Netherlands

We introduce the concept of high-performance cognition as a domain-general function of acquiring and performing cognitively demanding skills to a high level. We conduct a survey among academic experts to identify key attention categories of high-performance cognition: by independent consensus they highlight the importance of goal-directed attention. Selective, focused, and sustained attention are strongly associated at slightly less complete consensus. They qualify their ratings with free-text reflections. Our findings offer new insights into skilled performance and the underlying cognitive processes.

**Authors:**

Benjamin Cowley: University of Helsinki; Aila Kirjanen: University of Helsinki

CogSci 2024

Attention in high-performance cognition is goal-directed, selective, focused, and sustained

The 46th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society was an in-person meeting held in Rotterdam, The Netherlands at the Postillion Hotel & Conference Centre.

**ON-DEMAND PROGRAM ACCESS AFTER THE CONFERENCE** 
Recordings of the invited program are now available. You can access them by clicking on the 'Schedule' icon on the left. Select view by week and navigate to the day and time slot of the recording you wish to view. Click on the time slot to access the recording.

Recordings available (click on each recording to view):

**Thursday, July 25** 
0900: [Keynote Speaker Morgan Barense on Enhancing real-world event memory](https://underline.io/events/465/sessions/17997/lecture/99084-dynamics-between-minds-and-the-environment) 
1000: [Gleitman Award Winner Isabelle Dautriche on Language Foundations: Insights from acquisition, communication, cognition, and more](https://underline.io/events/465/sessions/18000/lecture/99085-gleitman-talk) 
1415: [Invited Symposium: Dynamics between minds and the environment](https://underline.io/events/465/sessions?eventSessionId=18016&searchGroup=lecture) 
1700: [Rumelhart Prize Presentation Speaker Alison Gopnik on Exploit, explore, empower: Three ages and three intelligences](https://underline.io/events/465/sessions/18028/lecture/99161-rp1-rumelhart-prize-presentation) 

**Friday, July 26** 
0900: [C.L. de Carvalho-Heineken Prize Keynote Speaker Kia Nobre on Focusing in memory](https://underline.io/events/465/sessions/18035/lecture/99162-hp1-c-l-de-carvalho-heineken-prize-keynote-address) 
1030: [Rumelhart Symposium: Childhood as exploration](https://underline.io/events/465/sessions/18038/lecture/100346-childhood-as-exploration) 
1415: [Elman Prize Symposium](https://underline.io/events/465/sessions?eventSessionId=18053&searchGroup=lecture) 
1600: [Invited Symposium: Dynamics between minds](https://underline.io/events/465/sessions?eventSessionId=18065&searchGroup=lecture) 
1745: [Keynote Speaker Andrea E. Martin on Neural dynamics encode the structure and statistics of language](https://underline.io/events/465/sessions/18077/lecture/99271-neural-dynamics-encode-the-structure-and-statistics-of-language) 

**Saturday, July 27** 
0900: [Keynote Speaker Gregor Schöner on How higher cognition emerges from the dynamics of strongly interacting neural populations](https://underline.io/events/465/sessions/18083/lecture/99273-dynamics-within-the-mind) 
1000: [Glushko Talks](https://underline.io/events/465/sessions?eventSessionId=18086&searchGroup=lecture) 
1500: [Invited Symposium: Dynamics within minds](https://underline.io/events/465/sessions?eventSessionId=18100&searchGroup=lecture) 


#### **CogSci 2024 Program Book**
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**The Program Book can be downloaded [here](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yRVp1cBqRnAbdYi4GXWV_pZeyWNsRquv/view?usp=sharing).**

#### **Letter from the President**

Welcome to the 2024 Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society in Rotterdam! CogSci 2024 brings together a large community of cognitive scientists who have traveled here from around the world, as well as a smaller group of remote presenters. I would like to extend an especially warm welcome to our first-time CogSci meeting attendees, and hope that 
their experience inspires them to join our future meetings for many years to come.

I want to thank this year’s conference co-chairs, Larissa K Samuelson, Stefan Frank, Mariya Toneva, Allyson Mackey, and Eliot Hazeltine, for putting together an amazing series of invited talks and symposia around the theme of Dynamics of Cognition. The co-chairs also deserve credit for handling a record-breaking number of submissions and producing a truly exciting conference program 

Beyond the invited talks and symposia dedicated to this year’s conference theme, I would like to highlight the presentations and events honoring the 
Rumelhart, Elman, Gleitman and C .L . de Carvalho Heineken prize winners, including the Rumelhart reception on Thursday. As you may know, we are recording all of the invited talks and symposia, and all prize-winners’ talks, and will be making this content available after the conference. 

The Cognitive Science Society relies on the volunteer efforts of our Governing Board members who work on matters related to our membership; conference policies; diversity and inclusion, international, and outreach initiatives; prizes and much more. We welcome interest from Society members who would like to become more involved in what we do. The 
Society is deeply grateful to Rick Dale and Andrea Bender, who serve as editors of the two Society journals, Cognitive Science and Topics in Cognitive Science respectively. We especially acknowledge our editors’ generosity in donating their stipends each year to D&I and outreach efforts. 

This year’s Annual Meeting depends critically on the support of Marischal De Armond and his team at Podium Conference Specialists: Sharon Zwack, Cendrine De Vis, Sarah-Kate Burke, and Rachel Waller worked tirelessly to secure the venue and handled a multitude of logistical and organizational issues, from arranging coffee breaks and receptions to making sure that a huge number of posters fits comfortably into the available space. Finally, and importantly, I would like to acknowledge the Cognitive Science Society Executive Officer, Erica Wojcik, for managing the complex and ever expanding sphere of our Society’s activities.

I hope you enjoy this year’s meeting and the many different opportunities to engage with the vibrant community of cognitive scientists gathered here. I also hope you get a chance to explore the great city of Rotterdam with its many attractions, museums, restaurants and scenic views. If you’d like to talk more about our Society, or simply want to say hello, please stop by!

![](https://assets.underline.io/markdown_image/1/image/3c66d0e21fff30e204df1138ffd15173.jpeg)

**Anna Papafragou** 
President, Cognitive Science 
Society 2023-2024

**CODE OF CONDUCT** 
By attending the CogSci 2024 Conference, you are required to adhere to the society’s [Code of Conduct](https://drive.google.com/file/d/16-6KkptF0Gn3ZYGJDlpqpwTdImw45Ng0/view?usp=drive_link).

**ABOUT THE COGNITIVE SCIENCE SOCIETY** 
The Cognitive Science Society brings together researchers from around the world who hold a common goal: understanding the nature of the human mind. The mission of the Society is to promote Cognitive Science as a discipline, and to foster scientific interchange among researchers in various areas of study, including Artificial Intelligence, Linguistics, Anthropology, Psychology, Neuroscience, Philosophy, and Education.

The Society is a non-profit professional organization and its activities include sponsoring an annual conference and publishing the journals Cognitive Science and TopiCS.

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The 46th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society presents the latest research across cognitive science and highlights the theme of Cognition in Context.

poster

Many infant experiences are both visual and auditory in nature, but what is the role of auditory cues in visual attention? Using a Dynamic Field model of infant visual attention, we generated simulations of infant looking behaviour in both a tone and no tone version of the Infant Orienting With Attention (IOWA) task. The DF model predicted a significant difference in reaction times and accuracy between the tone and no tone groups with the tone group faster and less accurate. To test this, we ran the IOWA task with 70 infants between 4 and 10 months of age randomly assigned to either a tone or no tone condition. There were no significant between-group differences. We explore these empirical findings using the dynamic field model, extending the model in two directions. First, we utilise Tensorflow tools to optimise the model parameters, and second, we fit the model parameters to individuals.

**Authors:**

John Spencer: University of East Anglia; Stacey Stuart: University of East Anglia

Testing a dynamic field model of infant visual attention

From career planning to disaster preparedness to public policy, people plan all the time in complex environments. Yet, it is not known what cognitive abilities are critical for such planning. To explore this, we conducted an online experiment in which 476 participants each completed nine cognitive tasks: Raven’s Matrices, Mental Rotation, Corsi Block Task, Change-Detection Task, Pattern Recognition Task, Wisconsin Card Sorting Task, a complex two-player game called Four-in-a-Row, and two simpler planning tasks. We found moderate correlations across most metrics, aligning with existing literature on cognitive interconnectivity. Notably, performance in the Four-in-a-Row game correlated with all other tasks, suggesting that planning ability in complex tasks (which require multiple steps ahead) is correlated with that in simpler tasks, suggesting a shared computational substrate. Moreover, we identified distinct latent factors for mental rotation and planning tasks, suggesting that tree search in planning tasks and mental rotation tasks require distinct simulation abilities. These findings enhance our understanding of the cognitive processes involved in complex planning.

**Authors:**

Xinlei (Daisy) Lin: NYU; Wei Ji Ma: New York University

The Cognitive Components of Complex Planning

Environmental stressors present negative consequences for cognitive development. However, their impact on relevant neurocognitive processes, particularly in underrepresented samples, is less clear. The current project aims to examine how adverse experiences influence efficiency of evidence accumulation and neural connectivity in adolescents. The study included 199 adolescents from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a population-based longitudinal cohort study with substantial representation of youths from disadvantaged backgrounds. Participants completed an emotional-faces, gender-identification task while undergoing functional MRI. Reaction times (RT) and responses were recorded and fitted with a drift-diffusion model. Parameters were estimated using the Dynamic Model of Choice software, which provides a better characterization of the underlying cognitive mechanisms compared with using RTs or battery tasks. Analyses investigating the impact of adverse experiences to drift rate and functional connectivity are underway. Results from this study will provide a better understanding of adversity on neurocognitive mechanisms in adolescents.

**Authors:**

Yue Zhang: University of Michigan; Felicia Hardi: University of Michigan; Alexander S. Weigard: University of Michigan; Maria K. Scavnicky: University of Michigan; Colter Mitchell: University of Michigan; Luke W. Hyde: University of Michigan; Christopher S. S. Monk: University of Michigan

Understanding the impact of early adverse experiences on computational models of neurocognitive processes in adolescents

Humans can flexibly pursue goal-oriented behavior in the face of changes in the environment. Cognitive control refers to this set of processes allowing such adjustments, and is thought to rely on neural oscillations in the theta band (4-8Hz). First, theta amplitude increases when control is needed, and second, shifts of peak frequency in the theta band have been suggested to reliably balance task representation and gating of task-relevant sensory and action information. However, it remains unknown how these two characteristics of the control signal interact and how optimal configuration for task performance is achieved. To tackle this question, we developed a computational model that relies on reinforcement learning principles to find optimal control settings for task performance. Our simulations show that these different oscillatory characteristics play distinct roles in the flexible adjustment to task demands. This work opens new avenues for research on the mechanisms allowing cognitive flexibility.

**Authors:**

Mehdi Senoussi: CNRS UMR 5263, University of Toulouse; Senne Braem: Ghent University; Tom Verguts: Ghent University

Flexible adjustment to task demands through learning of optimal oscillatory characteristics

We report a large study (n=120) investigating the effects of tDCS at Fp3 on the FIE. We used a double-blind design with subjects randomly assigned to one of the three tDCS groups and then engaged with a recognition task involving upright and inverted faces. Group 1 (control), subjects first received sham-tDCS in the study phase (learning) followed by sham-tDCS in the recognition phase; Group 2, subjects received anodal-tDCS in the study phase followed by sham-tDCS in the recognition phase; Group 3, subjects received anodal-tDCS in the study phase followed by cathodal-tDCS in the recognition phase. Group 2’s results confirmed that anodal-tDCS reduces the FIE vs. sham (Group 1) by disrupting performance for upright faces. Group 3’s results revealed that cathodal-tDCS applied after anodal, increased the FIE vs. Group 2, bringing it back to control, by enhancing performance for upright faces. These results reveal that the negative effects of anodal-tDCS on the FIE can be reversed by cathodal-tDCS.

**Authors:**

Ciro Civile: University of Exeter; Siobhan McCourt: University of Exeter; Wang Guangtong: University of Exeter

Modulate the Face Inversion Effect (FIE): Using transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) to reduce and enhance the FIE.

Understanding and quantifying listening effort (LE) is important to a better understanding of speech perception in acoustically challenging environments. EEG alpha power has shown promise as a measure of LE, but relationships between acoustic challenge and alpha have been inconsistent in prior work. We test whether these mixed findings are attributed to differences in alpha power measurement across studies. We compared traditional bandwidth measurement of alpha power to an algorithmic spectral parameterization (SP) approach which separates alpha from background changes in broadband aperiodic activity. Whereas the traditional approach yielded no significant difference in alpha between speech in quiet versus in background noise, the SP approach, which accounts for flattening of the broadband slope in noise, yielded a significant increase in alpha power to speech in noise. These results highlight the importance of accounting for aperiodic brain activity when considering oscillatory EEG markers of cognitive demand in speech perception.

**Authors:**

Sarah J Woods: University of Utah ; Jack W Silcox: University of Utah; Brennan R Payne: University of Utah

A better alpha - Incorporating spectral parameterization to improve measurement of listening effort

Our interaction with others largely hinges on how we semantically organize the social world. The organization of such conceptual information is not static– as we age, our experiences and ever-changing anatomy alter how we represent and arrange semantic information. How does semantic distance between concepts affect this organization, particularly for those with pathological deficits semantic knowledge? Using triadic judgment responses collected from healthy participants, we compute an ordinal similarity embedding for a set of social words and images that vary in the dimensions of age and gender. We compare semantic distances between items in the space to patterns of error in a word-picture matching task performed by patients with semantic dementia (SD). Error patterns reveal that SD patients retain gender information more robustly than age information, and that age-related errors are a function of linear distance in age from a concept word. The distances between probed and exemplar items in the resulting conceptual map reflect error patterns in SD patient responses such that items semantically closer to a probed concept– in gender category or in linear age–are more likely to be erroneously chosen by patients in a word-picture matching task. To our knowledge, this is the first triplet embedding work to embed representations of words and images in a unified space, and to use this space to explain patterns of behavior in patients with impaired social semantic cognition.

**Authors:**

Y. Ivette Colón: University of Wisconsin- Madison; Timothy T Rogers: University of Wisconsin- Madison; Matthew Lambon Ralph: University of Cambridge ; Matthew Rouse: University of Cambridge

Semantic distance organizes social knowledge: Insights from semantic dementia and cross-modal conceptual space

Numerical and spatial skills are highly interrelated, and both contribute to mathematical cognition (Dehaene & Brannon, 2001). Spatial-numerical associations are frequently examined using number line estimation (NLE); however, there is considerable debate about the relative contributions of number-specific and domain-general (i.e., working memory) processing involved in this task (Simms et al., 2016). Here, we used functional neuroimaging to examine the processes supporting NLE in adults (n = 32). Participants completed an in-scanner NLE task and category localizer. We found that within the Number ROI from the localizer (Number > Faces + Words), neural activity during the in-scanner NLE task differentially predicted out-of-scanner behavioral measures. Specifically, activity in the left intraparietal sulcus (IPS) predicted spatial working memory, whereas activity in the right IPS predicted performance on an out-of-scanner NLE task. These findings suggest that performance during NLE relies on both spatial-numerical and domain-general capacities, but that these capacities are supported by separate neural regions.

**Authors:**

Caroline Kaicher: Carnegie Mellon University; Lauren Aulet: Carnegie Mellon University; Jessica Cantlon: Carnegie Mellon University

Neural lateralization during number line estimation differentially predicts numerical and spatial capacity

Research on infants' observational behavior has predominantly focused on retrospective information gain, leaving the role of prospective evaluation of information gain unclear. We examined 12-month-olds' use of information sources in an eye-tracking study, where participants could use their gaze to 'shake' two out of three boxes to locate a hidden character through auditory cues. Across two pre-registered experiments, we manipulated the probability distributions for character locations to assess forward-looking exploratory strategies. Findings from Experiment 1 with a uniform distribution suggest that while infants learned task contingencies, their choices did not align with maximizing expected information gain, leaning instead towards confirmatory hypothesis testing. Experiment 2 employs a non-uniform probability distribution for character locations to rule out alternative explanations of Experiment 1. In this setup, one box pair provides more information gain, while the other provides confirmatory evidence. Data collection is in progress, results will be presented at the conference.

**Authors:**

Bálint Varga: Central European University; Barbara Pomiechowska: Central European University; Agnes Kovacs: CEU

Infants’ evaluation of expected information gain in a gaze-contingent paradigm

Does language help make sense of the visual world? How important is it to actually see the world, rather than having it described with words? These basic questions about the nature of intelligence have been difficult to answer because we only had one example of an intelligent system -- humans -- and limited access to cases that isolated language or vision. However, the development of sophisticated Vision-Language Models (VLMs) by artificial intelligence researchers offers us new opportunities to explore the contributions that language and vision make to learning about the world. We ablate components of the cognitive architecture of these models to identify their contributions to learning new tasks from limited data. We find that a fully-equipped language model recovers a majority of a VLM's performance, despite its lack of visual input, and that language seems to allow this by providing access to prior knowledge and reasoning.

**Authors:**

Allison Chen: Princeton Univeristy; Ilia Sucholutsky: Princeton University; Olga Russakovsky: Princeton University; Tom Griffiths: Princeton University 

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