Pre-conference Workshop

We are pleased to informa that there is a pre-conference workshop in the afternoon on April 16th (Wed).

Date/Time: Wednesday, April 16 15:00 -- 18:00
Venue: Komatsu Memorial Hall, Waseda Research Innovation Center B1,Waseda University, Tokyo, JAPAN


Everyone can attend the event free!
You can also participate in the meeting from the following Zoom link.
Please find here.

Talk 1: 15:05 -- 16:25

Speaker: Laura Gwilliams (Stanford University)

Title:

Neural algorithms of human language

Abstract:

For the first time in history, there exist systems other than the human brain that can process speech and language, extract meaningful symbolic structure, and produce complex and appropriate responses. I will present studies from my lab that use these large speech and language models to generate algorithmic hypotheses of the biological implementation of language understanding. The work uses neural timeseries data across different spatial scales: From population ensembles using MEG and intracranial EEG, to the encoding of speech properties in individual neurons across the cortical depth using Neuropixels probes in humans. The results provide insight into what representations and operations serve to bridge between sound and meaning in biological and artificial systems, including how information at different timescales is nested, in time and in space, to allow information exchange across hierarchical structures. Together, the findings represent a new era of scientific inquiry to understand system-level implementations of human language.

Talk 2: 16:35 -- 17:55

Esti Blanco-Elorriata (NYU)

Title:

The neurobiology of bilingualism

Abstract:

Understanding how our brains process language is one of the fundamental issues in cognitive science. In order to reach such understanding, it is critical to cover the full spectrum of manners in which humans acquire and experience language. However, due to a myriad of socioeconomic factors research has disproportionately focused on monolingual English speakers, even though the majority of the world is in fact multilingual. In this talk, I present a series of studies that systematically target fundamental questions about bilingual language use across a range of conversational contexts, both in production and comprehension. The results lay the groundwork to propose a more comprehensive theory of the neurobiology of language, with implications for recovery after brain damage.

Workshop Contact: blit@list.waseda.jp