The Whitehead Lectures are funded and organised by the Departments of Computing and Psychology at Goldsmiths College, University of London, with the aim of stimulating interest and debate in the area of cognition, computation and creativity. All are welcome to attend.

The meetings for the lent term 2005 [January .. March] are listed below. All seminars to be held in the Pimlott Lecture Theatre, (Goldsmiths New Building), unless otherwise stated.

For directions to Goldsmiths College see: http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/find-us/

To be added to the seminar mailing list, please contact Mark Bishop by email: m.bishop@gold.ac.uk

Wednesday, 19^th January, 16.00

Architectures for human-like machines

Prof. Aaron Sloman
University or Birmingham
http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~axs/

Abstract: Much discussion of the nature of human minds is based on prejudice or fear of one sort or another -- sometimes arising out of 'turf wars' between disciplines, sometimes out of dislike of certain theories of what we are, sometimes out of religious concerns, sometimes out of ignorance of what has already been learnt in various disciplines, sometimes out of over-reliance on common sense and introspection, or what seems 'obviously' true. But one thing is clear to all: minds are active, changing entities: you change as you read this abstract and you can decide whether to continue reading it or stop here. I.e. minds are active machines of some kind. So I propose that we investigate, in a dispassionate way, the variety of design options for working systems capable of doing things that minds can do, whether in humans or other animals, in infants or adults, in normal or brain-damaged people, in biological or artificial minds. We can try to understand the trade-offs between different ways in which complete systems may be assembled that can survive and possibly reproduce in a complex and changing environment (including other minds.) This can lead to a new science of mind in which the rough-hewn concepts of ordinary language (including garden-gate gossip and poetry) are shown not to be wrong or useless, but merely stepping stones to a richer, deeper, collection of ways of thinking about what sorts of machines we are, and might be. This will also help to shed new light on the recent (confused) fashion for thinking that emotions are 'essential' for intelligence. It should also help us to understand how the concerns of different disciplines, e.g. biology, neuroscience, psychology, linguistics, philosophy, etc. relate to different layers of virtual machines operating at several different levels of abstraction, as also happens in computing systems. For more on this see: http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/cogaff/talks

Aaron Sloman is Professor of Computer Science at the University of Birmingham. He was born in Southern Rhodesia 1936, went to school and university in Cape Town where he read mathematics and physics. After graduating with a first class degree Aaron obtained a Rhodes Scholarship and went up to Oxford to study mathematics, but eventually found philosophy more tempting. He started teaching Philosophy at Hull University in 1962, then moved to Sussex in 1964. He later spent the years 1972-3 in Edinburgh as Senior Visiting Fellow, and was converted to "AI as the best way to do philosophy." He returned to Sussex October 1973, and helped (with Max Clowes, Margaret Boden, Alistair Chalmers, and others) to develop a Cognitive Studies Programme in the School of Social Sciences which eventually grew into the Sussex School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences. Over the years he has dabbled in vision, the study of forms of representation, motivation and emotion, architectures for complete agents, and good ways to teach novices programming and AI.

Wednesday, 26^th January, 16.00

Redefining implicit and explicit memory: the electrophysiology and functional neuroanatomy of priming, remembering, and control of retrieval

Dr. Alan Richardson-Klavehn
Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths College, University of London
http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/departments/psychology/staff/klavehn.html

Abstract: The cognitive neuroscience of human memory has been dominated by distinctions between forms of memory that involve different kinds of consciousness. Foremost is the distinction between explicit and implicit memory. Explicit memory involves conscious remembering of prior episodes, often via intentional retrieval of those episodes, whereas implicit memory involves influences of prior episodes on current behaviour without intentional retrieval, and sometimes without conscious remembering of those prior episodes. Many studies of implicit memory have focused on priming, the facilitated processing of stimuli as a function of prior exposure, an important mechanism by which memory facilitates perception. It has been proposed that priming and explicit memory depend on distinct neural systems. Although there is support for this view, a separation at the neural level has not yet been firmly established owing to conceptual and methodological ambiguities in most prior studies of brain activity. Typically these have compared incidental tests (in which participants respond with the first item coming to mind) with intentional tests (in which participants try to retrieve studied items), or they have only used incidental tests. Brain activity in incidental tests can, however, reflect not only priming, but also unintentional conscious remembering of prior episodes (unintentional explicit memory), and sometimes "contamination" by intentional retrieval of prior episodes. Moreover, brain activity in intentional tests reflects not only explicit memory for specific episodes but also the general intention to retrieve prior episodes. Addressing these ambiguities has awaited a theoretical approach that distinguishes implicit and explicit memory for specific episodes from retrieval intention, and, more specifically, unintentional implicit memory from unintentional and intentional explicit memory. The approach prescribes a novel behavioural paradigm that permits this separation, which we have implemented with electroencephalography (EEG), magnetoencephalography (MEG), and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Our results provide firm evidence that priming and explicit memory are neurally separable at encoding and at retrieval, both in electrophysiology and in functional neuroanatomy. They also show that retrieval intention engages neural processes and structures distinct from those involved in both priming and explicit memory. These results have important implications for theories of memory and consciousness, which often equate consciousness with control.

Alan Richardson-Klavehn received his BA from the University of Oxford and his PhD in psychology from the University of California at Los Angeles, where he worked with Robert A. Bjork. He is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Goldsmiths, and holds an International Leibniz Fellowship at the Centre for Advanced Imaging at the University of Magdeburg, Germany. His research has mainly focused on the relationship between consciousness and memory, which he has explored in recent years using multimodal brain-activity measurements. His work has appeared or is in press in journals including Annual Review of Psychology, Journal of Experimental Psychology, Psychological Science, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuroimage, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. He has authored chapters on long-term memory in the Nature Publishing Group's Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science, and the Oxford Handbook of Memory.

Wednesday, 2^nd February, 16.00

Colour representation in humans and machines

Prof. Steve Westland
School of Design, University of Leeds
http://www.colourware.co.uk/steve/

Abstract: Colour perception in humans is a three-dimensional percept that is based upon the responses of three classes of light-sensitive cells (or cones) in the human retina. Digital colour-image representation in machines is also three dimensional and is based upon somewhat arbitrary red (G), green (G) and blue (B) signals. This talk will describe the relationship between colour representation in humans and machines and will discuss how colour fidelity can be maintained in common imaging devices such as cameras, display devices and printers. Current issues in colour management will be outlined including spectral colour imaging.

Stephen Westland obtained a BSc in Colour Chemistry and a PhD in Colour Physics from the University of Leeds. He worked for four years as a colour physicist at Courtaulds Research before joining Keele University in 1990 as a post-doc to work with Professor David Foster in Computational Neuroscience. He later became a lecturer in Colour Vision from 1994 until 1999 in the Institute of Communication and Neuroscience. In 1999 he was appointed as a Reader in Colour Imaging at the Colour and Imaging Institute at Derby University. In 2003 he was appointed as Professor in Colour Science and Technology in the School of Design at the University of Leeds. His current research interests include colour measurement, colour and spatial vision, spectral imaging, and image-device characterization. Professor Westland is a member of the Midland Vision Group, the Applied Vision Association, the Colour Measurement Committee (CMC) and a member of the Colour Group (UK) Committee. Since April 1996 he has been a director of Colourware Ltd. In 1998 he was invited to join the International Editorial Board of the Journal of the Society of Dyers and Colourists.

Wednesday, 9^th February, 16.00

Musical communication and meaning

Prof. Geraint Wiggins
Goldsmiths College, University of London, UK
http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/departments/computing/staff/GW.html

Abstract: I will introduce a range of issues related to the study of human musical behaviour in a context of cognitive science, and, specifically, from the point of view of computational linguistics. I will discuss, and give examples of, different aspects of musical communication, and attempt, where appropriate, to contrast this with common practice in computational linguistics. No prior musical knowledge will be assumed; indeed, this presentation is intended to serve as an introduction to some of the issues involved in understanding musical communication and meaning. There will be no "difficult" musical examples to listen to, though a baby and a group of guinea pigs will probably feature at some point.

Until he moved to City University, London in 1999, Geraint worked in the University of Edinburgh, as a computing officer, then as a research fellow on the ESPRIT Compulog II project (on Logic Program Synthesis and Transformation in the Mathematical Reasoning Group) and, finally, following a year of consultancy work during which he was involved with the successful AME project at the Institute of Ecology and Resource Management, as a lecturer in Artificial Intelligence. His first PhD was also from Edinburgh, in Computational Linguistics. Prof. Wiggins has served on two of the UK Technology Foresight Creative Digital Media Task Groups, Community and Education and on the Creative Digital Media Subgroup. From 2000-2003 he was chair of the SSAISB, the UK learned society for AI/Cognitive Science.

Wednesday, 23^rd February, 16.00

Vision, structure and the processing of British Sign Language

Prof. Bencie Woll
City University, London, UK.
http://www.city.ac.uk/lcs/deafstud_resgroup_bwoll.htm

Abstract: This talk will introduce the different typological properties of signed and spoken languages and how these reflect properties of the articulators and perceptual systems used to process these two types of language. Sign languages are natural languages, created and used by deaf communities throughout the world. They are not derived from or related to the spoken languages of the hearing communities that surround them. Their structures reflect the options available to visual spatial languages, with a lexicon that exhibits visual motivation, and a grammar that exploits the possibility of placing and moving multiple articulators through space. In contrast to processing of an auditory communication system, the processing features of a visual communication system include slow temporal resolution, an asymmetric feedback loop, and large and visible articulators. Sign languages exploit these features in their structure and therefore provide insight into which features of language are universal and which are modality-specific. Illustrations will be provided from linguistic, functional imaging, and psycholinguistic research, and implications for computer modelling of language will be discussed.

Bencie Woll came to the Department of Language and Communication Science at City University London in 1995 to take up the newly created Chair in Sign Language and Deaf Studies, the first chair in this field in the UK. Before that Bencie worked on language acquisition and then was a co-founder of the Centre for Deaf Studies, pioneering research on the linguistics of BSL and on Deaf Studies as an academic discipline. Bencie's research and teaching interests embrace a wide range of topics related to sign language, including the linguistics of British Sign Language (BSL) and other sign languages, the history and sociolinguistics of BSL and the Deaf community, the development of BSL in young children, and sign language and the brain. In recent years I have begun to look specifically at acquired and developmental sign language impairments. Professor Woll co-authored "Sign Language: the study of Deaf People and their Language" with Jim Kyle, and "The Linguistics of BSL: an Introduction" (CUP) with Rachel Sutton-Spence, which was the winner of the 1999 Deaf Nation Award and 2000 BAAL Book Prize.

Wednesday, 2^nd March, 16.00

Measuring cognitive control via task-switching

Dr. Guy Mizon
School of Psychology, University of Exeter, UK
http://psynet.ex.ac.uk/stafflist/profile.php?id=919

Abstract: When we switch between two (or more) tasks in rapid alternation, we are slower and less accurate than when we repeat the same task. If anapproaching task change is signaled in advance by a cue, these switching costs are reduced, suggesting that we are able to re-configure our mental set in advance. This re-configuration process has been studied as an example of our control over our own mental processes. In this talk, I will discuss recent challenges to the way task-set reconfiguration is measured, and I will present a new method we have developed to answer these challenges. I will also show how this new method is being used to investigate the electrophysiological correlates of task-set reconfiguration.

Guy Mizon is currently working as a post-doctoral research fellow with Stephen Monsell in the School of Psychology at the University of Exeter. Prior to this, he worked with Nilli Lavie as a PhD student in the Department of Psychology at University College London. His research interests include task-switching, cognitive control, selective attention and inhibition.

Wednesday, 9^th March, 16.00

Social tapestries: excavating social knowledge in civil society

Giles Lane
Proboscis and the London School of Economics, London, UK
http://proboscis.org.uk/

Abstract: Social Tapestries is a research programme run by Proboscis investigating the uses and impact of local knowledge mapping and sharing through the convergence of new mobile technologies and geographic information systems. The programme is an umbrella for a series of discrete projects and experiments in different social and cultural contexts that attempt to understand more about how these technologies can benefit communities, or have an adverse impact on them. The project builds upon a 2 year R&D project called Urban Tapestries which explored why, what and how people could use spatial annotations for and developed a software platform to test our findings.

Giles Lane is co-director and founder of Proboscis, a non-profit creative studio based in London. Giles leads Proboscis' research programme, SoMa (social matrices), as well as specific projects and activities such as Urban Tapestries; Mapping Perception; Private Reveries, Public Spaces; Peer2Peer; DIFFUSION and others. Giles is currently Associate Research Fellow in Media & Communications at the London School of Economics and previously was a Research Fellow at the Royal College of Art, first in the Computer Related Design Research Studio, and latterly in the School of Communications.

Wednesday, 16^th March, 16.00

Effects of attention and acetylcholine on neuronal activity in primate V1

Alex Thiele
University of Newcastle, UK
http://www.staff.ncl.ac.uk/alex.thiele/

Abstract: Attention enables the most refined aspects of neural processing to tamper with the most basic aspects, and thereby exert a critical and pervasive control. Major advances have been made throughout the last decade in understanding effects of attention on neuronal processing, but the mechanisms mediating these effects are still unknown. We have demonstrated psychophysically that attention alters our perception about external events, such that expectations and assumptions about the structure of the world become less influential. This reduced influence might (in part) be mediated by action of the cholinergic system. Our electrophysiological data obtained under conditions of increased attention and increased acetylcholine support this view. Thus attention may exert its critical control over the flow of information by changing neuronal properties such that they rely mostly on information coming in directly from the senses, and less on information coming from higher order areas.

Dr. Alex Thiele is currently Reader in fMRI and Vision Sciences, based in the Henry Wellcome Building at the University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne. His current research encompasses work in: High field fMRI; Visual motion processing; Neuropharmacology of visual attention; Attention and visual inference; Neural synchrony and visual processing.