PLEASE NOTE: Our seminar room has a limited capacity. Please arrive early to ensure you get a seat. The talk will begin promptly at 5.

The next talk in the CDC Seminar series will by given this week by:

Juan-Carlos Gomez
University of St Andrews

Date: Wednesday, June 26, 2013, 5 PM
Location: Cognitive Development Center, Hattyś u. 14, 3rd floor

Title: Evolving joint attention: reference, expression, and intentionality

Abstract: I will present a comparative approach to understanding Joint Attention skills in evolution and development as a key turning point in the emergence of communicative and mentalising skills in evolution. I will discuss examples of pointing, gaze following, and eye contact in apes, human infants, and persons with autism. I will argue that Joint Attention behaviours instantiate a type of mentalism (or intersubjectivity) characterized by the display and coding of referential expression. Referential expression is built on the coordination of intentional relations of two types: third-order (coding relation of other agents to objects), and second-order (coding relations of other agents to oneself). I will contrast these notions with the reductionist notions of behavioural rules and behavioral abstractions.

Cognitive Science Events at CEU: http://cognitivescience.ceu.hu/events