Making sense of the world: People, places, and THINGS. Abstract: Light falling on the retina triggers neural activity that is propagated along sub-cortical and cortical pathways to ultimately elicit the perceptual experience of a world that is full of people, places, and things. However, much prior research has focused on broad visual distinctions (e.g. scenes, […]
The distributed conceptual network in the human brain. ABSTRACT: Human behavior is based on a complex interaction between perception, stored knowledge, and continuousevaluation of the world relative to plans and goals. Even seemingly simple tasks such as watching a movie orlistening to a story involve a range of different perceptual and cognitive processes whose underlying […]
Computational architecture of speech comprehension
Computational architecture of speech comprehension
Mechanisms of Culture and Individuality in the Visual Value System of the Brain
Title and abstract TBA.
Innate neural scaffolds for mental function Abstract: What determines the landscape of functional specialization in the human brain? I’ll present experiments that investigate how neural processors for uniquely human skills emerge in development, focusing specifically on written language for this talk. First, I'll demonstrate how a pre-reader’s brain connectivity scan can pinpoint exactly where that […]
Linguistic Universals in Grammars and Language Models. (Please take note of the alternate location.)
Do contemporary, machine-executable models (aka digital twins) of the primate ventral visual system unlock the ability to non-invasively, beneficially modulate high level brain states?
Who, what, where... how? Abstract: Humans are the best knowers and learners of the natural world. From infancy, we are sensitive to the who, what, and where in everyday life… but how? In this talk, I will focus on how our intuitive cognitive biases interact with language to support our learning of abstract concepts. In particular, […]
The development, hemispheric organization, and plasticity of high-level vision Adults recognize complex visual inputs, such as faces and words, with remarkable speed, accuracy and ease, but a full understanding of these abilities is still lacking. Much prior research has favoured a binary separation of faces and words, with the right hemisphere specialized for the representation […]
A unique neurocognitive reading profile for skilled deaf readers Abstract: Our research is uncovering a deaf-specific neurocognitive reading profile that differs from hearing individuals with equal reading ability. This work focuses on deaf adults who have achieved reading success (despite poor phonological abilities) and who acquired a sign language in early childhood (reducing potential effects […]