oxford will deliver the Hebb lecture tomorrow, Friday, March 20th, 2015. The days events are as follows: 10:00am - Morning Seminar Title: Temporal expectations: The fourth dimension in attention. Location: Stewart Biology Building (1205 Dr. Penfield), Room N7/14. 3:30pm - Main Lecture Title: Premembering Perception Location: Stewart Biology Building (1205 Dr. Penfield), Room S1/3. Abstract: http://www.psych.mcgill.ca/misc/hebb/hebblectures.html 5:00pm - Cheese & Wine reception Location: 8th floor lobby, Stewart Biology Building (1205 Dr. Penfield). See you there, Jelena Jelena Ristic, PhD Assistant Professor & William Dawson Scholar Department of Psychology McGill University 1205 Dr. Penfield Avenue Montreal, QC, H3A 1B1 Canada Phone: (514) 398 2091 Fax: (514) 398 4896 Email: jelena.ristic(a)mcgill.ca<mailto:jelena.ristic@mcgill.ca> Web: http://asc.mcgill.ca

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[Events] McGill Psychology Hebb Lecture -- Dr KIA NOBRE, March 20 at 3.30pm
by Jelena Ristic 11 Mar '15

11 Mar '15

Dear Colleagues, On Friday, March 20th, the McGill Psychology Department will be hosting Dr ANNA CHRISTINA (KIA) NOBRE from the Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity and Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford. Dr Nobre will deliver a Hebb Lecture at 3.30pm in Stewart Biology Building, Room S1/3. Dr Nobre holds a position of Statutory Chair in Translational Cognitive Neuroscience and is a Professorial Fellow at St. Catherine’s College at University of Oxford. Her research examines how neural activity linked to perception and cognition is modulated according to memories, task goals, and expectations. In addition to these basic mechanisms, she is interested in how these develop over the lifespan, and how they are disrupted in psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders. Her work integrates behavioral methods with neuroimaging techniques, such as EEG, MEG, MRI and TMS. Main Lecture (3.30pm, Stewart Biology Building, Room S1/3) Title: Premembering Perception Abstract: Standard models of ‘attention’ are mostly concerned with the prioritisation of perceptual analyses according to our current goals. Substantial progress has been made in understanding the neural systems and mechanisms involved. The standard view is that top-down, goal-related signals maintained in working memory influence perceptual competition to select relevant items and inhibit distraction in the environment by acting upon receptive-field properties of events. However, top-down biases are not restricted to operate through receptive-field properties; they can also act upon the predicted timings of events as well as upon other, higher-order properties. Furthermore, short-term goal-related signals are not the only source of top-down influences upon perception. In everyday cognition, our long-term memories also play a major role in guiding the proactive and dynamic anticipation of events. In my talk, I will review studies from our laboratory that investigate how we can orient attention dynamically, taking into account the predicted timings of events; and how we use long-term memories to guide perception. Our findings suggest that in addition to being essential for assembling fragments of past experiences so that we can ‘remember’ them, memories are equally important for projecting predictions to guide assembly of cohesive percepts from incoming stimulation, working together with our current goals to ‘premember’ perception. Following the lecture, everyone is invited to join us for a wine-and-cheese reception in the lobby of the 8th floor of the Stewart Biology Building. If you would like to meet with Dr Nobre individually, please contact me at jelena.ristic(a)mcgill.ca<mailto:jelena.ristic@mcgill.ca>. Morning Seminar (10:00am, Stewart Biology Building, Room N7/14) Title: Temporal expectations: The fourth dimension in attention. Abstract: Proactive and dynamic ‘attention’ mechanisms continually regulate the prioritisation, selection, and integration of information to focus our perception on the relevant events to guide behaviour within the current context. The last few decades have witnessed tremendous advances in unveiling the modulatory mechanisms of attention based on receptive-field properties of neurones, such as spatial locations or sensory features. But, mechanisms of selective attention are not restricted to receptive-field properties. Attention mechanisms also enhance perception based on the anticipated timing of relevant events. The question addressed in this lecture is how temporal expectations can come to tune neural excitability to the relevant moments of our unravelling environment. The lecture will provide examples of novel experimental tasks for manipulating temporal expectations, and will draw on results from psychophysics and non-invasive recordings of human brain activity. Findings reveal novel mechanisms for tuning anticipatory attention functions over time, which interact strongly with other top-down attention biasing mechanisms. Neural oscillations appear to provide an important conduit for adjusting neural excitability dynamically based on temporal regularities and predictions in the environment. Graduate students interested in attending lunch with Dr Nobre are invited to contact the student host Dana Hayward at dana.hayward(a)mail.mcgill.ca<mailto:mathieu.landry2@mail.mcgill.ca>. Please feel free to circulate this notice widely. Best, Jelena Ristic Jelena Ristic, PhD Assistant Professor & William Dawson Scholar Department of Psychology McGill University 1205 Dr. Penfield Avenue Montreal, QC, H3A 1B1 Canada Phone: (514) 398 2091 Fax: (514) 398 4896 Email: jelena.ristic(a)mcgill.ca<mailto:jelena.ristic@mcgill.ca> Web: http://asc.mcgill.ca

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[Events] Lynn Nadel's Bindra Lecture on March 13 CANCELLED
by Jie Zhang 06 Mar '15

06 Mar '15

Hi everyone, I've received notice that due to unforeseen circumstances, Dr. Nadel will not be able to deliver the Bindra lecture scheduled for Friday, March 13th. Consequently, all activities scheduled for that day, including the Bindra Supper to be hosted by Dr. Jane Stewart, is now cancelled. I'm very sorry about this and any inconvenience it may have caused. Thank you, Jane (student host)

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[Events] March 13, Bindra Lecture Series: Lynn Nadel
by Karim Nader, Prof 05 Mar '15

05 Mar '15

Hello everyone, The annual Bindra Lecture will take place Friday March 13th at 3:30 pm in Stewart Biology Building room S1/3 (1205 Ave du Docteur Penfield). Our invited speaker is Dr. Lynn Nadel, a McGill alumni, now a Regents' Professor of Psychology at the University of Arizona. Dr. Nadel's research focuses on the hippocampus and memory formation. He has done groundbreaking work on the model of the hippocampus as a cognitive map, as well as multiple trace theory. Dr. Nadel's research has contributed greatly to our understanding of episodic memory, stress in memory function, and how dysfunction of the hippocampus affects mental retardation in Down Syndrome, just to name a few. Dr. Nadel and 2014 Nobel Prize winner Dr John O’Keefe have co-authored a book, The Hippocampus as a Cognitive Map, for which they received the 2006 Grawemeyer Award. The title of his talk is: "Episodic Memory: Why and How." Abstract: Episodic memory has unique features, emerging late in phylogeny and developing late in ontogeny. It captures singular events, in contrast to most memory systems. This talk will consider why episodic memory evolved, and its cognitive and neural underpinnings. In addition, there will be a morning seminar taking place at 10:30 - 12:00 pm in Stewart Biology N7/14. The title for this talk is: “A walk down the memory lane: On the ancient mnemonic arts, seahorses and maps". A wine and cheese will follow the main talk at 5:00 pm. Graduate students who would like to have lunch with Dr. Nadel should contact Jane (student host) at jie.zhang5(a)mail.mcgill.ca<mailto:jie.zhang5@mail.mcgill.ca>. Please circulate this email to anyone interested in Dr. Nadel's work. Looking forward to seeing everyone on March 13, Karim

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