koglist March 2005

koglist@maillist.ttk.hu

14 participants
24 discussions

van der Velde & de Kamps/Neural blackboard architectures: BBS Call for Commentators

by Behavioral & Brain Sciences

Dear Dr. Qwerty, The Online Commentary Proposal System is currently unavailable due to technical difficulties. Until the Online Commentary Proposal System is reactivated, please send all commentary proposals (with relevant expertise) and commentator suggestions to calls(a)bbsonline.org. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Below the proposal instructions please find the abstract, keywords, and a link to the full text of the forthcoming BBS target article: "Neural blackboard architectures of combinatorial structures in cognition" Frank van der Velde and Marc de Kamp http://www.bbsonline.org/Preprints/VanderVelde-11132003/Referees/ This article has been accepted for publication in Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS), an international, interdisciplinary journal providing Open Peer Commentary on important and controversial current research in the biobehavioral and cognitive sciences. Commentators must be BBS Associates or suggested by a BBS Associate. To be considered as a commentator for this article, to suggest other appropriate commentators, or for information about how to become a BBS Associate, please reply by EMAIL by March 24, 2005. calls(a)bbsonline.org The Calls are sent to 10,000 BBS Associates, so there is no expectation (indeed, it would be calamitous) that each recipient should comment on every occasion! Hence there is no need to reply except if you wish to comment, or to suggest someone to comment. If you are not a BBS Associate, please approach a current BBS Associate (there are currently over 10,000 worldwide) who is familiar with your work to nominate you. All past BBS authors, referees and commentators are eligible to become BBS Associates. An electronic list of current BBS Associates is available at this location to help you select a name: http://www.bbsonline.org/Instructions/assoclist.html If no current BBS Associate knows your work, please send us your Curriculum Vitae and BBS will circulate it to appropriate Associates to ask whether they would be prepared to nominate you. (In the meantime, your name, address and email address will be entered into our database as an unaffiliated investigator.) ======================================================================= COMMENTARY PROPOSAL INSTRUCTIONS ======================================================================= To help us put together a balanced list of commentators, it would be most helpful if you would send us an indication of the relevant expertise you would bring to bear on the paper, and what aspect of the paper you would anticipate commenting upon. Please DO NOT prepare a commentary until you receive a formal invitation, indicating that it was possible to include your name on the final list, which is constructed so as to balance areas of expertise and frequency of prior commentaries in BBS. Please reply by EMAIL to <calls(a)bbsonline.org> by March 24, 2005 ======================================================================= *** TARGET ARTICLE INFORMATION *** ======================================================================= TITLE: Neural blackboard architectures of combinatorial structures in cognition AUTHORS: Frank van der Velde and Marc de Kamp ABSTRACT: Human cognition is unique in the way in which it relies on combinatorial (or compositional) structures. Language provides ample evidence for the existence of combinatorial structures, but they can also be found in visual cognition. To understand the neural basis of human cognition, it is therefore essential to understand how combinatorial structures can be instantiated in neural terms. In his recent book on the foundations of language, Jackendoff described four fundamental problems for a neural instantiation of combinatorial structures: the massiveness of the binding problem, the problem of 2, the problem of variables and the transformation of combinatorial structures from working memory to long-term memory. This paper aims to show that these problems can be solved by means of neural 'blackboard' architectures. For this purpose, a neural blackboard architecture for sentence structure is presented. In this architecture, neural structures that encode for words are temporarily bound in a manner that preserves the structure of the sentence. It is shown that the architecture solves the four problems presented by Jackendoff. The ability of the architecture to instantiate sentence structures is illustrated with examples of sentence complexity observed in human language performance. Similarities exist between the architecture for sentence structure and blackboard architectures for combinatorial structures in visual cognition, derived from the structure of the visual cortex. These architectures are briefly discussed, together with an example of a combinatorial structure in which the blackboard architectures for language and vision are combined. In this way, the architecture for language is grounded in perception. Perspectives and potential developments of the architectures are discussed. KEYWORDS: Binding, blackboard architectures, combinatorial structure, compositionality, language, dynamic system, neurocognition, sentence complexity, sentence structure, working memory, variables, vision FULL TEXT: http://www.bbsonline.org/Preprints/VanderVelde-11132003/Referees/ ======================================================================= SUPPLEMENTARY ANNOUNCEMENT ======================================================================= (1) Call for Book Nominations for BBS Multiple Book Review In the past, Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS) had only been able to do 1-2 BBS multiple book treatments per year, because of our limited annual page quota. BBS's new expanded page quota will make it possible for us to increase the number of books we treat per year, so this is an excellent time for BBS Associates and biobehavioral/cognitive scientists in general to nominate books you would like to see accorded BBS multiple book review. (Authors may self-nominate, but books can only be selected on the basis of multiple nominations.) It would be very helpful if you indicated in what way a BBS Multiple Book Review of the book(s) you nominate would be useful to the field (and of course a rich list of potential reviewers would be the best evidence of its potential impact!). *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* Please note: Your email address has been added to our user database for Calls for Commentators, the reason you received this email. If you do not wish to receive further Calls, please feel free to change your mailshot status through your User Login link on the BBSPrints homepage, using your username and password. Or, email a response with the word "remove" in the subject line. *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* Barbara Finlay - Editor Paul Bloom - Editor Behavioral and Brain Sciences bbs(a)bbsonline.org http://www.bbsonline.org -------------------------------------------------------------------

21 years, 2 months

autizmus doktori kurzus leirasa

by GYORI, Miklos

T. Erdeklodok, a korabban beharangozott kurzusleiras. udvozlettel, gym ---------------------------------------------------------------------- GYORI, Miklos Ph.D. lecturer / assistant professor Institute of Psychology, ELTE University, Budapest, Hungary H-1064 Budapest, Izabella street 46; www.ppk.elte.hu phone: (0036) 1 4612600; research psychologist Autism Foundation, Budapest, Hungary H-1089 Budapest, Delej street 21; www.autizmus.hu phone: (0036) 1 3341123; fax: (0036) 1 3142859 regular guest lecturer Institute of Linguistics, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria Berggasse 11, A-1090 Wien; www.univie.ac.at/linguistics phone: +43-1-4277-41717; fax: +43-1-4277-9417 ----------------------------------------------------------------------

21 years, 2 months

Májusi előadások

by Jakab Zoltán

Andrew Brook (Institute of Cognitive Science, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada) alábbi két előadására minden érdeklődőt szeretettel várunk:** *1.* 2005. május 2, 16:00: * * *Zombies and Imprisoned Minds* *Andrew Brook and Paul Raymont * *Abstract* Thought experiments (TEs) about zombies are one standard way to argue for anti-cognitivism about consciousness, the view that consciousness is not a cognitive (information processing) property of minds. Another class of TEs are actually more interesting in this regard, TEs about what we call imprisoned minds. Imprisoned minds are minds that have no way of expressing themselves behaviourally. Unlike zombies, they actually exist, which adds to their interest - administration of curare and certain massive strokes in the brain stem can both produce imprisoned minds, curare temporally, strokes permanently. In both cases, one has to add an exotic premise to get an anti-cognitivist argument going. For zombie TEs, the exotic premise is that an utterly nonconscious zombie could be behaviourally, cognitively, or even molecule-for-molecule identical to us conscious beings. The exotic premise in the case of imprisoned mind TEs is that in addition to no behavioural expression, the activities of an imprisoned mind could also make no neural difference. (We call such minds Radically Imprisoned Minds [RIMs].) As has often been noted, part of what makes zombie TEs difficult to assess is their close kinship to the traditional problem of knowledge of other minds. In particular, we do not know by what criterion or criteria we could settle whether another being is conscious. The same is true of imprisoned minds. It turns out, interestingly enough, that it is easier to resolve the knowledge problem that arises in connection with each TE than it is to settle whether they have any potential as arguments for anti-cognitivism. The reason is the same in both cases: the exotic premise required for the TEs to work as arguments for anti-cognitivism, premises that are very difficult to assess, do not affect the knowledge problem. As arguments for anti-cognitivism, the two TEs are different. As we will show, zombie TEs do not work as arguments for anti-cognitivism. By contrast, we know of no definitive cognitivist response to imprisoned minds TEs. <> <>*Biographical Notes* Andrew Brook (D.Phil., Oxon.) is Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Institute of Cognitive Science at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. He is the author of /Kant and the Mind/ (Cambridge 1994) and, with Paul Raymont, /A Unified Theory of Consciousness/ (MIT Press forthcoming) and has written or edited five other books and about 80 papers, chapters, etc. He was recently President of the Canadian Philosophical Association. Paul Raymont (Ph.D., Toronto) was recently a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council post-doctoral fellow at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. He is currently at the University of Toronto. He has numerous journal publications and co-authored /A Unified Theory of Consciousness/ with Andrew Brook. * * *Helyszín: *Tudományfilozófiai szeminárium*, * ELTE Tudománytörténet és Tudományfilozófia Tanszék, Pázmány P. sétány 1/A, 6. emelet, 654, terem *2.* 2005. május 3, 17:00: *The Representational Base of Consciousness * * * *Andrew Brook and Paul Raymont* * * *Abstract* Everyone agrees, no matter what else they think about consciousness, that it has a representational base. However, there have been relatively few worked-out attempts to say what this base might be like. The two best developed are perhaps the higher-order thought (HOT) model of David Rosenthal and the transparency approach of Fred Dretske and others. As we will show, both face serious problems. Our alternative to these models starts from the notion of a self-presenting representation, a representation that presents not only what it is about (if it is about anything; not all representations have an object) but also itself to the representing subject. Thus, seeing text on the computer display tells one not only about the text but also about this representations of it, that, for example, one is seeing it, not touching it. Indeed, in our view, representations, being self-presenting, are the representational base for not just for consciousness of their objects (when they have one) and of themselves. They are also the representational base for consciousness of oneself as subject. Though we take mainly a philosophical approach, we hope that the unified picture of consciousness that flows from our picture of the representational base will assist research on consciousness no matter what the approach. <> *Biographical Notes* Andrew Brook (D.Phil., Oxon.) is Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Institute of Cognitive Science at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. He is the author of /Kant and the Mind/ (Cambridge 1994) and, with Paul Raymont, /A Unified Theory of Consciousness/ (MIT Press forthcoming) and has written or edited five other books and about 80 papers, chapters, etc. He was recently President of the Canadian Philosophical Association. Paul Raymont (Ph.D., Toronto) was recently a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council post-doctoral fellow at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. He is currently at the University of Toronto. He has numerous journal publications and co-authored /A Unified Theory of Consciousness/ with Andrew Brook. *Helyszín:* Közép-Európai Egyetem, Filozófia Tanszék, Zrínyi u. 14, 412 terem

21 years, 2 months

***{SPAM?}*** Philosophy of Science Colloquium, L. N e m e s

by Laszlo E. Szabo

P h i l o s o p h y o f S c i e n c e C o l l o q u i u m Department of History and Philosophy of Science Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest Room 6.54 (6th floor) Monday 4:00 PM Pazmany P. setany 1/A Budapest, Hungary Phone/Fax: (36-1) 372 2924 http://philosophy.elte.hu/colloquium 7 March 4:00 PM 6th floor 6.54 Language: Hungarian L a s z l o N e m e s Department of Behavioural Sciences, University of Debrecen Egy feltorekvo uj terulet: az etologia filozofiaja (An emerging new field: philosophy of ethology) Abstract: http://philosophy.elte.hu/colloquium/2005/March/#1 ___________________________________ The colloquium is open to everyone, including students, visitors, and faculty members from all departments! The 60-minute lecture is followed by a 10-minute break. Then we hold a 30-60-minute discussion. The participants may comment on the talks and are encouraged to initiate discussion through the Internet. The comments should be written in the language of the presentation. The organizer of the colloquium: Laszlo E. Szabo (email: leszabo(a)hps.elte.hu) -- L a s z l o E. S z a b o Theoretical Physics Research Group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Department of History and Philosophy of Science Eotvos University, Budapest http://hps.elte.hu/leszabo

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koglist March 2005