Dear All,
The CEU Department of Cognitive Science invites you to the following talk.
Speaker: Thibaud Gruber<https://www.unige.ch/cisa/center/members/gruber-thibaud/> <https://www.unige.ch/cisa/center/members/gruber-thibaud/>
Title: An affective, behavioral and cognitive story of the evolution of communication and culture in humans and other great apes
The studies of the evolution of language and culture are intertwined. Often, the same mechanisms – including the usual suspects such as imitation – are argued to be at the heart of the evolution of both. In addition, in the last decades, research on social learning in non-humans vs humans has largely focused on behavioral and cognitive processes, while research on non-human vs human communication has often opposed cognitive processes to emotional ones. These two approaches sometimes fall in the pitfall of looking for the one characteristic that makes us unique amongst other animals. In this talk, I want to focus on the commonalities between animal and human social learning, with the goal to braid together literature from social learning, affective development, and the evolution of communication. All three domains can be unified in an ABC model of social learning, which aims to provide a combined Affective, Behavioral and Cognitive approach to the acquisition of knowledge in a broad sense. Affect, for example through motivation or emotions, indeed colors our quest for knowledge and for knowledge transmission. I will rediscuss classic examples of the animal literature such as the vervet alarm call system or the acquisition of tool use in chimpanzees. The ABC framework also allows introducing continuity between so-called simple and complex cognitive processes, which makes it a more realistic pathway for their attribution to animals or non-verbal infants. As such it opens new avenues of research to resolve the debates on the evolution of communication and culture, particularly in our lineage.
Thibaud Gruber is a primatologist and a comparative psychologist whose has been working over 15 years on the topics of the evolution of culture and communication in great apes and humans. After a Master in Cognitive Sciences at the ENS, Paris, he pursued a PhD in Psychology at the University of St Andrews, UK in 2011. He then obtained his Habilitation in Cognitive Sciences at the ENS, Paris, in 2018. He has held postdoctoral research positions at the University of Zürich, Neuchâtel and Geneva, funded by the Fyssen Foundation, the Marie Curie initiative of the European Commission, and the Swiss National Science Foundation. In 2020, thanks to an Eccellenza Fellowship from the SNSF, he has set up his own lab, the eccePAN lab (Ecology, Cognition, Communication, Emotion), at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, at the University of Geneva, with a joint position at the Swiss Center for Affective Sciences.
Time: 16:00, Thursday, 28 November 2024
Location: Vienna Campus, Quellenstrasse 51, Room : QS D-002 Tiered
Zoom: Meeting ID: 984 1754 5209<https://ceu-edu.zoom.us/j/98417545209?pwd=909i0Oc5aydidvanERaSfHkbKzEZmh.1> Passcode: 041432
Hosts: Thomas Ganzetti and Günther Knoblich
Best regards,
Andi
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Dear All,
The CEU Department of Cognitive Science cordially invites you to the following talk by:
Speaker: Francesco Guala<https://sites.unimi.it/guala/> (Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy)
Time: 4pm (to 6 pm) CET
Date: THURSDAY, 14th November 2024
Venue: D002 (QS Vienna) and Zoom: https://ceu-edu.zoom.us/j/97497562931?pwd=QyM6f1EIAyxLEa7MjQOmdWOubziToZ.1
Meeting ID: 974 9756 2931
Passcode: 382039
Chair: Thomas Wolf
Title: BELIEF-LESS COORDINATION
Abstract: Meta-representation does not always facilitate social interaction.
I illustrate this claim focusing on the case of coordination in Hi-lo games, and conjecture that people coordinate using a mode of reasoning that does not require the representation of others’ beliefs. I compare this sort of belief-less reasoning with theories that appeal to limited meta-representation, and present evidence indicating that people employ both – with meta-representation being used less frequently in coordinative than in competitive tasks.
*Anyone not affiliated with CEU wishing to attend in-person in Vienna must RSVP to get access to the lecture hall.
Best regards,
Fanni
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FANNI TAKÁTSY
Lab Manager/Research Coordinator,
Social Mind Center
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CENTRAL EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY
Quellenstrasse 51. | 1100 Vienna, Austria
takatsyf(a)ceu.edu<mailto:jeneia@ceu.edu>
http://socialmind.ceu.edu/http://cognitivescience.ceu.edu/
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The CEU Department of Cognitive Science cordially invites you to the following talk by:
Pascal Mamassian<https://lsp.dec.ens.fr/en/member/647/pascal-mamassian>, CNRS & Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France
Date: Wednesday, February 14, 2024
Time: 4 pm (to 5:30 pm) CET
Venue: D001 (QS Vienna) and Zoom: https://ceu-edu.zoom.us/j/99828555100?pwd=S2Y4VnRMTEFHMitWeWk4bnB0SGdXQT09<https://www.google.com/url?q=https://ceu-edu.zoom.us/j/99828555100?pwd%3DS2…>
Meeting ID: 998 2855 5100
Passcode: 393080
Chair: Jozsef Fiser
Title: Measurements of perceived time of visual events
Abstract: Visual perception is not instantaneous. It takes a few milliseconds for light to be transduced in photoreceptors and tens of milliseconds more for neuronal spikes to occur at successive levels of the visual hierarchy. These delays necessarily impact our abiity to perceive time. I will present examples of human time perception from two classes of tasks, duration estimation and perceived time of an event. In duration estimation, we have shown that observers are able to estimate the duration of an interval even when the onset of that interval is not explictly provided. In perceived time, we have shown that the perceived time of an event is influenced by other events in their temporal proximity, and that this perceived time varies across the visual field. A better understanding of our sensitivity to and biases in the perception of time is important to fully appreciate how well we understand our sensory environment.
*Anyone not affiliated with CEU wishing to attend in-person in Vienna must reply here<https://forms.office.com/e/HjaP91n2ep> to get access to the lecture hall.
Let Jozsef know, please, if you would like to schedule a meeting with the speaker.
Best,
Reka
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GyörgyNÉ Finta (Réka)
Department Coordinator
Department of cognitive SCience
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Dear All,
The CEU Department of Cognitive Science invites you to the following talk.
Nicolas Baumard<https://nicolasbaumards.org/> (Institut Jean Nicod)
Title: Revisiting Lorenz’s Kindchenschema: Cuteness as a System for Developmental Engagement
Abstract: What is the evolutionary function of cuteness? The dominant view, inspired by Lorenz’s Kindchenschema theory, holds that cuteness evolved to trigger caregiving responses to vulnerable infants. While this care-based model is supported by robust findings on facial features, neural activation, and hormonal responses, it fails to explain a key pattern: we find children cutest not when they are helpless, but when they are sociable, curious, and eager to interact. More surprisingly, we also perceive adults as cute when they display not vulnerability, but naïveté, enthusiasm, and teachability. We propose a developmental investment theory of cuteness, according to which cuteness is not merely a care-eliciting mechanism, but a motivational system that evolved to support various forms of prosocial investment in the development of inexperienced individuals. Drawing on evolutionary anthropology, cognitive neuroscience, developmental psychology and social sciences, we argue that cuteness identifies motivated but inexperienced individuals, and elicits not rescue, but teaching, guidance, and social play. This theory provides a better account of which traits elicit cuteness, what responses they provoke, and how cuteness is strategically deployed. It explains why cuteness can be attractive in romantic interactions, why modern, learning-rich environments foster an explosion of cuteness in media, politics, and product design, and why women disproportionately perform cuteness in patriarchal societies. Finally, we suggest that, over evolutionary time, this system may have contributed to the domestication of other species — and to the self-domestication of our own.
Date: Wednesday, September 3, 2025
Time: 4 pm (to 5:30 pm) CET
Venue: D-002 (QS Vienna) and Zoom (meeting ID: 969 2496 5784<https://ceu-edu.zoom.us/j/96924965784?pwd=c2duZ0dDMFdEMUthK2Mwa2wzMllEUT09>, passcode: 471712)
Chair: Gergely Csibra
Best,
Mariem
*Anyone not affiliated with CEU wishing to attend in-person in Vienna must RSVP here<https://forms.office.com/e/pAk6DcJwzF> <https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=E1nE2VN24kuSC72wOGOBhAH…> to get access to the lecture hall.
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by Budapest CEU Conference on Cognitive Development
Dear Colleagues,
This is a kind reminder that the submission system<https://www.openconf.org/BCCCD26/openconf.php> for the 16th annual BCCCD<https://bcccd.org/welcome.htm> meeting in Budapest, Hungary (January 15-17, 2026) is open for symposia, talks, and posters. Submissions are open until September 5, 2025.
We are also welcoming proposals for half-day pre-conference workshops or tutorials relevant to the BCCCD audience. Submissions for pre-conference events are open until October 3, 2025.
In addition, we are also seeking volunteer peer reviewers for poster and talk submissions. Reviewers will be asked to review 6 ± 2 abstracts between September 12 and October 10. More information on signing up to review can be found below.
WARNING OF SCAM EMAIL
BCCCD26 participants have informed us that they received a phishing email from a company falsely claiming to have booked accommodation for the conference on their behalf.
Please be aware that no travel agency is affiliated with BCCCD26. If you receive such an email, do not respond or share any personal information, block the sender, and mark the email as spam immediately.
IMPORTANT DATES
• Submission deadline: September 5, 2025
• Pre-conference workshop submission deadline: October 3, 2025
• Notification of decision*: November 3, 2025
• Registration opens: November 4, 2025
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
For Individual Talks and Posters:
• Submit a 300-word abstract plus a one-page PDF of supplemental material (visible only to reviewers and not included in the final program) at: BCCCD26 Submission Portal<https://www.openconf.org/BCCCD26>
For Symposia:
• Individual talks in the symposium should be submitted in the same format as regular talks, with a field
for the symposium title in the submission form.
• Submit a unifying statement of less than 500 words via this form: Symposia Submission Form<https://forms.office.com/e/e31gJNndUd?origin=lprLink>
For Pre-conference Workshops and Tutorials:
• Submit via this form: Pre-conference events form<https://forms.office.com/e/8TBXxuy3mn?origin=lprLink>
More Information:
• Detailed submission formats and guidelines are available here<https://bcccd.org/submission.htm>.
INVITED SPEAKERS
• Amanda Seed<https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/psychology-neuroscience/people/ams18/> (University of St Andrews)
• Lisa Feigenson<https://pbs.jhu.edu/directory/lisa-feigenson/> (Johns Hopkins University)
• Luca Bonatti<https://www.icrea.cat/community/icreas/17630/luca-bonatti/> (Universitat Pompeu Fabra)
SIGN UP AS A REVIEWER
For BCCCD25 Reviewers:
If you wish to review for BCCCD26, please respond to this email by September 5 to confirm your interest.
For New Reviewers:
If you did not review for BCCCD25 but wish to do so this year:
1. Go to https://www.openconf.org/BCCCD26.
2. Under “Review and Program Committees” on the front page, find the “Sign up – Keycode” field.
3. Enter the keycode: revkey-de6c32
4. Fill in your contact details and select the topic areas you would like to review for.
Key Information:
Abstract Assignment: By September 12
Review Deadline: October 10
Number of Abstracts per Reviewer: 6 ± 2 abstracts
Abstract Length: <300 words + 1 page of supplementary material (figures, tables, etc.)
Follow us on social media:
• Twitter: @CogDevCeu<https://twitter.com/CogDevCeu>
• YouTube: Cognitive Development Center CEU<https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzpeGQx_0_5DkU6xnMYJqNA>
*For authors requiring a visa to attend, we can provide a supporting letter shortly after the submission deadline.
We look forward to your submissions and participation!
Warm regards,
Anna Kispál and Bartuğ Çelik
BCCCD26 Conference chairs
Dear Cognitive Folks,
We’re excited to announce that the next Fluencia Party will take place on
Wednesday, August 6, starting at 7:00 PM at Crafty Bar (Tompa utca 26).
More details can be found here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1482228819601723
Fluencia is a monthly, informal gathering designed for students (both
undergraduate and graduate), professors, and researchers across cognitive
science, psychology, psychiatry, neurology, and neuroscience. Attendees
come from various Hungarian universities, though individuals from other
institutions are always warmly welcome!
The main goal of Fluencia is to foster interaction, collaboration, and
communication among researchers in these related fields. It’s an excellent
opportunity to meet new people, discuss your research interests, and, of
course, enjoy a relaxing evening with drinks in a friendly atmosphere.
Everyone is welcome! Feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
Looking forward to seeing you there!
Best regards,
Dezső
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https://nemethlab.com/ <http://www.memory-and-language.com/>