November 08, 2024 at 10am (MEZ - in Person)
Title: Dynamic Field Theory: Gregor Schöner Colloquium talk warm up
Speaker: Ann-Kathrin Beck (RPTU - Campus Kaiserslautern)
Abstract: In this Graduate school, Dr. Ann-Kathrin Beck will lead us through an introduction of the Dynamic Field Theory (DFT) framework, helping us to think of information processes and thoughts within dynamic systems approach. With behavior being a function of the field that exists at the time the behavior occurs, the DFT seeks to explain how the brain produces behavior through the coordinated activity of populations of neurons. These neuron groups make localized decisions about relevant events in the world creating signals as dynamic field peaks of activations, passible of being detected. Different dynamic fields may respond to different information, like color, shape, or emotional cues. Peaks in dynamic fields can arise either from external input or from internal processes based on things that the dynamic field has learned. Some peaks need continuous input to remain active, while others can remain active independently, held in a ‘working memory’ state. Learning occurs as memory traces form, making certain patterns more likely to reoccur. Thinking involves pattern of activation peaks, shifting from one peak pattern to another. When these patterns engage sensory and motor systems, they guide behavior.
Location: RPTU - Campus Kaiserslautern, Building 6
OR
Zoom Link: https://uni-kl-de.zoom-x.de/j/61625908441?pwd=DfOUGZuxcsKdznE9bYvMsXtPhfi5bI.1
November 22, 2024 at 10am (MEZ - in-person)
Title: Mini Conference - Cognitive Science
Speaker: Master students from Cognitive Science
Abstract: Talks ans poster presentations from various labrotations
Location: RPTU - Campus Kaiserslautern, Building 57, Room 315
November 29, 2024 at 10am (MEZ - in-person)
Title: Altered Prediction Error Signaling during Semantic Language Processing is linked to Psychotic-Like Experiences: Insights from the N400 Component
Speaker: Elisabeth Sterner (Universtity of Munich; invited by Laís Muntini)
Abstract: A growing body of evidence across different cognitive domains and sensory modalities suggests that abnormalities in the processing of prediction errors are central to psychotic disorders and contribute to the development of positive symptoms. According to predictive coding accounts of psychosis, this may be caused by an altered weighting of prior beliefs and incoming sensory information. To investigate this hypothesis in the domain of language processing, we implemented a language task that manipulated both the strength of individuals’ semantic prior beliefs as well as the reliability of the sensory information and combined it with EEG and a Bayesian Belief updating model. In this talk, I will outline how the use of semantic prior beliefs relative to sensory information may act as a trait marker for psychotic-like experiences, and how this imbalance is reflected in electrophysiological changes during the processing of semantic prediction errors, specifically in the N400 component.
Location: RPTU - Campus Kaiserslautern, Building 57, Room 315
OR
Zoom Link: https://uni-kl-de.zoom-x.de/j/67565883647?pwd=NEpSdHN1eDNPbCtPU2RTRVdyZDFlZz09
December 06, 2024 at 10am (MEZ - in-person)
Title: Non-fluent aphasia as prioritization of limited linguistic resources
Speaker: Mads Nielsen (University of Copenhagen)
Abstract: Based on observations of languages like English, German and Dutch, many accounts of non-fluent aphasia (agrammatism) relate the syndrome to structural language difficulties, for instance difficulties with producing affixes (Papathanasiou & Coppens 2022) or verbs (Bastiaanse et al. 2002). The idea seems to be that the neurological basis for these aspects of speech is somehow disrupted by the brain lesion. However, when one considers descriptions of aphasia from structurally different languages, it becomes apparent that claims about difficulties with specific linguistic structures cannot be universal (see e.g. Menn & Obler 1990, Paradis 2001). In this talk, I will argue that the language difficulties associated with non-fluent aphasia are instead a result of prioritization of limited linguistic resources. I present evidence that this account makes correct predictions about non-fluent speech in typologically distinct languages, including several Indo-European languages (analytic), Mandarin Chinese (isolating) and Greenlandic (polysynthetic).
References
Bastiaanse, Roelien, Judith Rispens, Esther Ruigendijk, Onésimo Juncos Rabadán and Cynthia K. Thompson. 2002. Verbs: some properties and their consequences for agrammatic Broca's aphasia. Journal of Neurolinguistics 15(3-5), 239-264.
Menn, Lise & Loraine K. Obler. Agrammatic aphasia: a cross-language narrative sourcebook. Amsterdam, NL/Philadelphia PA: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Papathanasiuo, Ilias and Patrick Coppens. 2022. Aphasia and related neurogenic communication disorders, 3rd ed. Burlington, MA: Jones & Barlett Learning.
Paradis, Michel. 2001. The need for awareness of aphasia symptoms in different languages. Journal of Neurolinguistics 14(2-4): 85-91.
Location: RPTU - Campus Kaiserslautern, Building 57, Room 315
OR
Zoom Link: https://uni-kl-de.zoom-x.de/j/67565883647?pwd=NEpSdHN1eDNPbCtPU2RTRVdyZDFlZz09
January 17, 2025 at 10am (MEZ - in-person)
Title: Mini Conference - Cognitive Science
Speaker: Master students from Cognitive Science
Abstract: Talks ans poster presentations from various labrotations
Location: RPTU - Campus Kaiserslautern, Building 57, Room 315
January 24, 2025 at 10am (MEZ - in-person)
Title:
Speaker: Torsten Wüstenberg (University of Heidelberg; invited by Zhino Ebrahimi)
Abstract:
Location: RPTU - Campus Kaiserslautern, Building 6
January 31, 2025 at 10am - (MEZ - in-person)
Title: Semantic prediction & the impact of age-related hearing loss
Speaker: Leigh Fernandez (RPTU - Kaiserslautern)
Abstract: Linguistic context can be used during speech listening to predict what a talker will say next. These predictions may be particularly useful in adverse listening conditions, since they can facilitate speech processing. Since hearing loss leads to a perceptual deficit (i.e., degraded auditory input), that can also have cognitive impacts (i.e., increased competition for cognitive resources due to increased listening effort), it is a naturalistic test-case of how different sorts of challenge affect prediction. In this talk, I will discuss a visual world eye-tracking study investigating prediction with three participant groups: older adults with normal hearing, older adults with hearing loss listening with low effort, and older adults with hearing loss listening with high effort. Overall, findings indicate two separable stages of prediction that are differently affected by hearing loss and listening effort, and reveal delayed prediction as a cognitive impact of hearing loss that could compound simple audibility effects.
Location: RPTU - Campus Kaiserslautern, Building 6
OR
Zoom Link: https://uni-kl-de.zoom-x.de/j/67565883647?pwd=NEpSdHN1eDNPbCtPU2RTRVdyZDFlZz09
February 07, 2025 at 10am (MEZ - in-person)
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Location: RPTU - Campus Kaiserslautern, Building 6
OR
Zoom Link: https://uni-kl-de.zoom-x.de/j/67565883647?pwd=NEpSdHN1eDNPbCtPU2RTRVdyZDFlZz09