Abstracts of the Talks
Haluk Ogmen, University of Denver, USA
A New Conceptualization of Human Visual Sensory-Memory
Memory is an essential component of cognition and disorders of memory have significant individual and societal costs.
The Atkinson-Shiffrin modal model forms the foundation of our understanding of human memory. It consists of three stores:
Sensory Memory (SM), whose visual component is called iconic memory, Short-Term Memory (STM; also called working memory, WM),
and Long-Term Memory (LTM). Since its inception, shortcomings of all three components of the modal model have been identified.
While the theories of STM and LTM underwent significant modifications to address these shortcomings, models of the iconic memory
remained largely unchanged: A high capacity but rapidly decaying store whose contents are encoded in retinotopic coordinates, i.e.,
according to how the stimulus is projected on the retina. The fundamental shortcoming of iconic memory models is that, because its
contents are encoded in retinotopic coordinates, the iconic memory cannot hold any useful information under normal ecological viewing
conditions when objects or the subject are in motion. Hence, half-century after its formulation, it remains an unresolved problem whether
and how the first stage of the modal model serves any useful function and how subsequent stages of the modal model receive inputs from the
environment. I will discuss a new conceptualization of human visual sensory memory by introducing an additional component whose reference-frame
consists of motion-grouping based coordinates rather than retinotopic coordinates. Data supporting this new model will be reviewed. I will discuss
how this new model offers solutions to the paradoxes of the traditional model of sensory memory.
Asli Ozyurek, PhD, Radboud University, Netherlands
Talk abstract will be announced soon.
Luke Miller, Donders Centre for Cognition, Radboud University, Netherlands
Hand-held tools extend the spatial coding of touch
Intuitively, the sense of touch is body-centric; that is, it is concerned with the detection and localization of objects contacting the body surface.
In this talk, I will present data that questions this intuition. Specifically, I will discuss our recent research which has demonstrated that humans
can use hand-held tools as sensory extensions of their body, a phenomenon that we have called "sensory embodiment". I will first discuss behavioral
studies that applied classic body-centered localization paradigms to localizing touch on a tool. These studies found that human participants can do
this fairly accurately. I will then present evidence which suggests that humans do so by tuning into the way the tool vibrates. As vibrations carry
an invariant signal about where the tool is touched, this allows participants to overcome the fact that tools themselves are not innervated. Finally,
I will present data which suggests that the human nervous system re-uses low-level neural processes for localizing touch on the body to localize touch
on a tool. In all, these findings suggest that the somatosensory system can readily use tools to extend tactile perception beyond the limits of the body.
Alba Tuninetti, PhD, Bilkent University, Turkey
Inseparable: Linguistic and developmental effects on speech perception
Processing language is a complex and multilayered task, heavily influenced by the perceptual experience and biases we bring to the table. Using both
behavioural and neural methods (EEG) to examine speech perception and processing, I examine how our perceptual experience shapes and is shaped by our
language environment. This talk will cover both speech adaptation and speech training studies in adults (bilinguals and monolinguals) and infants. I
demonstrate that adults show sensitivity to variability in speech differentially at neural and behavioural levels, that this effect may arise during
infancy based on developmental biases, and that learning another language inherently reshapes our perceptual frameworks.
Abstracts/Full Papers of the Posters
All accepted posters can be accessed here.