Sara Packalén - 21/06/2013 - 5 pm

Sara Packalén is a visiting student at the Institute, and a PhD student at Stockholm University. She will present a work she has developed together with Emma Wallin (Stockholm University).


Title: "Episodic memory and imagination"
Date, Time, Place: 21/06/2013, 5pm, Salle de Réunion du Pavillon Jardin
Abstract: The talk addresses the relationship between episodic memory and other kinds of experiential representation, in particular imagination. Episodic memory and (imagistic) imagination involves the same kind of inner representation. The only difference seems to be that memories, unlike imaginations, are about the past. A straightforward explanation of this is obtained if we assume that episodic memory is simply a kind of imagination, with the distinctive trait of being causally dependent on past experiences in an appropriate way. We consider a weak and a strong interpretation of this claim, and argue against both. Although it has some appeal, the view that episodic memory is a subcategory of imagination is ultimately mistaken. Imagination and episodic memory have some features in common, but episodic memory is not imagination.

Margaux Larre-Perez (the sequel) - 14/06/2013 - 3 pm

Margaux Larre-Perez (Institut Jean Nicod & LPP) will be our next speaker (for the second time this year). She is jointly supervised by Pierre Jacob and Thérèse Collins.

Title: "Stroop-like interference between structural and functional hand gestures within objects : Part II"
Date, Time, Place: 14/06/2013, 3pm, Salle de Réunion du Pavillon Jardin
Abstract: This talk is actually the follow-up of my last presentation given at the Doc'in Nicod in March (22/3). New data and theoretical implications for the study of hand gestures facilitation by visual objects will be presented.
Man-made objects elicit two kinds of hand gestures: structural (associated with the shape-based properties of objects) and functional (associated with their typical usage) hand gestures. We adapted a Stroop-like paradigm to assess whether they are both automatically activated when viewing an object and if they compete with each other. Participants learned to associate either a “clench” or a “poke” movement with a color, and then executed them in response to the color of pictures of objects associated with both actions. Objects were displayed either entirely or only partially colored, congruently or incongruently relative to the relationship between the color and the object part. Results show that planning any hand movement on an object is slower when attention is drawn to its functional part, suggesting that elicitation of hand gestures may depend on the allocation of visual attention.

Marie Pieron - 07/06/2013 - 4 pm

This talk will be given in french, exceptionally

Marie Pieron est doctorante à l'Institut Jean Nicod, sous la direction de Tiziana Zalla. Son travail porte l'exploration visuelle du visage dans le Syndrome d'Asperger.

Titre: "Inhibition de retour saccadique dans les troubles du spectre autistique"
Date, Heure, Salle: 07/06/2013, 4pm, Salle 235A (29 rue d'Ulm)

Abstract: Lorsque nous explorons notre environnement visuel, nous sommes soumis à plus de stimuli que ce que nous sommes en capacité de traiter. Il nous faut donc effectuer une sélection des informations pertinentes en fonction, par exemple, des actions que nous engageons. Un des phénomènes  qui contribue à rendre notre exploration visuelle efficace est l'inhibition de retour. L'inhibition de retour (IOR) est un phénomène d'inhibition automatique servant à nous protéger d'une redirection de l'attention vers un endroit déjà exploré au préalable. Il facilite donc la nouveauté lors de recherche visuelle. Expérimentalement, l'IOR est observé dans une tâche d'orientation spatiale de Posner avec une réponse manuel ou saccadique. Il se caractérise alors par une augmentation de temps de réaction lorsqu'une cible apparait au même endroit qu'un signal apparu précédemment plutôt qu'à une localisation différente. Dans les troubles du spectres autistiques (TSA), des atypies dans le domaine de la perception visuelle ont été retrouvé se traduisant en fonction des tests soit par des déficits  soit par de meilleures performances que les individus typiquement développés. Mottron et Burack (2001) ont d'ailleurs émis l'hypothèse d'un surfonctionnement perceptif pour expliquer ces meilleures performances dans les tâches impliquant un bas-niveau de perception. L'étude du phénomène d'IOR peut apporter des éléments de compréhension sur l'exploration visuelle atypique retrouvée dans cette population.

Asya Passinsky - 17/05/2013 - 4 pm

Asya Passinsky is a PhD student at NYU and a visiting student at the IJN.

Title: "Metaphysics of Social Objects"
Date, Time, Place: 17/05/2013, 4pm, Salle de Réunion du Pavillon Jardin

Abstract: Ordinary experience suggests that under certain circumstances, we can create things like money, boundaries, stocks, governments, nation-states and corporations by mere declaration. But we cannot likewise create other kinds of objects in this way. For example, we can cannot create H2O molecules, trees, tables or numbers by mere declaration. So how is it that we can create social objects in this way? I will argue against a reductivist answer to this creation-by-declaration puzzle which identifes every token social object with a token physical object, and against an eliminativist answer which maintains that social objects do not exist. I will conclude with some speculative remarks about a realist answer to the puzzle.

Anikó Sebestény - 03/05/2013 - 4 pm

Anikó Sebestény is an anthropologist and doctoral student at Nanterre University (France) and Pécs University (Hungary).



Title: "Daily Domestic Offerings versus Tourism in Bali"
Date, Time, Place: 03/05/2013, 4pm, Salle de Réunion du Pavillon Jardin

Abstract:  Is this small offering basket presented daily in every Balinese home a religious „priming device" that contributed to the perpetuation of Balinese religious traditions despite the general presence of tourism?

In this talk, I will present the main ideas of my PhD, a work in progress, on daily offerings in Bali. Drawing on both my education and experience as anthropologist who did "real" fieldwork, and my education in cognitive sciences, I am presenting a case study about Balinese domestic rituals.

Using the anthropological methods, through participant observation, I am analysing how domestic rituals shape domestic ritual geography, "reactivate" domestic altars, create social and economic networks in the neighborhood, and shape the belief in the ancestor's influence on people's life.

To get a clearer image about belief in the aftelife, linked with belief in the ancestors, I chose to use experimental methods. I replicated Astuti and Harris's study (2008) on the effect of religious context on after-life beliefs. Astuti's findings show that in Madagascar, the context priming (a hospital story versus a ritual story) had a significant effect on the mental capacities attributed to the dead. In Bali, I did not find a significant context effect. Instead of claiming that my results go against Astuti's findings, I claim, based on my fieldwork observations, that the daily rituals have a strong context-creating power, stronger than the context-creating prime stories used in Astuti's study.

Approaching the same object – the daily offering ritual – from two angles, on different levels, using social anthropology and cognitive approach, I aim to gain a deep understanding of the complex implications of having offering ritual performed daily in mostly each Balinese home.

I claim that these rituals, creating a strong context effect, also account for the adaptability of Balinese people: daytime, they work for tourists who are mostly atheists. In the evening, they go home and find altars, and offerings. They move successfully between two different contexts, that call for different implication and behaviour.

Reference:

Astuti, R., and Harris, P.L. (2008). Understanding mortality and the life of the ancestors in rural Madagascar. Cognitive Science 32, 713–740.

Luísa Semedo - 29/03/2013 - 4pm

Luísa Semedo received his PhD from the University Paris-Sorbonne. She is an
associate member of the research team of the Institute for Philosophy of Language (IFL) at the New University of Lisbon and a research team member of the IFL project "Cognitive Foundations of the Self".

Title: "Ethics of Empathy: From Theory to Practice"
Date, Time, Place: 29/03/2013, 4pm, Salle de Réunion du Pavillon Jardin

Abstract:  In this talk I will present some of the main ideas of my PhD dissertation entitled “Towards an Ethics of Empathy” and its outcomes, both theoretical and practical. Empathy is an early, universal and flexible faculty which allows us to be affected (emotional empathy, empathic distress, contagion, imitation), to recognize (cognitive empathy, empathic concern, perspective taking, simulation, imagination) and to respond (empathic action, altruism, trust, cooperation, respect) properly to the subjectivity of others. This behavior can range from simple social coordination to a true ethical conduct. I will review and discuss these different components of empathy, and I will argue that there is a necessary link between emotion, cognition and morality. My hypothesis is that we can build a coherent and pragmatic ethics of empathy and to support this purpose I will present some of the most recent, French and international, initiatives in education of empathy and also my own project (in progress), "Philo’Ensemble", an interdisciplinary association that aims to raise awareness among citizens, especially among young people, to the issue of "living together", through the fight against discrimination and the strengthening of social ties.
Please visit: http://www.ethicsofempathy.com/index.html

Margaux Larre-Perez - 22/03/2013 at 4 pm

Margaux Larre-Perez (Institut Jean Nicod & LPP) will be our next speaker. She is jointly supervised by Pierre Jacob and Thérèse Collins.
Title: "Stroop-like interference between structural and functional hand gestures within objects"
Date, Time, Place: 22/03/2013, 4pm, Salle de Réunion du Pavillon Jardin

Abstract: Man-made objects may elicit at least two kinds of hand gestures: structural hand gestures associated with the shape-based properties of objects, and functional hand gestures associated with their typical usage. A number of behavioral studies have examined the relationship between these action classes, but some questions remain unanswered; in particular, whether they are both automatically recruited when viewing a particular object, and if they are, whether they may compete with each other. We adapted a Stroop-like paradigm to assess action representations afforded by man-made objects, and the interference within the same object between its associated structural and functional hand actions. In a practice phase, subjects first learned to associate either a “clench” or a “poke” movement with a given color (green or red). In the test phase, subjects executed these learned movements in response to the color of several objects associated with both hand actions (e.g. a calculator or a soap dispenser) that were displayed on a computer screen. Three different object colorations were presented: the object was entirely red or green (“baseline” condition), or was partially colored in such a way that the color and the colored part were congruent (e.g. a red calculator key or a green calculator body) or incongruent (e.g. the opposite combination). Difference in initiation times between these conditions will shed light on what kinds of gestures are evoked by the visual image of graspable objects and if these gesture representations are automatically elicited.