tjhorton@utai.UUCP (Timothy J. Horton) (01/10/88)
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
Cognitive Science Events, January 1988
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January 11 (Monday)
McLuhan Literacy and Computing Seminar
Michel Paradis (Linguistics, McGill)
"Neurolinguistic Aspects of Japanese Reading"
McLuhan Coach House, 4pm
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January 12 (Tuesday)
Computer Science Department Colloquium
Yann LeCun (Computer Science, Toronto)
"The Back-Propagation Learning Algorithm: An Optimization Approach"
Abstract: Among all the learning procedures for connectionist
networks, the back-propagation algorithm (BP) is probably the most
widely used. However little is known about its convergence properties.
We propose a new theoretical framework for deriving the BP based on the
Langrangiar formalism. This method is similar to some of the methods
used in optimal control theory. We derive some variations of the
basic procedure, including a pseudo-Newton method that uses the second
derivative of the cost function. We also present some results
involving networks with constrained weights. It is shown that this
technique can be used for putting some a priori knowledge into the
network in order to improve the generalization.
Sandford Fleming Building, rm 1105, 11am
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January 12 (Tuesday)
Mathematics Colloquium
H.J. Sussman (Rutgers)
"Boltzman machines, Neural Nets, Memory, and Learning"
Abstract: This talk is of an introductory nature. It will attempt to
explain why so many people, including mathematicians, are so excited
about neural networks.
Sidney Smith Hall, rm 5017A, 4pm
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January 13 (Wednesday)
Ebbinghaus Empire (Psych - Human Cog. & Mem)
Bill Hockley
"Recognition Memory for Associative Information: What! No
Forgetting?"
Sidney Smith Hall, rm 570, 12:15pm
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January 15 (Friday)
Erindale/McMaster Cognitive Seminar
Phil Merikle (Psychology, U of Waterloo)
"Using Direct and Indirect Measures to Study Perception and Memory"
McMaster University, Psychology bldg, rm 204, 3:30pm
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January 15 (Friday)
Linguistics Seminar
Marie Therese-Vinet (Universite de Sherbrooke)
"Empty Pleonastics in Haitian Creole and a Parameterized INFL" (syntax
within a generative framework)
Robarts Library, 6th floor, rm 6071, 3:30pm
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January 15 (Friday)
Scarboro Brown Bag Seminars
David Olson (Centre for Applied Cognitive Science, OISE)
"Language and Mental Life"
Scarboro College, Council Chamber, 12:15pm
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January 15 (Friday)
Philosophy Colloquium
John Thorpe (U of Ottawa)
"Mind and Sense in Aristotle"
Trinity College, Junior common room, 3pm
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January 18 (Monday)
Anthropology Seminar Series on Evolution
John Kennedy (Psychology, Toronto)
"Evolution and Pictures: Some Problems and Some Universals"
Scarboro College, Council Chamber, 5pm
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January 19 (Tuesday)
Center for Applied Cognitive Science (OISE), Luncheon Colloquium
Daniel Keating (Special Education, OISE)
"Explaining Developmental and Individual Differences in Cognitive
Ability: Limitations of Contemporary Processing and Structural
Accounts"
OISE building, 2nd floor, rm 213, noon
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January 19 (Tuesday) [Roger Browse (Queen's), cancelled for now]
Artificial Intelligence Seminar
Anand Rao (IBM, TJ Watson Center)
Topic T.B.A
Sandford Fleming Building, rm 1105, 2pm
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January 20 (Wednesday)
Psychology Department Colloquium
Peter Shizgal (Concordia, Psychology)
"Neuromechanisms of Reward in the Rat: a Psychophysical and
Electrophysiological Analysis"
Sidney Smith Hall, rm 2135, 4pm
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January 26 (Tuesday)
Artificial Intelligence Seminar
Robin Cohen (Waterloo)
on Implementing a model for goal-oriented discourse
Sandford Fleming building, rm 1105, 2pm
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January 27 (Wednesday)
AI/Expert Systems Seminar at Ontario Hydro:
An open forum on expert systems, with some presentations, emphasizing
methodological issues. The special guest speaker will be Gordon McNab,
president of PRECARN (Precompetitive Applied Research Network).
This will be the second meeting of individuals from a group of
companies around Toronto (including Ontario Hydro, AECL, Ministry of
Transport and Communications, Bell, etc). Open to practitioners of
knowledge engineering, and others particularly interested. Please call
592-6782 in advance, to register. For more information, or if you have
an application you would like to talk about for 10 or 20 minutes, call
Rik Robinson at 592-6774.
Ontario Hydro Auditorium (700 University Ave -- just across the
street from UofT), Messanaine Floor, 1-4pm.
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January 29 (Friday)
Linguistics Seminar
Ellen Kaisse (U of Washington)
"Modern Greek Continuants and the OCP" (phonology)
Robarts Library, 6th Floor, rm 6071, 3:30pm
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January 29 (Friday)
Neuropsychology seminar
Howard Eichenbaum
"The Role of the Hippocampus in Learning and Memory: Sniffing along a
new trail"
Erindale College, Council Chamber, 12:15
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January 29 (Friday)
Erindale/McMaster Cognitive Seminars
Speaker and title T.B.A
Erindale Campus, rm 3129, 3pm
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February 1 (Monday)
McLuhan Literacy and Computing Seminar
J. Peter Denny (Psychology, U of Western Ontario)
"Contextualizing and Additive Structure in Discourse and Logical
Reasoning of Primary Oral Cultures"
McLuhan Coach House, 4pm
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February 1 (Monday)
Don Norman (director, Institute for Cognitive Science, UC San Diego) is
visiting SUNY Buffalo on the 1st of February. (Several groups are
looking at bringing him to Toronto during his travels)
His talk at SUNY will be "The Psychology of Everyday Things", in which
he argues, in part: "Less planning and problem solving is required than
is commonly supposed. Many tasks need never be learned... The problem
space for most everyday tasks is shallow or narrow ... because natural
and contrived properties of the environment combine to constrain the
set of possible actions."
Park 280, Amherst Campus 4:00 P.M. Call Bill Rapaport (Computer
Science, (716) 636-3193, 3180) for further information.
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February 3 (Wednesday)
Center for Applied Cognitive Science, OISE
Alison Gopnik
Topic T.B.A. (probably developmental cognitive psychology)
Info will be posted in the OISE building.
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February 5 (Friday)
Erindale/McMaster Cognitive Seminar
Derek Besner (Psychology, Waterloo)
"Mental _Mechanisms_ in Oral Reading"
McMaster University, Psychology bldg, rm 204, 3:30pm
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Advance Notice:
February 18, IEEE (Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers,
a world-wide organization with a quarter of a million members), will
hold a satellite videoconference, offering two-way audio, entitled
"Practical Applications of Artificial Intelligence", with presentations
from members of DEC, Boeing, and NCR. The Toronto reception location
has not been confirmed as of press time. Contact Joe Wahba (928-1657)
or Stephen Vetter (596-1429) for information.
The University Lectures in Vision 1988, now officially scheduled for
the week of May 16-19, will be given by F.M. De Monasterio (National
Institute of Health). The opening event will be a one day symposium on
May 16th, which will include talks by other visitors (P. Kaiser, B.
Tansley, P. Cavanagh, R. Beauchamp). Subsequent days will include
discussion groups in the Departments of Computer Science and Physiology
and lectures in the Departments of Anatomy and Opthalmology on the
topography of cones and ganglion cells. For information, contact P.E.
Hallett at 978-4339.
Summer Institute in Cognitive Neuroscience, Harvard University, June
12-25, 1988
The James S. McDonnell Foundation is sponsoring a Summer Institute in
Cognitive Neuroscience to be held at Harvard University from 12-25 June
1988. The first week will focus on memory, and the second on
high-level vision. The course will demonstrate how information about
the brain has a direct bearing on issues in cognitive science, and how
cognitive approaches have a direct application to neuroscience
research. Lectures will review the latest research findings and
theories, and laboratories and demonstrations will provide practive
experience with experimental techniques. At every stage, the
relationship between cognitive processing and the underlying neural
circuits will be explored.
Deadline for application is January 15 [I have itinerary and
application materials -- ed.]. For further information, contact:
S.M. Kosslyn, Summer Institute
Psychology, 1236 William James Hall
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA 02138
NOTES:
The Scarborough Campus has begun a Neuroscience speakers program. The
talks are held on every other Tuesday at 1 pm in the Council Chamber at
Scarborough. Get on the Neuroscience Newsletter mailing list to
receive information about them (call 978-4894).
The Toronto Working Papers in Linguistics, Vol. 8, is now available
from the Linguistics Graduate Course Union, Department of Linguistics,
at $7/copy. The volume contains work by Barbara Brunson (Constraints
on Discontinuity), Karen A. Carlyle (Vowel Sequence and Sonority in
Breton), Lisa Lai Shen Cheng (On the 'Passive' Construction in
Mandarin), B. Elan Dresher (In Defence of UG), and Keren Rice
(Inflection Inside Derivation: An Athapaskan Case).
Neuroscience Student Regulations Officially Announced:
The final word from the School of Graduate Studies is in. Any graduate
wishing to receive a collaborative Ph.D. in Neuroscience should do the
following:
1. Contact the Graduate Coordinator of your department and inform
him/her of your intentions to pursue a collaborative degree in
Neuroscience.
2. Request a letter from him/her to you acknowledging your
intentions.
3. Advise him/her to send one copy of this letter to Ms. Joan Mulveney
at the School of Graduate Studies, and a second copy to the Program in
Neuroscience in the Ramsay Wright Building, both on the St. George
Campus.
4. Make sure that you complete the requirements of the Program as
outlined in the Graduate Calendar. Any variations from this will
require a letter to the Program office from your department's
representative on the Program Committee.
5. If you are in ANY department that is not presently participating,
all it takes is a letter from your chairman indicating a willingness to
participate for you to get you collaborative Ph.D. in Neuroscience.
[Taken from Neuroscience Newsletter, No. 3, November-December 1987]
New Physiology course offering:
PSL 432H / 1432H "Theoretical Physiology" will be given by Dr. Kenneth
Norwich (phone 978-6698, e-mail norwich@utoronto):
In 1988 about half this course will deal with computational
neurophysiology and the mathematical theory of nerve conduction. We
shall also cover information theoretical aspects of neurophysiology.
New Psychology Course:
Signal Detection Theory, Detection and Recognition (Psych 2320S)
In the Spring Term of '88 this course will cover the recently completed
text, \\Doing Psychophysics: A users' guide to Signal Detection
Theory\\, by N.A. Macmillan (Brooklyn College) and Douglas Creelman
(Toronto).
The aim of the seminar, and of the course, is to introduce Detection
Theory as a set of methods and concepts for measuring detection and
recognition performance. These techniques are now used in fields far
removed from the original applications in sensory and perceptual
research. Cognitive experiments, animal research, speech recognition,
and evaluation of medical diagnosis and information-retrieval systems
are examples which which the text uses to present the techniques, and
to demonstrate their wide applicability.
Experimental designs for measuring sensitivity are described, along
with the appropriate analysis procedure for each. The practical
material is in each case followed by a presentation of the theoretical
underpinnings of each method. Where appropriate, both the approaches
of Signal Detectability Theory (Tanner, Swets, and Green) and Choice
theory (Luce) are developed in parallel. Topics include
identification, forced-choice, rating, same-different, and more complex
designs (such as ABX or simultaneous detection-recognition). Threshold
(state) theories and their current status in light of recent
developments will be stressed. Adaptive estimation of empirical
thresholds, and statistical analysis of sensitivity data will also be
covered.
The book will be available in draft form to participants in the
seminar, at the cost of duplication. Auditors will be welcome, on the
assumption that everyone participating will do the end-of-chapter
problems and exercises, which will provide focus for each seminar
meeting.
Thursdays, 10-12, starting January 7, Sidney Smith Hall, rm 570.
For information: Sheila Yuan (978-3404) or Douglas Creelman (978-7620)
Very Preliminary Announcement:
Dept of Psychiatry, 14th Annual Research Day, June 16
A series of short presentations (roughly 10 minutes each, several
running simultaneously) on research by faculty of Psychiatry and others
associated with the department. Keynote speaker will be Dr. Paul
Garfinkel (psychiatrist in chief, Toronto General, and professor of
Psychiatry). Dr. P.L. Darby (Wellesley Hospital) will chair. For
information, contact Karen Drysdale, 979-2221 ext2455.
An article in this month's issue of \\Scientific American\\ describes a
class of visual phenomenon called subjective-contour illusions, on
pages 96-99 ("What explains subjective-contour illusions, those bright
spots that are not really there?") First brought to popular attention
in 1976 by Gaetano Kanizsa of the University of Triest, these
illusional shapes seem brightened, and appear to float above the page.
Several theories have attempted to explain the properties and determine
their psychological causes.
Much of the article focusses on work by John M. Kennedy, professor of
Psychology here at Toronto, who developed theories and invented a
variety of illusions to investigate the subjective contour effect.
Work by Barry L. Richardson, also of Toronto, is mentioned as well.
As Dr. Kennedy has said, "it's as though there's a part of your brain
looking at what's there, and another part looking at what's not there."
The article is to the point, and written in a highly accessible style.
See also pp. 78-85 for a very interesting article on visual pathways
(the article makes a thoroughly convincing case for 3 largely separate
and specialized informatin pathways in the visual brain).
The Cognitive Science Directory, originally scheduled for January (this
issue) has been held up temporarily, while continuing financing is
found. The McLuhan Program supported this newsletter during the fall,
but now we are waiting for the results of several grant applications.
As of this date, over 70 responses to the directory questionaire have
been received. (A few more are supposedly on their way -- hint, hint).
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Related Events in Neuroscience [not printed in the newsletter -- subscribe to
the "Neuroscience Newsletter" for this information through the "Neuroscience
Program, Ramsay Wright buiding, University of Toronto, M5S 1A1" (416) 978-4894]:
January 6 (Wednesday) [Sorry - you missed it, but it's worth mention]
Allan Cormack, Nobel Laureate
"Tomographic Priniciples in Science and Engineering"
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January 13 (Wednesday)
Neuroanatomy Seminar
Norman Iscove (Ontario Cancer Institute)
Title T.B.A
Medical Sciences Building, rm 6229, time?
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January 15 (Friday)
Ontario-Quebec Exchange, Physiology
D.C.S. Roberts (Psychology, Carleton)
"Neural Substrates of Cocaine Reward"
Medical Sciences Building, rm 3227, noon
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January 19 (Tuesday)
John Yeomans (Psychology)
"Dopamine Cells and Electrically Evoked Behaviors"
Sidney Smith, rm 570, 4pm
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January 21 (Thursday)
Physiology Seminar
Dr. Ken Baimbridge (Physiology, UBC)
"Neuron Specific Calcium Binding Proteins"
Medical Sciences Building, rm 3227, 4pm
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January 22 (Friday)
Neurophysiology Interest group
Dr. Ken Baimbridge (Physiology, UBC)
"Calcium Binding Proteins and Experimental Models of Epilepsy and
Neuron Death"
Medical Sciences Building, rm 3227, noon
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January 29 (Friday)
Physiology Seminar
R.D. Andrew (Anatomy, Queen's)
"Electrophysiology of Hippocampal Slices"
Medical Sciences Building, rm 3227, noon
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February 4 (Thursday)
Physiology Seminar
Don Dixon (grad student, Physiology)
"Serotonin facilitation: an interplay of 2 second messengers" (about
modulation of synaptic transmission)
Medical Sciences Building, rm 3227, 4pm
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February 5 (Friday)
Physiology Seminar
T. Drew (Physiology, UofMontreal)
"Super-spinal control of locomotion"
Medical Sciences Building, rm 3227, noon
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Excerpts from "Toronto Intelligence" Research Newsletter, Vol 1, Iss 5
(A Forum for Research and Study in Cognitive Science around UofT)
Event announcements, paper subscriptions to Toronto Intelligence, contact:
tjhorton@ai.toronto.edu
Subscription is free to those who can be reached by
Campus or Ontario Inter-University mail.
--
Timothy J Horton (416) 979-3109 tjhorton@ai.toronto.edu (CSnet,UUCP,Bitnet)
Dept of Computer Science tjhorton@ai.toronto (other Bitnet)
University of Toronto, tjhorton@ai.toronto.cdn (EAN X.400)
Toronto, Canada M5S 1A4 {seismo,watmath}!ai.toronto.edu!tjhorton