Educational seminar Current trends in cognitive sciences
IV
The topic of the fourth educational seminar
in the series Current trends in cognitive sciences was The
Development of Pragmatic Competence in Children. The seminar
lasted two days, and it included four sessions. The lectures
were given by Mirjana Mirić, Ph.D., Institute for Balkan
Studies, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Belgrade.
The seminar was attended by a large number of students from
the Faculty of Philosophy in Niš, mostly from the Department
of Serbian language and literature, Department of English, and
Department of Psychology. Each session was followed by a
fruitful discussion. You can find more details here.
11 - 18 May 2019
Educational SeminarCURRENT TRENDS
IN COGNITIVE SCIENCES III
On May 11th and May 18th, 2019, Center for Cognitive
Sciences hosted the third seminar in the series Current
Trends in Cognitive Sciences. The seminar included
lectures from the fields of Psychology, Linguistics, and
Cognitive Linguistics, and it attracted a large number of
students from the Faculty of Philosophy in Niš.
The first two lectures of the seminar were given on May 11th,
2019, and both lectures dealt with topics from the field of
Psychology. The first lecture was given by Marija
Pejičić, MA, from the Psychology Department,
Faculty of Philosophy, University of Niš, and the topic
of the lecture was GENDER STEREOTYPES IN EMOTIONAL
BEHAVIOUR.
The second lecture was given by Nikola
Ćirović, MA, also from the Psychology Department,
Faculty of Philosophy, University of Niš. The topic of
the second lecture was FACTOR ANALYSIS OF INDIVIDUAL
DIFFERENCES IN THE COGNITIVE DOMAIN: LATENT STRUCTURE OF
EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS. Both lectures were followed by a
fruitful discussion.
The following two lectures of the seminar dealt with topics
from the fields of Linguistics and Cognitive Linguistics, and
they were give on May 18th, 2019. The first lecture, titled THE
AT-ISSUE STATUS OF NON-RESTRICTIVE RELATIVE CLAUSES: A
CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH AND SERBIAN, was given
by Ema Živković, MA, English
Department, Faculty of Philosophy, University of
Niš.
The second lecture was given by Mladen
Popović, MA, English Department, Faculty of
Philosophy, University of Niš, and it
was titled PERSUASIVENESS OF AFFORDANCES IN VIDEO GAMES.
Again, both lectures were followed by a detailed discussion.
26 - 27 March 2019
Professor Popivanov's visit
On March 26th, Professor Ivo Popivanov, New
Bulgarian University, Sofia, Bulgaria, gave a seminar titled Seminar
on neuroimaging methods: functional Magnetic Resonance
Imaging. The seminar attracted student and
university staff form the University of Niš interested in this
area of research, and the presentation was followed by a
fruitful discussion.
On Wednesday, March 27th, Professor Popivanov gave a lecture
titled Neural representation of faces and bodies in
primate inferotemporal cortex, which was also
followed by a detailed discussion.
26/11/2018
Professor Vidanović's Lecture
On Monday, November 26th, 2018, Professor
Đorđe Vidanović, PhD, CogSci Forum Coordinator, gave a
talk titled The Cognitive Principle of Force Dynamics and
Metaphor of Mihailo Petrović Alas. The lecture was
occasioned by the 150th anniversary of the birth of Mihailo
Petrović Alas, who is universally regarded as the most
prominent Serbian mathematician. In collaboration with the Niš
chapter of the Serbian Academy of the Sciences and Arts, the
lecturer presented some of the lesser known works by Alas,
namely those pertaining to what is today known as cognitive
science. The basis of the lecture was the book Metaphors and
Allegories (1933); however, Professor Vidanović also drew
attention to the fact that the beginning of Petrović’s
interest in employing mathematical and physical models in the
investigation of human cognition was actually marked by the
work The Elements of Mathematical Phenomenology (1911). These
efforts led to a construct which bears a striking similarity
to that which is today known to cognitive linguists as the
Image Schema, that is to say an abstract conceptual structure
developed on the basis of the human experience of movement and
force. Given the highly eclectic nature of the presented
material and the high attendance, the lecture was followed by
an extremely productive round of questions and discussion.
More details are available here.
13 - 14 November 2018
Professor Todd Oakley's visit
On Tuesday, November 13th, 2018,
Professor Todd Oakley, Case Western Reserve University,
Cleveland (Ohio) gave the first of the two talks during his
visit to the Center for Cognitive Sciences, University of Niš.
The talk was titledHow
Institutions Think Analogically: A Sedimentation and
Motivation Model of Money.
With Zlatev’s Sedimentation
and Motivation Model as the starting point, the
lecturer described the processes by which metaphors and
analogies become conventionalized and later universalized;
this description was followed by a depiction of these
processes as they pertain to money – the example used was
coin minting in ancient Greece. Further examples served as
evidence that while commodity money (e.g. coins) does not
have a culturally universal form, the notion of credit in
terms of the debtor/creditor relationship is cross-cultural.
The conclusion was that, although various authorities use
appeals to essence via analogy to legitimize their forms of
commodity money, the functional purpose of money is far more
pedestrian, i.e. that it serves as an accounting method.
Given that the lecture also pertained to the relationship
between money and authority, it gave way to a discussion on
the various implications given, ranging from the rhetorical
ones to those related to cryptocurrencies.
On
Wednesday,
November 14th, 2018, Professor Todd
Oakley delivered the second of the two lectures during
his visit to the Center for Cognitive Sciences, titled Representation and the
Semiotic Circuit: Hypotyposic abstraction
as
a Human Singularity.
The first point of the lecture was the clarification of the
meaning of the term representation
in semiotics, as the term has come to be increasingly
misused. Following the first segment, the notion of the
semiotic circuit was presented by the lecturer, with emphasis
on the fact that each species has its own circuit, and that
the circuit varies in complexity from one species to another.
The examples given were earthworms, vervet monkeys, and
humans. The varying degrees of complexity were illustrated by
the semiotic circuit of earthworms primarily facilitating
sunlight avoidance, and by the fact that vervet monkeys may
even use theirs to deceive their fellow troop members using
predator alert signals. The key difference between vervet
monkeys as representatives of higher mammals and humans was
that, while monkeys do have an extraordinary capacity for
hypostatic abstraction, this capacity in humans becomes the
capacity for hypotypostic abstraction due to man’s capacity
for considering hypotetical situations. The lecture was
followed by a round of questions and discussion, primarily as
the audience was familiar with language ability experiments on
primates.
3/05/2018
Dr Hristova's lecture
On Thursday, May 3rd, 2018, Prof. Evgenia
Hristova, PhD from the New Bulgarian University in Sofia
delivered a lecture titled Mind Perception for Human and
Artificial Cognitive Agents. The lecturer began by
outlining the problem of mind perception, that is, how humans
perceive the mind of other cognitive agents. Following this
introduction, prof. Hristova presented a study in which the
respondents graded the cognitive abilities of artificial
cognitive agents such as robots in several categories. In
addition to the results themselves, the lecturer also drew
attention to the necessity of improving and making the grading
categories more consistent. Given the multidisciplinary nature
of such research, the lecture gave way to a lengthy and
productive round of questions and discussion.
March - April 2018
Educational Seminar CURRENT TRENDS IN
COGNITIVE SCIENCES II
March 24th, 2018
The first day of the seminar concerned cognitive narratology.
The lecturers were Prof. Jelena Jovanović, PhD, and Prof.
Dejan Milutinović, PhD; both are staff members of the
Department of Serbian and Comparative Literature at the
Faculty of Philosophy in Niš, serving as an assistant
professor and associate professor, respectively.
The first lecture was titled Frame and Framing: From
Classical to Cognitive Narratology and delivered by dr
Jovanović. It outlined the rejection of structuralism as
the source of narratological interpretation by the first
generation of post-classical narratologists and their embrace
of methods found in cognitive science. In accordance with the
topic, the results of this transition were highlighted;
namely, the dismissal of the classical notion of the text as
an autonomous phenomenon and the acceptance of context as a
valid facet of analysis.
The lecture by dr Milutinović was titled Genre as
a Cognitive Category. The lecturer drew parallels
between the different historical epochs of science and the
chronologically equivalent notions on the nature of literature
before presenting the headway made in the contemporary epoch -
namely the development of the four-category model which builds
upon the classical three-tier model. These lectures served as
an introduction to cognitive narratology for those audience
members from other faculties and departments, and as such led
to a round of questions and discussion.
March 31st, 2018
The second day of the seminar hosted three lectures given
by prof. Dušan Stamenković, PhD, from the Faculty of
Philosophy in Niš, prof. Milkica Nešić, PhD, from
the Faculty of Medicine in Niš, and an online lecture given
by dr Renee Timmers from the Department of Music,
University of Sheffield.
Dr Stamenković gave a talk titled Metaphor
Comprehension: Theories and Research Directions.
During the talk, the lecturer gave a detialed overview and
comparison of various approaches to the study of metaphor
comprehension, ranging from Conceptual Metaphor Theory to
more contemporary experimental research in the domain of
cognitive psychology that explores mechanisms such as
categorization and analogy. Following the detailed
theoretical introduction, Dr Stamenković present findings
from his own research and outlined the main directions for
future research.
Dr Nešić's lecture titled The relationship between
attention, working memory, and consciousness started
with an overview of brain circuitry that supports the most
important cognitive functions, and it also included an
insight into previous research in the field. After that, dr
Nešić presented the findings of her study dealing with
woring memory.
Dr Renee Timmers gave an online talk titled Communication
in Musical Ensembles. During the talk, she discussed
the role played by both social and cognitive processes in
developing a synchronised and coherent ensemble performance
within a rehearsal or concert context. Social processes
concern the perceived relationships between ensemble
members, their verbal interactions, as well as relational
characteristics of their nonverbal behaviour. Cognitive
processes relate among others to the ability of musicians to
anticipate and adapt to each other whilst playing, and to
employ visual and auditory cues to inform such anticipation
and adaptation. Recent research conducted with colleagues
and students are reviewed that are relevant due to their
methodological innovations and the insights they offer on
ensemble performance. The studies examined 1) how patterns
of verbal communication emerge and develop across rehearsals
of a vocal quintet, leading up to a concert performance, 2)
patterns of adaptation and auditory- visual cuing in a
string quartet, and 3) the ability to use visual information
for synchronisation and its dependence on relevant motor
expertise. These studies observe different layers of musical
communication from explicit verbal behaviour to neurological
contributors.
April 14th, 2018
The final day of the seminar consisted of two lectures
delivered by Prof. Mihailo Antović, PhD, Head of Center
for Cognitive Sciences in Niš, and Prof. Đorđe
Vidanović, PhD, CogSci forum coordinator.
The first lecture - Levels of Grounding in Meaning
Construction: A New Approach to Cognitive Semantics –
was delivered by Prof. Antović. Following an
introduction to the problem of symbol grounding as outlined by
Harnad in 1990, Prof. Antović proposed a multi level-grounding
system on the basis of a study of music referentiality.
The final lecture was delivered by Prof. Vidanović and
it was titled Paradise Lost and the Interpretation of the
World. On the basis of the book Perception and the Fall
from Eden, Prof. Vidanović offered an interpretation whereby
well-known mechanisms of cognitive linguistics are an
inevitable consequence of man’s existence in an imperfect
world; were the opposite to be true, phenomena such as
polysemy would not exist, as human language would exist on a
perfect one-on-one correspondence with the world.
Following a round of questions and discussion, the seminar was
concluded by Vladimir Figar, secretary of the Center for
Cognitive Sciences in Niš.
22/03/2018
Dr Valt's lecture
On Thursday, March 22nd, 2018, Dr.
Christian Valt of the International Psychoanalytic
University of Berlin gave a lecture titled Event-Related
Brain Potentials of Performance Monitoring: From Basic
Research to the Evaluation of Psychotherapy. The lecture
concerned the application of monitoring two different brain
potentials onto evaluating the nature of panic disorder as
well as monitoring the progress of patients suffering from the
aforementioned disorder. To that end, the lecturer presented
two different experiments. The first dealt with the nature of
the two potentials in addition to presenting their interplay
in patients – the first potential (Ne/ERN) was related to
internal stressors, whereas the latter (VPP) was related to
external stressors; in addition, the two potentials were found
to be equally amplified in persons suffering from unexpected
reoccurring panic attacks. The latter experiment concerned the
monitoring of these potentials in patients who had been
undergoing psychotherapy for one year at the time. While no
attenuation in the internal potential was detected, the
external potential was found to have been significantly
affected towards normalization. This serves as a preliminary
indication of psychotherapy being successful in alleviating
the hyper-vigilant attitude characteristic of the disorder.
The lecture was followed by a brief round of questions and
discussion.
February - March 2018
Dr Antović's visits to Sheffield and Bratislava
In February and March 2018 prof. Mihailo
Antović, PhD, Head of the CogSci Center paid research visits
to the University of Sheffield and University of Bratislava
(CEEPUS), where he gave several talks and discussed possible
research collaboration with the Department of Music at
Sheffield and Center for Cognitive Sciences / Department of
Informatics at Comenius University in Bratislava.
13/12/2017
Dr Snežana Milosavljević Milić's lecture
On Wednesday, December 13th, 2017,
Professor Snežana Milosavljević Milić, Ph.D. gave an invited
talk titled COGNITIVE NARRATOLOGY – CHALLENGES, SCOPE,
PERSPECTIVES. The lecture introduced the main
tenets and directions of research within the discipline of
Cognitive Narratology. Starting from the initial
narratological shift in humanities and social sciences, and
science in general, which took place in the 1980s, the
lecturer proceeded with the discussion of the most important
milestones, as well as the most influential figures who
directed the development of the discipline. In that sense, the
main challenges, scope, and future directions concerning
research in this filed were also addressed. Finally, the
lecture gave way to a productive discussion.
06/12/2017 Nikola Stojanović's lecture
On Wednesday, December 6th, 2017, Nikola
Stojanović gave a lecture titled Experimental Animal
Models in Psychiatric Research. The lecture
concerned the application of Animal Models in the
development of new medication for psychiatric conditions
such as pathological anxiety. The development of such
medication is necessitated by the myriad of side effects
caused by the administration of current medication. The
lecture presented many facets of this line of research,
including animal models in neuropharmacology, classification
of anxiety disorders, the genesis and mechanism of anxiety,
classification of tests as well as the criteria of their
validity, and the translation of animal models onto clinical
studies. The lecturer concluded the presentation by
emphasizing the necessity of continuing research in this
field. The lecture was followed by a brief round of
questions and discussion.
17/05/2017
Dr Nešić's lecture
On Wednesday, May 17th, 2017,
Dr Janko Nešić gave a lecture titled Phenomenological
argument for the substantival self. In his talk, Dr
Nešić outlined the simple phenomenological
argument to the metaphysical conclusion that the self is
an individual substance and not a bundle of experiences.
Drawing on modern philosophical accounts of mineness
(from Zahavi to Guillot), pre-reflective
self-consciousness (Nida-Rümelin) and acquaintance
(Gertler, Goff) the lecturer managed to show that if one
is acquainted with oneself, that is if one has
self-acquaintance and acquaintance with one’s
experiences (one has self-awareness and awareness of
experiences), one acquires introspective knowledge that
oneself is a substance. The lecture attracted a large
audience of students of Philosophy, and it gave way to
an elaborate discussion.
March - April 2017 Educational seminar Current Trends in
Cognitive Sciences
In the period between March 18th and April
8th 2017, Center for Cognitive Sciences organized the first
educational seminar intended for MA and Ph.D. students from
the University of Niš. The event included seven lectures and
workshops given both by the members of the Center, and by
guests from the New Bulgarian University in Sophia, Bulgaria.
Overall, the seminar attracted a large audience of students
from various disciplines.
On Saturday, March 18th, 2017, Prof.
Milkica Nešić, Ph.D. Vice-Head of Center for Cognitive
Sciences, gave a lecture titled Neuroscience of
Communication, From Molecules to Society, which was
given at the Faculty of Philosophy in Niš. The lecture
attracted a great number of students.
On Saturday, March 25th, 2017, two lectures were given in
lecture hall no. 8 in the main University building.
The first lecture, titled The Link Between Linguistics
and Musicology: Theoretical, Methodological, and
Experimental Basics, was given by Prof. Mihailo
Antović, Ph.D., Head of Center for Cognitive Sciences. The
lecture explored various frameworks that address the problem
of grounding and meaning construction in various contexts.
The second lecture was given by Prof. Đorđe Vidanović,
Ph.D., CogSci Forum Coordinator, and it was titled The
Semantics of Consciousness. Dr Vidanović provided an
elaborate discussion on the problem of consciousness from
the perspective of Philosophy of Mind, and its implications
for the study of cognitive sciences.
Saturday, April 1st, 2017, hosted two lectures that were given
in lecture hall no. 8 in the main University building.
The first lecture, titled Frame Interaction and Network
Equilibrium in Conceptual Metaphors: Discussing the
Explanatory Adequacy of Conceptual Blending, was given
by Vladimir Figar, MA.
The second lecture/workshop, titled Identifying and
Analyzing Metaphor and Metonymy in Comics was given by
Asst. Prof. Dušan Stamenković, Ph.D., CogSci Secretary, and
Miloš Tasić, MA, from the Faculty of Machine Engineering,
University of Niš. After the main part of the lecture,
participants from the audience analyzed some specific
instances of metaphor and metonymy in comics with the
lecturers.
The seminar was concluded on Saturday, April 8th, 2017, with
two lectures given by faculty members of the New Bulgarian
University, Sophia, Bulgaria.
The first lecture was given by Prof. Maurice Grinberg, Ph.D.,
and it was titled Social Dilemmas and Game Theory. Dr
Grinberg provided a comprehensive overview of research which
includes the application of game theory to certain
psychological problems.
The final lecture of the seminar was given by Prof. Eugenia
Hristova, Ph.D., and it was titled Eye-Tracking:
Methodology and Applications. The participants had an
opportunity to familiarize themselves with the scope of
application of eye-tracking methodologies, and to also
experience the equipment and software firsthand, as the
lecturer brought along two portable eye trackers and the
accompanying software.
23/03/2017
Dr Farkaš's
workshop
On Thursday, March 23rd, 2017, Prof. Ing. Igor Farkaš,
Dr., Centre for Cognitive Science, Comenius University,
Bratislava, Slovak Republic, held a workshop titled “Brain-computer
interface based on motor imagery.”
Namely, Brain-computer interface (BCI) has
become an important technology, based on non-invasive
measurement of the brain signals, allowing the users to
control the environment by their own thought. Motor imagery
based approach to BCI utilizes the modulation
sensory-motor-related brain oscillatory rhythms that can be
correctly interpreted after processing. Additionally, the
workshop also dealt with the issue of neuroscience and
technical background behind the BCI and the lecturer discussed
the range of applications that this technology affords -
ranging from computer gaming to neurorehabilitation. Finally,
Dr Farkaš also addressed the main challenges and philosophical
aspects of this technology. Like the previous lecture, this
workshop was also followed by a fruitful discussion.
22/03/2017 Dr Farkaš’s lecture
On Wednesday,
March 22nd, 2017, Prof. Ing. Igor Farkaš, Dr., Centre for
Cognitive Science, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovak
Republic, gave a lecture titled “Computational modeling in
cognitive robotics.”
The lecture provided an introduction to
artificial neural networks, a major paradigm in cognitive
robotics that represents a constructivist (synthetic) approach
to the understanding of cognitive functions, using physical or
simulated robots. This important approach was also illustrated
on selected tasks of motor learning, body representations, or
(simple) language grounding. The talk gave way to an
insightful discussion.
1/3/2017
Dr Keith Holyoak's lecture
On Wednesday, March 1st, dr Keith Holyoak,
Distinguished Professor of Psychology, from UCLA, Los Angeles,
USA, gave an online talk titled Commonsense Moral Reasoning.
During the talk, he discussed how ordinary people make
judgements about moral issues and introduced some of the
previous research that questions one popular approach based on
utilitarianism. Subsequently, he introduced a more promising
approach called 'deontological coherence theory' which tries
to unify findings in moral psychology that have often been
interpreted as heuristics or biases. The lecture gave way to a
productive discussion.
November / December 2016
Professor Antović's visit
to the University of Vienna
In November and December 2016, Prof.
Mihailo Antović, head of the Center for Cognitive Sciences,
was a guest lecturer in the MEi, Middle European
Indisciplinary Master Program in Cognitive Science at the
University of Vienna. Among other activities, Prof. Antović
gave a lecture entitled "Musicolinguistics: Why Would
Connections between Music and Language Matter for Cognitive
Science", and a workshop on "multilevel grounding" in meaning
construction. The visit was supported by the CEEPUS exchange
program, in which the Center for Cognitive Science
participates along with eight partner institutions from
central and southeast Europe.
3/11/2016
Dr Patrick Plummer's lecture
On Thursday, 3 November 2016, Patrick
Plummer, Ph.D. from UCLA, Los Angeles, USA, gave
an online lecture titled "The Effects of Context on Word
Recognition" in which he focused on different aspects of
language comprehension during reading. Namely, his work is
focused on
how readers coordinate the cognitive processes that
underlie word identification and sentence comprehension
with the constraints imposed by visual acuity and the
requirements of fine oculomotor control. During the
lecture he introduced selected
projects designed to investigate the influence of
linguistic context on word recognition during reading
using high temporal resolution eye-tracking
methodologies. More specifically, he presented two sets
of experiments, where the first set
of experiments examined the effects of prior
sentence context on the extraction of orthographic
(letter) and phonological (sound) information at the
earliest stages of word identification, while the
second setwas designed to
examine the influence of various corpus-based lexical
characteristics on word recognition difficulty and
eye-movement control during reading. Finally, the
lecture gave way to a fruitful discussion.
20-21/5/2016
CogSciNiš 2016: Symbol Grounding in
Cognitive Science
On 20 and 21
May 2016, Center for Cognitive Sciences hosted the third
cognitive science symposium named CogSciNiš 2016: Symbol
Grounding in Cognitive Science, supported by the Faculty of
Philosophy and the University of Niš. The symposium was held in
the main building of the University of Niš and consisted of two
main talk sessions, one plenary lecture and a round table
discussion titled "Schemas, Grounds, and Meaning in Language,
Music, Vision, and Beyond - Open Issues and Collaboration
Opportunities". The opening speech was given by professor Vesna
Lopičić, University's vice-rector for international cooperation,
while the plenary video-link lecture, "Is Music a Universal
Language" was given by professor Anthony Brandt (Rice
University, USA), whereas the list of participants included:
Emilios Cambouropoulos, Danae Stefanou, Maximos
Kaliakatsos-Papakostas, George Athanassopoulos, and Asteris
Zacharakis from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
(Computational and Cognitive Musicology Group), Oliver Kutz and
Maria Hedblom from the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano,
Evgeniya Hristova from the Center for Cognitive Science, New
Bulgarian University, Milena Petrović and Gordana Acić from the
University of Arts in Belgrade, as well as four representatives
of the host university - Đorđe Vidanović, Mihailo Antović,
Vladimir Figar and Dušan Stamenković. Besides this, we had
several video-link participants: Dimitris Tasoudis and Petros
Vouvaris (University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki), Anna Piata
(Swiss Center for Affective Sciences), and Cristóbal Pagán
Cánovas (University of Navarra), along with one virtual listener
- Constant Bonard (University of Geneva). The symposium allowed
the participants to link their studies related to the domains of
musicology, linguistics and cognitive science, and plan some
directions for institutional and research collaboration in the
future.
17/5/2016
Professor Hristova's Lecture
On Tuesday, 17 May, 2016, Professor
Evgeniya Hristova, Ph.D. from the Center for Cognitive Science,
New Bulgarian University, Bulgaria, gave a lecture titled "Moral
judgments about decision of artificial cognitive systems" in
which she presented a number of studies carried out by her
colleagues and her - in these studies they tested how moral
human subjects may find different decisions made or potentially
made by humanoid robots or artificial intelligence cognitive
systems.
23/4/2016
Dr Canovas's Lecture
On Saturday, 23 April, 2016, Cristóbal Pagán Cánovas, Ph.D. from
the Institute for Culture and Society, University of Navara,
Spain, gave a lecture via video link titled “The Poetics of
Time: Cognition, Culture, Communication.” The lecture was given
at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Niš, during the
annual conference “Language, Literature, Time 2016”. The lecture
started with the introduction and comparison of the classical
Conceptual Metaphor Theory and the more recent model proposed in
the form of Conceptual Blending Theory, emphasizing the
shortcomings of the former and potential advantages of the
latter. In addition to the overview of metaphorical
conceptualizations of time in poetry, the lecture also provided
ample psychological evidence for the “existence” of the TIME IS
SPACE metaphor, and it also introduced more recent research
efforts in the study of metaphorical gestures conducted on
materials from the Red Hen database. The lecture ended in a
fruitful discussion.
21/4/2016
Dr Lu's Lecture
On Thursday, 21 April, 2016, Wei-lun Lu, Ph.D. (Masaryk
University, Brno, Czech Republic) gave a lecture titled “Use of
parallel texts as a methodology in cognitive linguistics:
Deictic verbs as viewpoint operators.” The introductory part of
the talk included some of the basic tenets of Conceptual
Metaphor Theory, and the discussion of the notion of “construal”
as one of the most salient cognitive phenomena advocated by
contemporary cognitive linguistics, which was followed by an
overview of some more specific research areas. Namely, apart
from presenting the results of his research on the use of
parallel corpora in the investigation of deictic verbs as
viewpoint operators, the lecture also stressed the importance of
a comprehensive methodological approach to research in the
domain of cognitive linguistics. One of the main suggestions
included the use of renowned classics that have been translated
multiple times into many languages, thereby yielding fruitful
ground for investigation and cross-linguistic comparison. The
lecture eventually led to a productive discussion.
30/3-13/4/2016
Cognitive Comics Studies Lecture
Series
From 30 March to 13 April
2016,Center for Cognitive Sciences hosted the Cognitive
Comics Studies Lecture Series, which gathered three
eminent comics scholars from Serbia, the Netherlands and the
United States. The first lecture, titled Visual
Manifestations of Conceptual Metaphor and Metonymy in Comics,
was given on 30 March by Miloš Tasić (Faculty of Mechanical
Engineering, University of Niš). This introductory lecture was
followed by two video-link lectures. The first of them was
Charles Forceville's (Media Studies, University of Amsterdam) Stylistics
in Comics on 6 April 2016. The closing lecture in the
series was Neil Cohn's (University of California, San Diego /
Tilburg University) The Visual Language of Comics: What
comics can tell us about the mind (and vice versa) on 13
April 2016. The lectures introduced the field of cognitive
comics studies and displayed some of the possibilities for
further research in this domain.
Dušan Stamenković's visit to the University of
Vienna
From 3 to 28 December 2015, Asst. Professor Dušan
Stamenković, CogSciNiš member and secretary, visited the
University of Vienna through CEEPUS III academic network
(CIII-AT-0103-10-1516 – Cognitive Science, Knowledge
Studies, and Knowledge Technologies), where he
participated in curricular activities within the Middle
European interdisciplinary master programme in Cognitive
Science (MEi:CogSci). During his visit, he gave a
public lecture entitled The Contribution of Cognitive
Linguistics to Gaming and Comics Studies, and a workshop
titled Identifying and Analysing Metaphor, Metonymy, and
Image Schemata in Visual Languages, both of which were
part of the MEi:CogSci programme activities. Besides
this, he participated in classes within the course Introduction
to Cognitive Science I, whereas he also visited Comnenius
University in Bratislava. With his colleagues from Vienna and
Bratislava he discussed various cooperation possibilites, as
well as directions for founding an MA programme in cognitive
sciences at the University of Niš.
23/12/2015
Nikola Stojanović's Talk
On Wednesday, 23 December 2015, Nikola Stojanović, a lecturer
from the Faculty of Electronic Engineering (University of Niš),
gave a talk entitled Virtual reality: new research
possibilities in cognitive sciences. The lecturer provided
an overview of various activities his research group had
performed, some of which had been directed at raising awareness
about the importance of VR technologies in diverse fields - from
entertainment to science. It was pointed out that there are
possibilities for cooperation with the Center for Cognitive
Sciences in the domain of spatial, language and auditory
cognition. After the presentation, numerous participants had the
opportunity to try out the Oculus Rift VR system.
08/12/2015
Jana Mitić's and Naomi Benecasa's Talk
On 8 December, 2015, Jana Mitić (Faculty of Arts, University
of Niš) and Naomi Benecasa (Rice University, Houston, Texas)
gave a lecture titled “Study of the Perception of musical Timbre
Inspired by Cognitive Linguistics.” The presenters provided a
brief overview of the role of conceptual metaphors in the study
of musical meaning, which was then followed by some specific
examples from the presenters’ professional experience. In
addition to colorful illustrations of the use of conceptual
metaphors and image schemata in the descriptions of musical
timbre, the presentation also included a live cello-performance
of some selected pieces aimed to illustrate not only examples of
upward/downward movement and circular motion, but also instances
of the emotional/affective content that most musical pieces can
evoke, and how these effects can be either stressed or
downplayed by the performer’s interpretation.
15/06-20/07/2015
CogSci Meetings with Students
During June and July 2015, several members of the Center for
Cognitive Sciences organized a series of meetings and workshops
with students interested in cognitive sciences. These meetings
yielded a number of plans related to possible research and
papers in the forthcoming months, predominantly in the areas of
cognitive linguistics and cognitive musicology.
12-15/05/2015
Professor Oakley's Visit
Professor Todd Oakley,
one of the world's most eminent cognitive linguists and Chair of
Cognitive Science at Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland,
Ohio, USA), visited the University of Niš, Faculty of
Philosophy, and Center for Cognitive Sciences from 12 to 15 May
2015. During his visit, he gave a number of lectures and
workshops - “Invocation or Apostrophe?: Rhetorical Dimensions of
Prayer Idioms in Broadcast Television”, “Semantic Domains in The
Dream of the Rood”, “Becoming Human: The Phylogeny of Homo
Rhetoricus”, “The Fluidity-to-Elasticity Hypothesis: the
Perspectives” (sa prof. dr Đorđem Vidanovićem), “Deonstemic
Modals in Legal & Political Discourse: The Cognitive
Semiotics of Layered Actions”. A detailed program of his visit
can be found in the attached poster. POSTER.
27-29/04/2015 Dr Moustafa's Lectures
On Monday, 27 April, and Wednesday, 29 April, Dr Ahmed
Moustafa (School of Social Science and Psychology and the
Marcs Institute, University Of Western Sydney) gave two
lectures, titled Behavioral and Computational Studies of
Parkinson's Disease and Designing Computational Models
of Brain and Behaviour. Among other things, he elaborated
on the ways in which the existing treatments of Parkinson's
disease may benefit from behavioral and computational models. Video link.
08/04/2015
Professor
Nešić's
Lecture
On
Wednesday, 08 April 2015, professor Milkica Nešić (Faculty of
Medicine, University of Niš) gave a lecture entitled Neuroscience
of Communication - from Molecule to Society, in which she
described a set of links between molecules, cells, and the
physiology of the human body on the one hand, and the
functioning of the nervous system and social functions on the
other.
18/12/2014
Professor
Obrenović's
Lecture
On
Thursday,
18 December 2014, professor Joviša Obrenović (Department of
Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Niš) gave a
lecture titled Two Brain Hemispheres, Two Types of
Consciousness, One Personality?, in which he used several
theoretical frameworks to discuss various aspects of
lateralization of the human brain.
25/11/2014
Professor
Antović's SCOPIA
Workshop
On
Tuesday,
25
November 2014, professor Mihailo Antović, Head of Center for
Cognitive Sciences, held a SCOPIA workshop at Myrifield Institute for
Cognition and the Arts. The workshop entitled From
Concepts to Connotation: A Cognitive Linguistic Approach to
Music Cognition introduced several segments of a research
program conducted by the music cognition group at the Center for
Cognitive Sciences in order to suggest how studies of music and
language cognition may inform both theoretical and experimental
work in cognitive linguistics.Video link.
4/11/2014
Professor
Dimitrijević's
Lecture
On Tuesday, 4 November 2014, Professor Srboljub Dimitrijević
(Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Philosophy, University of
Niš) gave a lecture titled Cognition, Circumstances, Factors,
in which he presented a number of philosophical views on the
problem of cognition.
3/5/2014 – 6/5/2014
Professor Mark
Turner's Visit and
CogSciNiš 2014
On
3rd
and
4th May 2014, The Second Cognitive Science Symposium –
Workshop on Multimodal Communication was held at the
Faculty of Philosophy, University of Niš. In addition to
participants from the Faculty of Philosophy in Niš, the
symposium also hosted guests from Croatia, Bulgaria, Greece, and
the US. The event was organized by the Center for Cognitive
Sciences, University of Niš, in cooperation with the University
of Niš, Case Western Reserve University, Ohio, Embassy of the
United States in Belgrade, Faculty of Philosophy, and the Joint
Research Center of the Serbian Academy and University of Niš.
Dr Mark Turner, Professor
of Cognitive Science at Case Western Reserve
University and one of the leading cognitive scientists
today, opened the symposium with the plenary lecture titled
Mind and the Media: Cognitive Processes of Persuasion During
Virtual Interaction where he introduced a new research
project that is currently under way. Among other problems, he
introduced the audience to the notions of a scene of joint
attention, scene of classic joint attention, and a scene of
blended joint attention. The opening lecture inspired a number
of questions from the audience which gave way to a fruitful
discussion.
The remainder of the first day of the seminar included a video
conference via Polycom with the Aristotle University of
Thessaloniki, as well as presentations given by participants
from the University of Zagreb and University of Niš. The final
talk of the day, titled Music, Language, Meaning, and
Cognition: A Research Program, was given by Dr Mihailo
Antović, Head of Center for Cognitive Sciences at the University
of Niš.
The second day of the symposium started with the plenary lecture
given by Dr Djordje Vidanović from the Faculty of Philosophy,
University of Niš, titled The Tractability of Conceptual
Blending, where he discussed the problem of meaning
construction at human level, especially in case where the
tractability of this process is highly questionable, like with
the space-time relationship in physics. The plenary lecture was
followed by two consecutive sessions that included participants
from the University of Athens, University of Zagreb, New
Bulgarian University in Sofia, University of Niš, and University
of Novi Sad.
In all, by bringing together scholars from various disciplines,
some of which include cognitive science, psychology, and
linguistics, the symposium provided a multidisciplinary
environment for the study of various aspects of communication
and meaning construction in different contexts.
Download the Workshop poster Download the Workshop
Program and Book of Abstracts Professor
Turner's
visit,
supported by the US
Embassy in Serbia, continued on 5th and 6th May, with a
number of activities. On 5th May he gave the lecture titled Speaking,
Gesture, Bodily Stance: Studying Multimodal Communication in a
Massive Electronic Corpus at the Faculty of Philosophy,
where presented the possibilities of The Little Red Hen Lab. On
6th May, professor Turner organized a workshop on Trends in
Modern Cognitive Linguistics and Latest Developments in
Conceptual Blending Theory with the staff and students of the
Faculty of Philosophy. The visit ended with the workshop
entitled Niš, Serbia and Northeast Ohio – Possibilities for
Prospective Students, held at the American Corner in Niš.
On
Thursday,
20
March 2014, Dr Dušan Stamenković, Asst. Professor in the
Department of English, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Niš,
gave a lecture titled Cognitive Linguistics and the Visual
Language of Comics. Stamenković presented the
results of various studies related to visual language cognition,
and suggested a number of possibilities for further research in
this domain.
18/2/2014
Professor Jelka Crnobrnja Isailović's
Lecture
On
Tuesday,
18
February
2014,
Dr Jelka Crnobrnja Isailović, Professor in the Department of
Biology and Ecology (Faculty of Sciences and Mathematics,
University of Niš) and Senior Scientist at the Institute for
Biological Research "Siniša Stanković", Belgrade, gave a lecture
entitled Heterogeneous Environments and the Evolution of
Hominids, in which she gave an overview of evolutionary
processes, paying special attention to the ways in which various
changes in the environment of hominids determined their
evolution. The lecture was followed by a thorough and
interesting discussion.
24/12/2013
Dr Vuk Milošević's Lecture
On
Tuesday,
24
December
2013,
Dr Vuk Milošević (Clinic of Neurology, Clinical Center Niš) gave
a lecture entitled The Brain as a Network:
Neurophysiological Methods in the Study of Cortical Functional
Connectivity, in which he presented the structure of the
brain as a complex system and gave an overview of various
experimental methods used in contemporary research. The lecture
was followed by a discussion on the issues of causality,
emergence, artificial intelligence and research possibilities.
28/11/2013
Professor Mihailo Antović's Lecture
On Thursday, 28 November 2013, professor Mihailo Antović PhD
(Faculty of Philosophy, Niš; Head of Center for Cognitive
Sciences) gave a lecture titled Music, Language and Cognition: In Search of
Underlying Principles, in which he provided a survey of
his previous and forthcoming research endeavors in the field.
You can download professor Antović's papers from his website: www.mihailoantovic.com
31/10/2013
Professor
Anthony
Brandt's Lecture
On Thursday, 31 October 2013, professor Anthony Brandt
PhD (Rice University, Houston, Texas, USA) gave a video-link
lecture titled The Science
and Art of Creativity, within the programme of the
Center for Cognitive Sciences, University of Niš. The successful
composer, professor of music theory and cognitive scientist, who
obtained his PhD at Harvard, presented the basics of his own
theory of creativity, based on the models proposed by David
Eagleman, Gilles Fauconnier and Mark Turner. By presenting a set
of examples from the world of fine and applied art,
architecture, music and design, professor Brandt pointed at some
possible abstract principles which govern creative thought,
after which he answered numerous questions coming from the
audience. See the poster
and prof.
Brandt's short bio.
Activities organized by the Cognitive Science Forum
between 12/01/2011 and 15/05/2013:
15/05/2013
Professor Boban Arsenijević's
Lecture
As a part of the Cognitive Science Forum's programme for
2013, on 15 May 2013, professor Boban Arsenijević PhD (Faculty
of Philosophy - University of Niš) gave a lecture titled Space in Cognition: Biological,
Linguistic and AI Perspectives, which was followed by a
thorough and interesting discussion.
26/04/2013
Professor Ray Jackendoff's
Lecture
On 26 April 2013, Ray Jackendoff PhD, Seth Merrin
Professor of Philosophy, Co-Director of the Center for Cognitive
Studies at Tufts University, and one of the most prominent
modern linguists, gave a video-link lecture within the Language, Literature,
Marginalization Conference, held at the Faculty of
Philosophy - University of Niš. The lecture was entitled What You Can Say with Marginal
Syntax: A Hierarchy of Grammatical Complexity. Link.
10/04/2013
Professor Branimir Todorović's
Lecture
On 10 April 2013, Professor Branimir Todorović (Faculty
of Sciences and Mathematics, University of Niš) gave a lecture
entitled Intelligent
machines, Models, Learning Algorithms and Applications at
the University of Niš, within the Cognitive Science Forum
programme. Professor Todorović's interesting lecture contributed
to the process of linking various local cognitive scientists
studying different aspects of cognition.
29/03/2013
Professor Ronnie Wilbur's
Lecture
On 29 March 2013, Professor Ronnie Wilbur PhD (Purdue
University) gave a lecture entitled Structure of ASL and Applications, with a
special emphasis on event structure in sign languages. The
lecture was organised by the Faculty of Philosophy and Cognitive
Science Forum. Link.
20/03/2013
Professor Todd Oakley's Second
Visit
From 14 until 19 March 2013, Todd Oakley PhD, professor
and Chair of Cognitive Science at Case Western Reserve
University, visited the University of Niš. During his visit, the
renowned cognitive scientist conducted two workshops at the
Faculty of Philosophy – one in cognitive linguistics (An Introduction to Construction
Grammar) and one in cognitive semantics (Basic Elements of the Conceptual
Blending and Integration Model). Besides this, together
with Đorđe Vidanović PhD, professor at the Faculty of Philosophy
and the coordinator of the Cognitive Science Forum, he gave a
lecture entitled Autism and
Intersubjectivity: A Report on Preliminary Research.
Professor Oakley’s visit is a part of the continual cooperation
between the Department of Cognitive Science (Case Western
Reserve University) and the Cognitive Science Forum (University
of Niš). The visit was organised by the University of Niš, the
Faculty of Philosophy, the SANU Research Centre and the
Cognitive Science Forum. Visit programme.Link.