rC]DS EWSLETTER lnstitute oJCo7nithre & Decis{.on t (54tfu46-4s4t lune,2ooz \o[. n,No. z
judgmentof reasonable doubt-topics that would perfecfl y Interdiscipli nary Science fitinto a psychologydepartment or intoour own Institute of Cognitiveand DecisionSciences. But thesescholars Down Under haveno connectionwith researchers at theirPsychology Department, particular BertramMalle, Director and in no communicationwith a researchgroup on Forensic and Applied Psychology. How FromJanuary to March2002, I traveledin New isthispossible? The latterresearch group hasthe reputation Zealandand Australia, visiting such magnificent places ofbeing interested mainly in 'clinical perspectives," and so as the MarlboroughSounds, Franz Josef Glacier, contacthas been shunned for a longtime. However,the Queenstown,Milford Sound, the Adelaide Hills, and the researchgroup's publication Iist (available on the unive rsity BarossaValley. Because this was my sabbatical, I also webpage) includes works on intentionascription, blame, visitedcolleagues at CognitiveScience Centers, Law punishment,and restorative justice! |n this case, reputation schools,and PsychologyDepartments in Christchurch and prejudice(probably on both sides) hindered (TheUniversity of Canterbury), Wellington (Ihe Victoria interdisciplinarycontact. Similarly, it tooka foreignerto University),Sydney (Macquarie University), Melbourne pointout the mutual relevance of said legal scholars'work (Ihe Universityof Melbourne),and Adelaide (Flinders onthe one hand and two social psychologists'work onthe University,The University of Adelaide).Through many other,who study excuse making in public contexts and the conversationsand observationsI learnedabout the socialconstruction of intentionand motives. Here it was variablecommittments and obstacles to inte rdisciplinary simplylack of knowledge,not prejudice,that hindered workat theseinstitutions, drawing conclusions about interdisciplinarycontact. whatwe at ourown lnstitute are already doing well and whatwe can do better. Two examplesillustrate the Arewe the same-prejudiced and ignorant? Do we not variabilityI encountered. knowwhat scholars in otherdepaftments do, even if their workis patentlyrelevant to our ownwork? Onewould At oneuniversity, three legal scholars work on issues hopewe have gone beyond at leastthe stage of ignorance. such as intentionascription, legal excuses, and the Buthave we? Unlesswe routinelybrowse the faculty contd. on page 2
MichaelPosner Room Weare pleased to announcethat the new meeting and seminar room of the Institute of Cognitive and Decision Sciences(Straub 256) will be named Michaet Posner Room.With the naming of this room we are setting a small gestureof ourlarge gratitude and admiration for Mike'sessential role in the lnstituteof Cognitiveand Decision Sciences.
MichaelPosner came to the University of Oregon in 1965 and made a numberof groundbreaking contributions to psychologyin the decades to follow.His work on attention and on automatic processes is partof the standard curriculumin cognitive psychology, and he received numerous prestigious awards, including the APA Distinguished ScientistAwardandtheGrawemayerAward.Mikewasalsooneofthefoundingfathersofthelnstituteof Cognitive and DecisionSciences and servedas Directorfrom 1989 to 1995. Ourin{tnattime he was ableto piocure substantialgrant funding and makethe lnstitutea vibrantforum for interdisciplinarywork on cognition, neuroscience,culture, language, and social decision-making.
Directorand Executive Committee g
DownUnder contd. from page 1 onan intel lectual climate; and the value of maintai ning strongcontacts with,other institutions of similar pagesof otherdepartments, wewould hardlyfind out interdisciplinaryconvictions. I left Macquariewith whatour colleagues are working on. But, surely, careful thestrong hope, and some initialplans, to implement backgroundresearch-computer-aided, no doubt-in thesegoals here at the Instituteof Cognitiveand thejournals of ourcentral research topics would uncover DecisionSciences. like-mindedscholars? Unfortunately, many literature searchenginesare mono-disciplinary, soeventhorough tr We are currentlyworking on turningthe new probingmayfailto identify important intellectual allies in /CDSofficesuite in StraubHall251-259 into an otherdisciplines. invitingplace for researchand communication and,forsomeof us, into a refugefromoccasionally But hereis the other,more cheery example. The narrow-mindeddepartmental politics. MacquaribCenter for CognitiveScience (MACCS) is oneof the most exciting institutions I have ever visited. A MaxColtheart from the MacquarieCenter and I Cognitivepsychologists, neuroscientists, clinicians, sketchedout some ideas forcreating a netwoik social psychologists,linguists, philosophers, and of fourto sixinstitutes around the world whose developmentalresearchers all come together for weekly missionit isto support interdisciplinary research meetings,collaborate on numerouspublications, co- throughconterences, a scholar organizeconferenoes, host international scholars, and exchange program,student reterrals,and research superuisea considerablenumber of post-doctoral collaborations.As a start,the lnstitute of Cognitive researchers.They are active, initiative, and have secured and DecisionSciences will host a largenational center grant. The talksI gavethere one or two internationalscholars next year for short-terni werevery well aftended, and the audience's questions visitsthat include talks, seminars, and indicateda refreshingbreadth of interestsand informal intellectualexchange. approaches-remindingfiie, in fact, of the atmosphere I experiencedduring my f irst talk at Oregon's Institute of tr lwilldiscusswith the executive committee a plan Cognitiveand Decision Sciences eight years ago. to attractto the lnstitutea numberof post- doctoralscholars from a varietyof disciplines, So how does the MACCSdo it? Half a dozen sponsoredprimarilythrough federal grants (e.g., scholars'primary affiliation is with the Center, and they NRSAfellowships). havetheir offices in one buildingwing (acrossfrom linguisticsand psychology), fostering dailycontact during Eventually,we may also take colloquiaand lunches,tea breaks (twice a day,true to British tradition), subsequentreceptions as opportunitiesto engage journals andresearch meetings. The newest lie on a our sensesand taste some of the fantasticNew centrallylocated table alongwith recentpapers by ZealandSauvignon blancs and AustralianShirazs, Centermembers, providing ample oppoitunity to find which-despitemy sabbaticalduties-l happily outwhat others are working on. Significantly,three to sampledand heartily recommend. sixpost-doctoral scholars, funded bycompetitive national grants,ensure an influxof creativenew ideas.The Withbest wishes for a beautitulOregon summer, Centerdirector, Max Coltheart, isextremely productive, collaboratingwith manyother Center members and BertramMalle maintainingnational and internationalcontacts. Of course,he has no teachingobligations, as his entire loadis transferredto hisadministrative role. Perhaps it Personals alsohelps that the government rewards universities for everypublished article of its facultyin the amountof In May,neuroscientist Jean Decety from the AU$2000(of whichthe authoreventually gets about Universityof Washingtonvisited the psychology AU$1200),that professors are paid 12-month salaries, department.Dr. Decetyworks on issuesof social andthat their sabbaticals are fully paid, often with travel cognitionand shares interests with several getting awardsadded, {Are you enviousyet?) Institutemembers. Hil willthereforebe oneof the first inviteesto the newscholars program (see Wecannotchange ourstate government or hopefor otherarticle). His visiting is tentativelyscheduled a suddenfinancial boost from a shoecorporation. But forend of July2002. weshould considerthe communicative and intellectual opportunitiesthat routinespatial contact affords; the momentousimpact that post-doctoral scholars can have E continued on page 3 g
Personals that theoryof minddevelopment beingorganized in honorof his contd. from page 2 coincideswith shifts in children's retirement-orrather, in honorof metaphoricalmappings of the mind his lifetimeachievement. Next Animal researcherWarren ontovarious concrete entities-fo r springa conferencewill take place, Holmes, formerly with the example,the mindas a container co-sponsoredby the lnstitute Universityof Michigan,is in the vs.the mind as a homunculus.To (detailsin the next newsletter), and processof movingto Eugeneand demonstratethe impact of Mike will receivean honorary place takinghis in thebiology and metaphorson theoryof mind doctoratefrom the Universityof psychology departmentsand the processes,she will try to Nottingham.The Instituteof Instituteof Cognitiveand Decision experimentallyimprove children's Cognitiveand DecisionSciences Sciences.He was hired with funds performanceon theoryof mind hasalso decided to namethe new fromthe two departments and new tasks by teachingthem the conferenceroom (Straub 256) the ViceProvostfunds released to the metaphorthat they normally would Mike Posner Room (see Institutespecifically for attracting notapply to themind. announcementon page1). Dr.Holmes. His researchconcerns Sarah Nelson'sdoctoral the biologicaland evolutionary dissertationresearch combines foundationofbasic social-cognitive field studieson victim-offenderScholarly Events processes,such as kin recognition mediationprograms (led by the in groundsquirrels. Dr. Holmes OregonDepartment of Youth willstrengthen increasing interest ln the fall, the Instituteof Services) with laboratory Cognitiveand DecisionSciences amongseveral Institute members perspective experimentson taking and the HumanitiesCenter had inevolutionary processes of human in mediationsettings. As a trained behaviorand cognition. severalcollaborative discussions mediator,Sarah studies the on multi-disciplinaryperspectives perceptions changing of victims regardingthe eventsof and after and otfendersin the mediation September11. Amongothers, InApril, the Instituteof Cognitive settingand the role of accusations, and DecisionSoiences co- Steve Shankman,Arif Dirlik, excuses,and admissionsof HollyArrow, and Tom Giv6n gave sponsoreda retirementparty for responsibilityin fosteringthe MickRothbart.ln his honor, invited briefpresentations. The hope was successor failure of such thatsuch collaborative discussions speakers Bernadette Park mediations. Inthe laboratory, she wouldoccur again in the future but (Universityof Colorado,Boulder), studies conflicts between Joachim Krueger (Brown in responseto lessdisconcerting roommatesand thus is able to events. University),and DavidHamilton examinemore systematically some (UC Santa Barbara)gave talks of the factorsthat provecritical in aboutstereotypi ng, racial p rof ilin g, her fieldstudies. This research and socialcategorization. Other projectcuts across the traditional lnstitute of Cognitive and guestswho honored Mickwith their linesof psychology, law, and social Decision Sciences presence includedRobyn Dawes interventionwork and also Colloquia (Carnegie-MellonUniversity), Jim combinesin an idealway the Sherman(lndiana University), and strengthsof field and laboratory Monday,October 1,2001 ChickJudd (University ofColorado, approaches. Boulder). Jack Knetsch Bothof theseyoung scholars EconomicsDepartment exemplifythe interdisciplinary spirit SimonFraser University of the lnstituteof Cognitiveand Thefirst two graduate student DecisionSciences and are very "Context researchawards from the lnstitute Dependenceof worthy recipientsof our 2002 Economic Values: Some ofCognitive and Decision Sciences researchawards. willgotoBayta Maring and Sarah Evidence(from Eugeneand the Nelson, in the amountof $500 Rest of the World) and Some Sleights-of-Hand" each. This winterMike Posner Instead Bayta Maring's doctoral returnedto Eugenefor good, after of the stabilityof prefer- encesgenerally dissertationresearch integrates anextended sojourn atthe Sackler assumedin eco- nomic theoriesfrom philosophyabout Instituteof the CornellMedical analyses,recent, and not so recent, conceptualmetaphor with existing Schoolin New York (see his article empiricalfindings demon- people's research on children's Sackler D ucksin ICDS Newsletter, stratethat valuationsde- pend - understandingofthe mind. ln her Vol.1 2, No. 1). Several events are oncontext withthe disparity studies,she teststhe proposition betweenthe value of gainsand E continuedon page 4 t
ScholarlyEvents contd. from page 3 Language,and CatalanSign Language. The conclusionreached was that the interplay of gesture lossesbeing perhaps the most well-known example. and iconicitywith grammaticalfeatures of these Somerecent findin gs indicate the same pattern holds for languagesis lar more complexthan previously ratesof time preference for f uture outcomes. Among the thought. manyimplications of all this is the importanceof the choiceof measureand framingof policychoices: a, Monday,April22,2OO2 presentlyminority, view will be presentedsuggesting JoachimKrueger thatcurrent practice (e.9. to focus on howmuch people Departmentof Psychology wouldpay to avoida loss)may well introduce serious BrownUniversity distortionsin policydesign and decisions. "Perceptionsof SimilaritiesBetween Self and SocialGroup: A Matterof Top-Downor Bottom- Friday,April5th,2002 14thAnnual FredAttneave Memorial Leeture Up lnferenees?" John Gabrieli Perceptions andgroup may PsychologyDepartment ofsimilarity between self resultlrom projection or self-stereotyping. Projection StanfordUniversity processesof the self Co-sponsoredby PsychologyDepartment and the involvesbottom-up sampling inferringgroup attributes;self-stereotyping Instituteof Cognitiveand Decision Sciences and involvestop-down processes of applyingknown group-attributes I presenta "MemorySystems of the HumanBrain" to theself. comparative reviewof a varietyof studiesand conclude that the hypothesisdoes ratherwell, whereas ProfessorGabrieli's is oneof theleading figures in the social-projection isweak, and fieldof cognitiveneuroscience and certainly in the field evidenceforself-stereotyping unstable, highlyconditional. Social projection also accounts of humanmemory. He provided an overviewof hiswork in-group found in minimal on memory,which is impressivelybroad (e.9., he has for the biascommonly laboratorygroups. Top-down theories stressing the studieddeclarative, procedural, affective memory in lack normaladults, brain damaged populations, children, role of socialidentity and self-categorization olderadults, people with Alzheimer's,Amnesia, convincingevidence. Parkinson's,Huntington's), programmatic, and of fundamentaltheoretical and practical importance. John spokeof his recentwork, which has turnedtowards Contin ui ng I nitiatives individualdifferences in memory(e.9., for menand woman,for differentracial groups) as reflectedby Studentresearch funding. Beginning this year we neuroimagingstudies. will awardsmall researchgrants to graduateor undergraduatestudents who are engagedin Tuesday,April 16,2002 interdisciplinaryresearch. lnquiries or application ShermanWilcox letterscan be submittedat anytime to the institute LinguisticsDept. director: UNM,Albuquerque BertramMalle "The Gesture-LanguageInterface: Evidence from
ContinuingInitiatives contd. from page 4 the end of his goodnatured The Originsof Rightand technicaldocuments (e.9., describing a method, Wrongin Humansand Other Animals, that,,We seem to point instrumentation,or a computerprogram), consider be reachinga at whichscience can wrest morality submittingmanuscripts under review, unpublished fromthe hands of philosophers",we do believethat the conferencepapers, chapters in progress,or student timeis ripefor a profitablediscourse between science philosophy theses.We have begun to makeTech Reports available and onthis issue. electronicallyand will try to postall future Reports on the Instituteweb page. Conferenceon Essentialism Indirect cost returns on research grants. The Thetopic of essentialismis Institute'snew funding system allows us to reclaima a centralone in several disciplines.Philosophers portionof the overheadcosts of any Institute-run havelong disputed whether categorymembership researchgrant and use the moneyfor communal isdefined by a nonobvious,immu- tablecore or essencethat resourcesthat benefit the grant holder and some other constitutesthe underlying natureof the category. lnstitutemembers. We strongly encourage members lnaddition, the view that biological and socialcategories to considerrunning a grant throughthe Institute, haveessences has beenchal- becauseitbenefits both the researcherand the lnstitute asa whole.
Callfor scholarlymeetings. In the past, the Institute hasfunded a numberof successful conferences, many ofwhich have led to publishedproceedings. Members areencouraged to proposehigh-profile conferences, liefsunderlie young children's butalso variants of the typical conference format, such thinkingabout concepts, or whetherearly concepts asworkshops (e.9., aweekend during which a particular areinstead formed merely on the basisof moreprimitive, perceptualfeatures. scientificmethod is presented and discussed), summer Socialpsy- chologistshave studied schools(a meetingfor top graduatestudents working essentialistbeliefs about racial andgender categories and on a particulartopic)or communityevents (e.9., a day howsuch beliefs contribute to stereotypingand prejudice. psychologists of presentationsand discussionson problemsof Social have alsoaddressed whetheressentialist decisionmaking for local business leaders oron group notionsunderlie judg- mentsabout personality dynamicsand conflictresolution for local law andcontinuity in personaliden- enforcement). tity acrosstime. Finally,cultural anthropologists have investigatedthe extent to whichpsychological essential- ismis a universalcharacteristicof human reasoning.
Future Activities We are organizinga conferenceon essentialismfor 2003that will addressthese and relatedaspects of The Evolution essentialism.The conferencewill showcasecurrent of Social Intelligenceand theoreticaland empirical Moral workon essentialism, highlight- Sentiments ing the importanceof interdisciplinaryapproaches to fundamentalquestions about human nature. The confer- The Cognitionand Evolution focus group is in the enceis sponsored by the Honors College, the College of earlystagesof planning aconference on'The Evolution Artsand Sciences, the Psychology Department, and the ofSocial intelligence and Moral Sentiments" tobe held, lnstitute. mostprobably, during the Springof 2003. A major LouMoses and Dare Baldwin themeof the burgeoningtheoretical and empirical literaturesf ramed by evolutionary psychology issocial intelligence(or, in some versions,Machiavellian VisitingScholars Program intelligence).A relatedtheme addresses how "moral sentiments'might have evolved;this has been Formany years, the Institutehas invited scholars to addressedin recentyears by a rangeof scholars, givecolloquium talks and to visitthe lnstitutefor oneor includingprimatologists, ethologists and comparative twodays. Such visits raise interest in a scientist'swork, psychologists.We areplanning a conferenceto bring butsubstantial intellectual contact is unlikely underthese thesetwo themes together, hopefully in a mannerthat circumstances.We are thereforeinitiating a program willbeinteresting and provocativetoa range of scholars that finances.asmall numberof one-weekvisiti by beyondthe fields most immediately involved. While we scholarswho share researchinterests with several do not(necessarily) agree with de Waal'scomment "1-hstitutemembers. Thesevisitswillincludeacolloquium, E contd.onpage6 I g
Future Activities contd.from page 5 oneor twoinformal seminars, and copious opporlunity for conversation. Institute members are encouraged topropose candidates forthis program, and the executive committee willselect at least two visiting scholars each year.
PASTFRED ATTNEAVE MEMORIAL SPEAKERS
1989 RogerShepard, Stanford University "TwoFundamental Contributions to Cognitive Psychology: Dimension of Similarityand MorphophoricMedia"
1990 GeorgeSperling, New York University "Stagesof VisualProcessing"
1991 Ren6eBaillargeon, University of lllinois "Qualitativeand Quantitative Physical Reasoning in Infants"
1992 DianaDeutsch, UCSD "SomeNew Musical Paradoxes and their lmplications"
1993 LarryJacoby, McMaster University "UnintendedInfluences of Memory:Attention, Awareness and Control"
1994 WillemLevelt, Max Planck lnstitute, The Netherlands "HowDo We ProduceWords When We Speak?: LexicalAccess in a Theoryof Speech Production"
1995 AnneTreisman, Princeton University "ObjectTokens, Attention, and Visual Memory "
1996 VilayanurRamachandran, UCSD "lllusionsof Bodylmage: What They Reveal About Human Nature"
1997 DanielKahneman, Princeton University "Decisionsand Consequences"
1998 PatrickCavanagh, Harvard University "Attention:Exporting Vision to the Mind"
1999 KeithHolyoak, UCLA "RelationalReasoning in a BiologicalSymbol System"
2000 JohnJonides, University of Michigan "Behavioraland Neuroimaging Studies of ExecutiveControl"
2OO1 HeleneIntraub, University of Delaware "AnticipatoryRepresentation of NaturalScenes: Integrating Past and Future in Vision,Touch and lmagination"
2OO2 JohnGabrieli, Stanford University "MemorySystems of theHuman Brain" E g
ffi
INSNTUTE TECTINICAL REP ORTS
No.01-1 ?natomy of the N400:Brain ElectricalActivity in proposiiionalsemantics,' by G.A. Frishkoff and D.M. Tucker "On No.01-2 The Pqe-LinguisticOrigins of Languageprocessing Rates,' by T. Giv6n and Mitzi Barker 'Toward No.01-3 a Neuro-CognitiveInterpretation of ,Context',' by T. Giv6n No.014 "Embodied Meaning:An Evolutionary-DevelopmentalAnalysisof Adaptive Semantics" by D.M.Tucker No.01-5 "lrnplications of PathologyRisk and DisabilityCare for HumanLife HistoryEvolution: EvidenceFrom Shiwiar Forager Horticulturalists', by L. Sugiyama "From No.02-1 Attributionsto Folk Explanations:An Argumentin 10 (or so) steps,' by B.F.Malle No.02-2 'People'sPraise and Blamefor lntentionsand Actions:lmplications of the Folk Conceptof Intentionality" by B,F. Malle and R.E. Benneft No.02-3 "The RelationBetween Language and Theoryof Mind in Developmentand Evolution" by B.F. Malle 'F.Ex: No.024 A CodingScheme for Folk Explanationsof Behavior" by B.F.Malle "The No.02-5 Role of OrientingAttention for Learning Novet phonetic Categories" by S.G.Guion and E. Pederson
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