Cognitive Science Colloquium
Spring 2020
All meetings take place on Thursdays, 3.30-5.30 pm in Bioscience Research
Building 1103, unless otherwise noted.
February
6 Edward Vogel (Psychology,
University of Chicago).
Title:
The impact of distraction on working memory
Abstract: Working memory is a capacity limited neural
system that temporarily maintains information in an active state to support
cognitive performance. Humans vary substantially in this ability and these
individual differences are stable over time and are predictive of many high
level functions such as academic performance and abstract reasoning.
Because working memory can represent only a small amount of information
at once, attentional mechanisms play a critical role in regulating the flow of
information in this system by selectively representing task relevant
information and disregarding irrelevant distracting information. Here, I will
argue that these mechanisms for dealing with distraction are fundamental to
understanding the operation of this memory system and that they are what
primarily drive the differences between individuals in working memory ability.
Drawing from a variety of behavioral and EEG approaches, my work provides
evidence that the efficacy of deploying attentional control over time may
provide a common thread linking working memory to other intelligent behaviors.
March
5 Kristin
Lagattuta (Psychology, UC Davis).
Title:
Developing a Life History Theory of Mind: Awareness that the Mind Learns from
the Past to Imagine the Future
Abstract: I will provide an overview of my
research on 4- to 10-year-olds and adults beliefs about whether and how
people generalize from their past social interactions when engaging in episodic
future thinking; that is, their awareness that peoples minds draw from prior
experiences when imagining what will happen next. Across multiple studies,
results reveal significant age-related increases in expecting peoples
future-oriented thoughts, emotions, and decisions to be biased by preceding
life events, with 8- to 10-year-olds and adults presuming broader future
generalizations compared to younger children.
I will further discuss sources of individual differences, including
using eye tracking to examine variability in how children and adults weight
different types of past event information when forecasting mental states.
March 12 Hyo Gweon (Psychology, Stanford). CANCELLED / POSTPONED TO FALL
Title: Social Curiosity and Social Learning
Abstract:
Learning does not occur in isolation. From parent-child interactions to formal classroom
environments, humans explore, learn, and communicate in rich, diverse social
contexts. Rather than simply observing and copying their conspecifics, humans
engage in a range of epistemic practices that actively recruit those around
them. They query others to acquire useful information, consider others mental
states to draw inferences that go beyond the evidence, and help others learn by
generating information tailored to their knowledge and goals. What makes human
social learning so distinctive, powerful, and smart? In this talk, I will present a series of
studies that reveal the remarkably curious minds of young children, not only
about the physical world but also about others and themselves; children are curious
about what others do & what their actions mean, what others know & what
they ought to know, and even what others think of them and how to change their
beliefs. The results collectively paint a picture of young children as active
social learners who voraciously yet intelligently gather useful information
from others to learn about the world, and generously share what they know with
those around them.
April 2 Tal Linzen
(Cognitive Science & Computer Science, Johns Hopkins). CANCELLED / POSTPONED TO FALL
Title:
Abstract:
April
16 Katie Kinzler
(Psychology, Cornell). CANCELLED /
POSTPONED TO FALL
Title:
Abstract:
April
23 Felipe de Brigard
(Philosophy, Psychology & Neuroscience, Duke). CANCELLED / POSTPONED TO FALL
Title:
Abstract:
April
30 Steven Roberts
(Psychology, Stanford). CANCELLED /
POSTPONED TO FALL
Title:
Children's descriptive-to-prescriptive tendency:
Interpreting how a group is as evidence for how individual
group members should be
Abstract: In this talk, I will share a
series of experiments that document children's tendency to interpret how a
group is as evidence for how individual group
members should be (i.e., a descriptive-to-prescriptive tendency). That is, once children (ages 4 to 13) learn
that a group is characterized by a property, they believe that individual group
members should be characterized by that property, and that it is bad if they
are not. Overall, these experiments suggest that childrens descriptive-to-prescriptive tendency a) emerges early in development, b) replicates
(and varies) across cultures, c) influences what children believe to be
socially, morally, and psychologically appropriate, d) varies as a function of
the individual group members' motivations and allegiance to the group, and
e) can be used to "nudge" children toward social good. Implications
for social cognition and intergroup relations will be discussed.