Listening
2022
Towards a multimodal view on the neurobiology of language. Talk by Linda Drijvers, group leader at the MPI for Psycholinguistics at the occasion of the Neurobiology of Language: Key Issues and Ways Forward II conference.
Linda Drijvers wonders makes communication successful. The take home messages of this talk are that 1) visual signals are immediately integrated with speech and constrain the interpretation space of the input, and 2) oscillatory synchronisation might facilitate multimodal integration by selecting, gating and integrating neural activity related to auditory and visual signals.
That is a good reminder that models of language (and others!) need to take into account more ecologically valid contexts, with multimodal and social interaction information.
How hard is cognitive science? Talk by Iris van Rooij, at the Department of Linguistics, Cognitive Science, and Semiotics & Interacting Minds Center, Aarhus University, 17-2-2022.
Iris van Rooij walks us through the task of Dr Conjectura who wants to solve a problem (i.e., to find an algorithm behind a certain function). It is an articulated demonstration that cognitive sciences is full of uncertainty and cannot be automated. Very thoughtful talk, challenging ideas, and a somehow positive final quote “Pluralism and indeterminacy are necessary for discovery”. I will definitely continue following her eye-opening tweets (@IrisVanRooij) and the book is on my list.
La clé de la voix visits the GIPSA-lab (in french). Short video by Clémentine Coppolani, singer, and creator of the podcast “La clé de la voix”.
Clémentine Coppolani discusses with Nathalie Henrich Bernardoni and Maëva Garnier, two researchers from the GIPSA-lab / CNRS, about tools to analyse the voice and voice mechanisms. A good and easy introduction to the science of singing by two great colleagues. You can find other thoughtful questions of the Clémentine Coppolani in other episodes, including one in which we spoke (in french) about singing accuracy.
Parenting and the Brain: Interview of Lisa Feldman Barrett by Kelly Corrigan Wonder.
Lisa Feldman Barrett is a neuroscientist who authored numerous scientific papers and the successful book “How emotions are made”. In this “easy to listen” podcast, she illustrates with simple examples that 1) construction of meaning comes from childhood, 2) the baby brain is not an adult miniature brain but is waiting for wiring instructions, 3) cultivating new experience is important because experience is the prediction of tomorrow, 4) we are context driven animals, 5) when overwhelmed, it is a priority to take care of oneself, 6) good sleep is key to change emotional life, and 7) changing focus of attention is a key tool.
Seriously backed up by scientific evidence, these “common sense” sounding advice, also well transmitted in her TED talk and cartoon, are good reminders that the findings from fundamental research have important the daily/life application.