The Cognitive and Neural Sciences

Crick Lecture Series

Each year, UE's programs in the Cognitive and Neural Sciences jointly sponsor a lecture series on topics of mutual interest. Named in honor of Francis Crick, for his intellectual ambition and cross-disciplinary curiosity, these lectures serve to make the study of the mind and brain accessible to UE and the broader Evansville community. Lectures are free and open to the public. To learn more about Francis Crick, see his biography at the Nobel Foundation

September 12th, 2007

"Dreams and the Birth of Consciousness: What Made Us Human." Dr. Ken Carter, University of Southern Indiana. 4:00-5:00, Vectren Lecture Hall (Room 100), Koch Center for Engineering and Science.

To be or not to be .... to sleep! Perchance to dream. In the famous soliloquy Shakespeare wrote of death, but what of the birth of our self awareness and the origin of dreams? A unique explanation of evolution and the struggle for survival offers a new approach to answering why we dream, and what role consciousness plays as the dreamer, actor and observer.

November 14th, 2007

"Monkeys, Mirror Neurons, and Other Minds." Dr. Colin Allen, Indiana University. 4:00-5:00, Vectren Lecture Hall (Room 100), Koch Center for Engineering and Science.

Primatologists generally agree that monkeys lack higher-order mental capacities related to theory of mind. Yet the discovery of mirror neurons in monkeys suggests to many neuroscientists that they have the rudiments of understanding the intentions of others. Given a standard philosophical view about intentional understanding which requires theory of mind capacities, a paradox arises. I discuss different ways of resolving the paradox, including rejecting the standard philosophical view.

February 20th, 2008

"How We 'Think and Feel', Does It Matter?" Dr. John K. Layer, University of Evansville. 4:00-5:00, Vectren Lecture Hall (Room 100), Koch Center for Engineering and Science.

How we perform is largely affected by how we “think and feel” about matters concerning our immediate environment at a particular point in time. A relevant question of instructors, students, workers, and managers is how performance can be maximized in their immediate environment. The pace of technological change has quickened to a point where the human cognitive capacity to perceive, assimilate, decide, and to take action on a task-related issue has required the acceptance of the condition of change as not only inevitable, but also necessary. This process of change confounds the already complex feedback loop that exists between us and our socio-technical environment. This presentation will summarize an ecological model that depicts the interaction of performance, our ever-changing environment, and how we “think and feel” about the tasks at hand.

April 16th, 2008

"Autism and the Brain." Trent Kriete, University of California, Merced, and UE Alum, Class of '98. 4:00-5:00, Vectren Lecture Hall (Room 100), Koch Center for Engineering and Science.

Autism is an extremely diverse and complex developmental disorder which is believed to be neurobiological in origin. The amazing complexity of behavior, coupled with the implication of nearly the entire brain in people with autism, has made the isolation of the precise neurological deficit extremely difficult! Computational models containing sufficient biological detail may be able to help us better understand the links between brains and behavior in people with autism. I will provide a survey of the current state of theorizing about behavior in autism, as well as examples showing how formalizing underlying brain differences in computational models may provide interesting insights into the disorder.

2006-2007 Academic Year

September 13th, 2006

"A Developmental Case of Environmental Effects on Emotional Expression." Dr. Lora Becker, The University of Evansville. 4:00-5:00, KC 101.

November 15th, 2006

"Three Views of Cognitive Science." Dr. Larry Colter, The University of Evansville. 4:00-5:00, KC 101.

February 21st, 2007

“Are You Synching What I¹m Synching?" Infants’ Real-time Detection of Audiovisual Synchrony during Language Development.” Dr. George Hollich, Purdue University. 4:00-5:00, KC 101.

April 18th, 2007

"What Does Evolution Have to Do with Ethics." Dr. William R. Connolly, The University of Evansville. 4:00-5:00, Vectren Lecture Hall (Room 100), Koch Center for Engineering and Science.

2005-2006 Academic Year

September 14th, 2005

"What Language Development in Autism, Fragile X Syndrome, and Down Syndrome Can Teach Us About How the Brain Works." Dr. Elizabeth Hennon, The University of Evansville. 4:00-5:00, KC 101.

November 16th, 2005

"Modeling and Studying the Engineering Design Process with Soft Computing Techniques." Dr. Doug Ramers, The University of Evansville. 4:00-5:00, KC 101

February 15th, 2006

"Dark Caves, Bright Visions: Cognitive Archaeology and Prehistoric Art." Dr. James Berry, The University of Evansville. 4:00-5:00, KC 101.

April 12th, 2006

 "The Frightened Brain: The Neuroscience of Fear." Dr. Chris Bloom, University of Southern Indiana. 4:00-5:00, 2006, KC 101.