[lingtalks] Paul Smolensky Talk: Sat, May 20th

[Steven Ford]

The UCSD Department of Cognitive Science and the Glushko-Samuelson 
Foundation are pleased to announce


The 1st Glushko-Samuelson Distinguished Lecture in Cognitive Science

PAUL SMOLENSKY

Recipient of the David E. Rumelhart Prize for Theoretical Contributions to 
Cognitive Science (2005)
Professor, Department of Cognitive Science
Johns Hopkins University

"Linguistic Cognition in an Integrated Connectionist/Symbolic Architecture"

Saturday, May 20, 2006
11:00 am
Solis Hall, Room 104

Within cognitive science, the formal study of abstract, high-level mental 
functions has enjoyed great progress made possible by the symbolic 
hypothesis: the mind is a symbol-manipulating computer. This progress has 
been particularly evident in the study of language, which has developed 
rich theories of grammar the knowledge governing the modes of combination 
of linguistic elements such as sounds, gestures and words. On the other 
hand due in large part to groundbreaking work done at UCSD starting in the 
1980s cognitive science has in recent years witnessed major advances made 
possible by the connectionist hypothesis: the brain is a massively parallel 
numerical computer, and the mind inherits important computational 
properties from the neural architecture in which it is realized. The 
Integrated Connectionist/Symbolic Cognitive
Architecture aims to unify these hypotheses into a theory of the 
mind/brain: described at a macro-level, the mind/brain is a novel kind of 
symbolic computer; described at a micro-level, it is a novel kind of 
connectionist computer. This talk will present results that flow in two 
directions. Top-down research shows how the need to support basic
symbolic computation leads to powerful new design principles for neural 
networks. Bottom-up research shows how such a neural substrate gives rise 
to new kinds of symbolic theories of grammar with enhanced explanatory power.

This event is part of the 2006 Cognitive Science Reunion. You are also 
invited to hear Don Norman, Founding Chair of the Cognitive Science 
Department, who will speak at 10:00am. He will be followed by Robert 
Glushko, who will introduce Paul Smolensky as the 1st Glushko-Samuelson 
Distinguished Speaker.
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