Cognition Seminar

The Cognition Seminar Series (CogSem) covers topics ranging from memory, learning, cognitive control and affect. Often these topics are discussed in the framework of Cognitive Science, Cognitive Neuroscience, Computational Modeling, Behavioral Neuroscience, and more. 

CogSem takes place in Metcalf Research Building, Room 305 (Dome room).

Open to all members of the Brown community.

Upcoming talks are announced on the CogSem mailing list. 

2018-2019 Speakers

  • David Sobel, Brown University
    (Sept. 28)Bridging the gap between children’s causal and scientific reasoning

  • Jeffrey Starns, UMass, Amherst:
    (Oct. 5) Validity of researcher inference in recognition memory: A blinded validation study

  • Sydney Levine, MIT/Harvard University:
    (Oct. 12) The Use of Moral Rules and Representations: Case Studies with Preschoolers and Adults

  • Caterina Magri, Harvard University:
    (Oct. 26) TBA

  • Babak Hemmatian, Brown University:
    (Nov. 2) TBA

  • Hyley Dorfman, Harvard University:
    (Nov. 9) TBA

  • Leah Bakst, Boston University:
    (Nov. 16) TBA

  • Linda Yu, Brown University:
    (Nov. 30) TBA

Past Speakers

2015-2016

  • Florian Jaeger, University of Rochester:
    From processing to language change and cross-linguistic distributions

  • Heidi Baumgartner, Brown University:
    Interactions between visual attention and memory in infancy

  • Marjorie Rhode, NYU
    The implications of essentialism for biological and social thought

  • George Kachergis, NYU:
    Memory- and Uncertainty-driven Attention to Learn Nouns--and More!

  • Xuan Zhao, Brown University:
    Spontaneous visual perspective taking: When do we see through others' eyes?

  • Denise Werchan, Brown University:
    An Ecological Model of Prefrontal Cortex Development

  • Tobias Gerstenberg, MIT:
    From counterfactual contrasts to judgments of responsibility

  • James MacGlashan, Brown University:
    Computational Models for Learning from Humans

  • David Lewkowicz, Northeastern University:
    The Early Development of Multisensory Perception & Communication

  • Max Kleiman-Weiner, MIT:
    Inference of Intention and Permissibility in Moral Judgment

  • Ken Kurtz,  Binghamton University:
    From learning internal representations in neural networks to the psychology of category learning

  • Erik Cheries, UMass Amherst:
    The Ins(ides) & Out(sides) of Infants’ Representations of Others 

  • Joseph Williams, Harvard University:
    Designing intelligent user technologies through crowdsourced cognitive science and machine learning research

  • Justin Martin, Harvard University:
    The neural representation of causation

  • Matt Ricci, Brown University:
    Challenges to Hebbianism: A Case from Cerebellar Learning

  • Nicholas Franklin, Brown University:
    Independent clustering and generalization of action-outcome and outcome-values in goal-directed learning

2014-2015

  • Leon Bergen, MIT:
    Pragmatic strategies for efficient communication

  • Adam Bear, Yale University:
    An Evolutionary Model of Dual-Process Morality

  • Matt Goldrick, Northwestern University:
    Phonetic echos of cognitive disruptions in mono- and multi-lingual speech

  • Heather Bortfeld, University of Connecticut:
    Flexibility in perceptual learning: Insights from pediatric cochlear implant users

  • Mark Ho, Brown University:
    Teaching with punishment and reward

  • Inês Tomás Pereira, Brown University:
    The role of postrhinal cortex in contextual representations

  • Carmel Salhi, Harvard Medical School:
    Long-term Changes to Mental Health from Childhood Adversity

  • Anne Collins, Brown University:
    Coordinating and structuring human reinforcement learning

  • Sidney Wiener, CNRS - Collège de France:
    Hippocampal, prefrontal and striatal interactions in memory and decision-making

  • Justin Cox, Brown Univeresity:
    Examining an Implicit Mechanism of Recognition Criterion Regulation

  • Norbert Fortin, UC Irvine:
    The Neurobiology of the memory for sequences of events: a synergistic approach in rats and humans

  • Rebecca Burwell, Brown University:
    Optogenetic Modulation of Recognition Memory

  • Jeff Zemla, Brown University:
    Feedback and vigilance affect speed-accuracy tradeoffs in decision making

  • Ting Qian, Brown University:
    Discovering bundles: Stimulus order as a cue in the learning of latent clusters

  • Matt Nassar, Brown University:
    Surprise and Uncertainty Driven Mechanisms for Adjusting Sensory Influence

  • Josh Abbott, UC Berkeley:
    Random walks, optimal foraging, and semantic memory

  • Deborah Walder, The City University of New York:
    Genes, Environment & Sexual Dimorphisms:  A Polygenic Neurodevelopmental Model of Mental Health Risk