Hello everyone,

The next Cognitive Science department colloquium will be on Tuesday, 28 November (note different day!) at 4pm in C323 (note different room!)

Speaker: Joan Ongchoco, UBC Vancouver

The continuous vs. the discrete in mental life: Studies in perception, attention, and decision-making

The raw material of perception is a continuous wash of light and sound. But what we perceive are often discrete individuals -- *objects* (due to segmentation in space) and *events* (due to segmentation in time). I will present five case studies that collectively explore how discrete object and event representations have a powerful impact on many forms of perception and cognition -- and in particular, how they interact with other processes including attention, imagery, enumeration, time perception, and decision-making. Throughout this work, I will show how these interactions are relatively spontaneous and inescapable aspects of how the mind works. In the first two case studies, I will introduce the phenomenon of "scaffolded attention", and will show how attention effectively creates discrete object representations even in the absence of all sensory cues -- in a sort of "everyday hallucination". In the next two case studies, I will show how dynamic event segmentation has important consequences for the perception of other seemingly foundational properties, including number and time. And in the final case study, I will move from seeing to thinking, and show how visual event structure may have surprisingly direct connections for higher-level thought and decision-making. Together, these studies show how discrete object and event representations have profound consequences for our mental lives.

Date: TUESDAY, 28 November (Note different day!)
Time: 4pm-5:30pm
Location: QS C-323 (Note different room!)
Zoom link: https://ceu-edu.zoom.us/j/94614125194?pwd=bUpJdWRZM3JPRGJVWEFaZ2dEbGVIQT09
Meeting ID: 946 1412 5194
Passcode: 899075

Chair: Jonathan Kominsky

*Anyone not affiliated with CEU wishing to attend in-person in Vienna must RSVP to get access to the lecture hall.

Sincerely,

Jonathan

--

Dr. Jonathan F. Kominsky

Assistant Professor of Cognitive Science
PI: Causal Cognition Lab
(he/him)

Office: Room D504
Phone: +43 125230 7541

Quellenstrasse 51 | A-1100 Wien | Austria

This message is intended for the individual named above and is confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender. Central European University (CEU) is an undergraduate- and graduate-level private university accredited in the United States, Austria, and Hungary. CEU’s educational activities in Austria are performed at Central European University Private University by CEU GmbH, a private limited-liability company having its seat in Vienna, under the address Quellenstrasse 51, A-1100 Wien, and is registered at the Vienna Commercial Court under registration number FN 502313 x. CEU’s educational activities in Hungary are performed by Közép-európai Egyetem, at Nádor utca 9., 1051 Budapest, under registration number FI 27861. CEU is accredited in the US, with a registered address at 224 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019, USA.