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Monday, August 16, 2021
PBS Graduate Student Orientation
TBA
TBA
Saturday, August 28, 2021
Wednesday, September 01, 2021
Brown Bag (BCN): Data Blitz
12:30pm-01:30pm
B70 Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
Friday, September 03, 2021
Wednesday, September 08, 2021
Brown Bag (Cognition): Data Blitz
12:30pm-01:30pm
B70 Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
Friday, September 10, 2021
PBS Graduate Research Symposium 2021
09:00am-01:30pm
B70 Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
PBS Graduate Research Symposium Reception
04:00pm-05:00pm
Lobby outside B70 Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
Saturday, September 11, 2021
BBIP Retreat
09:00am-01:30pm
B70 Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
Friday, September 17, 2021
09:00am
2520D University Capitol Centre
In this talk, I’ll dive into how our perception is shaped by linguistic input. To do so, I’ll present two lines of my research program. In the first, I’ll argue how language experience is unique to each and every one of us, and what it means to be on the spectrum of bi/multilingualism from the speaker’s side as well as from the listener’s side. I’ll present behavioral data and social network corpus data showing perception of different multilingual experiences, some of which are perceived as foreign accents, and how environmental exposure impacts speech intelligibility and accentedness judgments. In the second, I’ll argue how language experience modulates visuo-cortical processes towards novel objects (i.e., sheinbugs) by showing ERP and ssVEP data from infants as well as adults. The overarching theme of my talk will emphasize the importance of intersectional linguistic research.
12:00pm-01:30pm
Virtual Event
The Big Ten Neuroscience Seminar Series highlights trainees and junior faculty from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in neuroscience. We meet virtually once each month—featuring one Big Ten institution—for presentations and discussion/networking. Seminars are scheduled for afternoons on the third Friday of each month. Zoom link is provided by the host institution. If not added in the event listing, please email iowa-neuroscience-institute@uiowa.edu the week of the seminar to receive the link.
Monday, September 27, 2021
07:30pm
Hadley Stage Hancher Auditorium
POSTPONED
Due to a scheduling conflict, Bill Nye has postponed his lecture at the University of Iowa.
A new date will be announced soon. UI students who already have tickets should keep them as they will be honored for the new date. Distribution of remaining tickets to the general public will be delayed until the lecture has been officially rescheduled.
Engineer, comedian, author, inventor—and best known for his Emmy-winning run as Bill Nye the Science Guy—Bill Nye blends humor, intellectual curiosity, and devotion to solving some of the world’s most complex challenges through science. Nye inspires audiences of all ages to engage with and improve our world.
This lecture will feature an American Sign Language interpreter.
ARTIST WEBSITE
Wednesday, September 29, 2021
Brown Bag (BCN): Kev You
12:30pm-01:30pm
B70 Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
Friday, October 01, 2021
09:00am
2520D University Capitol Centre
12:00pm-01:30pm
Virtual Event
This virtual mini-symposium on sleep features presentations from: Gina Poe, PhD (UCLA); Penny Lewis, PhD (Cardiff U, UK); and Reto Huber PhD (U Zurich and U Children's Hospital Zurich)
Saturday, October 02, 2021
Wednesday, October 06, 2021
Brown Bag (Cognition): Sebastian Musslick, Princeton University
12:30pm-01:30pm
Virtual Event
On the Rational Bounds of Human Cognition
Abstract: Humans are remarkably limited in the number of tasks they can execute simultaneously. This limitation is not only apparent in daily life, it is also a universal assumption of most theories of human cognition. Yet, a rationale for why the human brain is subject to this constraint remains elusive. In this talk, I will draw on insights from neuroscience, psychology, and machine learning to suggest that limitations in the brain’s ability to multitask result from a fundamental computational dilemma in neural architectures. Through graph-theoretic analysis, neural network simulation, and behavioral experimentation, I will demonstrate that neural systems face a tradeoff between learning efficiency (promoted through the shared use of neural representations across tasks) and multitasking capability (achieved through the separation of neural representations between tasks). Theoretical analyses show that it can be optimal for a neural system to prioritize efficient learning of single tasks at the expense of its ability to execute them simultaneously, across a broad range of conditions. These results suggest that our inability to multitask reflects a rational solution to a fundamental computational dilemma faced by neural architectures. I will demonstrate that this tradeoff can explain a variety of behavioral and neural phenomena related to human multitasking and conclude by outlining consequential computational dilemmas that may help explain other, seemingly irrational constraints on human cognition.
Friday, October 08, 2021
12:00pm-01:00pm
Virtual Event
“Early life stress primes sensitivity to future stress: from epigenetics to engrams”
Catherine Jensen Peña, PhD
Assistant Professor
Princeton Neuroscience Institute
PBS Chair's Annual State of the Department Address 2021
03:30pm-04:30pm
B70 Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
PBS Annual Welcome Reception 2021
05:30pm-07:30pm
Big Grove Brewery and Taproom, 1225 S Gilbert St, Iowa City, IA 52240
Friday, October 15, 2021
12:00pm-01:30pm
Virtual Event
The Big Ten Neuroscience Seminar Series highlights trainees and junior faculty from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in neuroscience. We meet virtually once each month—featuring one Big Ten institution—for presentations and discussion/networking. Seminars are scheduled for afternoons on the third Friday of each month. Zoom link is provided by the host institution. If not added in the event listing, please email iowa-neuroscience-institute@uiowa.edu the week of the seminar to receive the link.
09:00am
2520D University Capitol Centre
Wednesday, October 20, 2021
Brown Bag (Cognition): Sarah Colby
12:30pm-01:30pm
B70 Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
Spoken word recognition in less-than-ideal conditions: The effect of aging, severe hearing loss, and individual differences in inhibitory control
Abstract: While recognizing spoken words, listeners must quickly and efficiently map the input to lexical representations. To deal with the temporary ambiguity that results as speech unfolds over time, potential candidates compete for activation until enough of the word is heard to activate the correct target. Under ideal circumstances, this lexical competition is thought to be largely internal to the language system. However, it’s possible that domain-general cognitive resources are recruited to help resolve competition in challenging conditions. In this talk, I’ll examine how lexical competition is affected by less-than-ideal listening conditions, namely in aging and severe hearing loss. Older adults experience a broad variety of cognitive declines, but vocabulary knowledge remains a noted strength. Despite this, they often report difficulties following conversations, suggesting declines to the cognitive processes supporting language. Individuals with hearing loss, on the other hand, must learn to deal with a severely degraded signal. Using the Visual World Paradigm, we asked how the dynamics of lexical competition change in the face of cognitive and peripheral declines. We also investigated whether domain-general inhibitory control is recruited to compensate for difficulties with word recognition. Our results suggest that both age and hearing loss impact the activation of lexical targets, and that inhibitory control is deployed differently to support word recognition depending on a listener’s hearing status. This work highlights the need to better understand how domain-general resources can be incorporated into models of spoken word recognition.
Friday, October 22, 2021
05:00pm-06:45pm
2229 Seamans Center
Abstract:
The use of interactive technologies is changing the way our cognitive processes work: from perception to memory, attention, learning, problem solving, communication, and metacognition. In fact, we may be seeing the beginnings of one of the largest shifts in cognition brought about by technology, perhaps even bigger than the changes brought by handwriting and mathematical notation. The problem is that we have largely been reactive. For the most part, technology designers develop what the market calls for without a holistic view of how all these technologies may affect how we think and how we interact with each other. The good news is that we have choices and we can have visions. What do we want the cognitive future to be like? If we can give people cognitive superpowers through technology, what should those be?
In this talk, Juan Pablo Hourcade will provide an analysis of how current and upcoming changes in interactive technologies are affecting and may further affect cognitive processes. This will be
followed by a discussion of guiding principles to optimally affect cognitive processes.
Bio:
Juan Pablo Hourcade is an Associate Professor at The University of Iowa's Department of Computer Science and Director of Graduate Studies for the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Informatics. His main area of research is Human-Computer Interaction, with a focus on the design, implementation and evaluation of technologies that support creativity, collaboration, well-being, healthy development, and information access for a variety of users, including children and older adults.
Thursday, October 28, 2021
03:30pm
W207 Pappajohn Business Building
Abstract: What does it mean to know one’s body? In this talk, I focus on the development of functional reaching maps of the body: how infants learn to localize and reach to stimuli on the surface of body, regardless of the position of the hand in space or that of the target on the body. Using a new task of tactile localization suitable for use with infants, I will describe work on the development of body reaching during the first year, and how this sensorimotor ability serves as an intermodal gateway to other forms of body knowledge, including mirror self-recognition.
Friday, October 29, 2021
09:00am
2520D University Capitol Centre
Abstract: What does it mean to know one’s body? In this talk, I focus on the development of functional reaching maps of the body: how infants learn to localize and reach to stimuli on the surface of body, regardless of the position of the hand in space or that of the target on the body. Using a new task of tactile localization suitable for use with infants, I will describe work on the development of body reaching during the first year, and how this sensorimotor ability serves as an intermodal gateway to other forms of body knowledge, including mirror self-recognition.
Wednesday, November 03, 2021
03:30pm-05:00pm
Virtual Event
Anne Anlin Cheng is Professor of English, and affiliated faculty in the Program in American Studies, the Program in Gender and Sexuality Studies, and the Committee on Film Studies at Princeton University. She is an interdisciplinary and comparative race scholar who focuses on the uneasy intersection between politics and aesthetics, drawing from literary theory, race and gender studies, film and architectural theory, legal studies, psychoanalysis, and critical food studies. She works primarily with twentieth-century American literature and visual culture with special focus on Asian American and African American literatures. Professor Cheng is also the founder and organizer of the public conversation series Critical Encounters that promotes dialogue between art and theory and encourages cross-disciplinary conversations on topics of social justice .Her work has appeared in journals such as Critical Inquiry, Representations, PMLA, Camera Obscura, Differences, among others. She is also a contributor to New York Times, The Atlantic, Los Angeles Review of Books, and Huffington Post
Professor Cheng is the author of The Melancholy of Race: Psychoanalysis, Assimilation, and Hidden Grief); Second Skin: Josephine Baker and the Modern Surface; and, most recently, Ornamentalism (which will provide the foundation for this talk). Focusing on the cultural and philosophic conflation between the "oriental" and the "ornamental," Ornamentalism offers an original and sustained theory about Asiatic femininity in western culture. This study pushes our vocabulary about the woman of color past the usual platitudes about objectification and past the critique of Orientalism in order to formulate a fresher and sharper understanding of the representation, circulation, and ontology of Asiatic femininity. This book alters the foundational terms of racialized femininity by allowing us to conceptualize race and gender without being solely beholden to flesh or skin. Tracing a direct link between the making of Asiatic femininity and a technological history of synthetic personhood in the West from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century, Ornamentalism demonstrates how the construction of modern personhood in the multiple realms of law, culture, and art has been surprisingly indebted to this very marginal figure and places Asian femininity at the center of an entire epistemology of race. Drawing from and speaking to the multiple fields of feminism, critical race theory, visual culture, performance studies, legal studies, Modernism, Orientalism, Object Studies and New Materialism, Ornamentalism will leave readers with a greater understanding of what it is to exist as a "person-thing" within the contradictions of American culture (Oxford University Press).
Professor Cheng's talk will be followed by a lively discussion. We hope that you will join us for a night of discourse over [digital] dinner.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://uiowa.zoom.us/j/93996021689?pwd=M0NEZkpSS3hLUGdZWm9oakZtT1hSUT09
Meeting ID: 939 9602 1689
Passcode: 961088
This event is presented by the Association of Graduate Students in English, and was made possible by generous financial support from The Department of English, The Freedman Fund, and The Obermann Center for Advanced Studies.
Friday, November 05, 2021
09:00am
2520D University Capitol Centre
Intelligence is defined by a generalized factor (g), composed of subdimensions, such as visuospatial reasoning, language, and working memory. One such dimension, fluid intelligence, reflects reasoning and the ability to solve novel problems. Adolescent intelligence has been linked with childhood adversity, and may also influence future mental health outcomes, however, much of this research has been based on small clinical samples. In this talk, I will summarize a set of papers that utilized a large population-representative sample of adolescents (ages 13-18) to understand the relationships between childhood adversity, fluid intelligence, and psychopathology. I will also engage with the conceptual, legal, and practical challenges that make intelligence research both contentious and important.
Thursday, November 11, 2021
03:30pm
W207 Pappajohn Business Building
Spatial thinking plays a central role in scientific problem solving and expert practice. In STEM classrooms, science learners are routinely tasked with reasoning about the spatial properties of phenomena at different scales. As such, visuo-spatial ability is an obvious target for improving student success in STEM fields. Yet, empirical reports have yet to demonstrate that interventions designed to improve visuo-spatial ability yield sizeable or reliable improvements in STEM retention or academic achievement. This talk will examine alternative explanations for the poor predictive validity of visuo-spatial ability in STEM classrooms with attention to the diverse way that spatial thinking manifests in STEM domains. Using results from laboratory studies of chemistry problem solving and educational interventions in chemistry classrooms, I illustrate how various strategies and representational tools of chemistry mediate the relationship between visuo-spatial and academic achievement in the domain. These findings demonstrate that visuo-spatial ability may not be an optimal target for educational interventions and that individual and group differences in visuo-spatial ability have limited utility for identifying potential in STEM.
Friday, November 12, 2021
Wednesday, November 17, 2021
Brown Bag (BCN): Shivangi Jain
12:30pm-01:30pm
B70 Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
Thursday, November 18, 2021
12:00pm-01:00pm
Wild Bill's (321) North Hall
University of Iowa students:
Learn “How to Library” from a friendly UI librarian!
Dan Gall, the UI Librarian for Social Work & Distance Education, takes time to help you understand the myriad resources (and people) available at the UI to help you find the information you need. From finding the right books and how to check them out, to research concepts, ethics, and citations, Dan is your personal guide to the UI Libraries system.
Open to all students, regardless of major. Sessions meet in Wild Bill’s (321 North Hall) and concurrently via Zoom.
Dan’s presentations take place from noon to 12:30 p.m., with office hours following until 1 p.m.
SESSION 6:
Keeping sources and citations organized to improve your academic writing and stay sane.
Social Work Ph.D. students Kara Carter, Megan Ronnenberg and Morgan Stangl share their methods for organizing the articles, books and other sources they cite – with and without Endnote!
Join Zoom Meeting:
https://uiowa.zoom.us/j/96423320102
Friday, November 19, 2021
12:00pm-01:30pm
Virtual Event
The Big Ten Neuroscience Seminar Series highlights trainees and junior faculty from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in neuroscience. We meet virtually once each month—featuring one Big Ten institution—for presentations and discussion/networking. Seminars are scheduled for afternoons on the third Friday of each month. Zoom link is provided by the host institution. If not added in the event listing, please email iowa-neuroscience-institute@uiowa.edu the week of the seminar to receive the link.
Friday, December 03, 2021
12:00pm-01:30pm
Virtual Event
This virtual mini-symposium on epigenetics features presentations from: Andy Groves, PhD, Baylor; Elizabeth Heller, PhD, UPenn; Simon Hippenmeyer, PhD, IST Austria
Wednesday, December 08, 2021
Brown Bag (BCN): Eric Reavis, University of California Los Angeles
12:30pm-01:30pm
B70 Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
Friday, December 10, 2021
09:00am
2520D University Capitol Centre
Speech sound disorders account for nearly half of all childhood communication impairments. These salient communication disorders also have a relatively stagnant history of traditional, bottom-up remediation approaches designed for mainstream, monolingual English speakers. These traditional approaches may not be optimized for efficiency or maximizing generalized learning. Further, the evidence base fails to address the complex language backgrounds of many children with speech sound disorders. We will discuss language learning and complexity in the context of a speech intervention study for Spanish-English bilingual children.
03:30pm
B70 Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
Psychological and Brain Sciences Colloquium
Edward S. Awh, Professor, Department of Psychology, The Institute for Mind and Biology, and Grossman Institute for Neuroscience, Quantitative Biology and Human Behavior, The University of Chicago
The Role of Content-Independent Pointers in Visual Working Memory
Storage in visual working memory is highly limited. "Slot" models argue that this reflects a limit on the number of individuated items that can be stored, rather than a limit on the total amount of information held within those items. Why would storage limits be item-based rather than information-based? One possibility is that storage entails the operation of a limited number of spatiotemporal "pointers" (e.g., Khaneman's object files; Pylyshyn's FINSTs) that serve to bind together multiple features of an object. I'll present a multivariate approach for decoding working memory load based on EEG voltage topography. This approach enables trial-by-trial decoding of working memory load, and the load-specific patterns of neural activity generalize across different stimuli and observers. Critically, this load-dependent activity tracks the number of stored items, independent of the type and number of features stored about each item. Thus, our limited ability to deploy these pointers may explain slot-like empirical patterns in behavioral and neural studies of working memory.
Friday, December 17, 2021
12:00pm-01:30pm
Virtual Event
The Big Ten Neuroscience Seminar Series highlights trainees and junior faculty from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in neuroscience. We meet virtually once each month—featuring one Big Ten institution—for presentations and discussion/networking. Seminars are scheduled for afternoons on the third Friday of each month. Zoom link is provided by the host institution. If not added in the event listing, please email iowa-neuroscience-institute@uiowa.edu the week of the seminar to receive the link.
Thursday, January 20, 2022
12:00pm-01:00pm
Wild Bill's (321) North Hall
University of Iowa students:
Learn “How to Library” from a friendly UI librarian!
Dan Gall, the UI Librarian for Social Work & Distance Education, takes time to help you understand the myriad resources (and people) available at the UI to help you find the information you need. From finding the right books and how to check them out, to research concepts, ethics, and citations, Dan is your personal guide to the UI Libraries system.
Open to all students, regardless of major. Sessions meet in Wild Bill’s (321 North Hall) and concurrently via Zoom.
Dan’s presentations take place from noon to 12:30 p.m., with office hours following until 1 p.m.
SESSION 6:
Keeping sources and citations organized to improve your academic writing and stay sane.
Social Work Ph.D. students Kara Carter, Megan Ronnenberg and Morgan Stangl share their methods for organizing the articles, books and other sources they cite – with and without Endnote!
Join Zoom Meeting:
https://uiowa.zoom.us/j/96423320102
Friday, January 21, 2022
12:00pm-01:30pm
Virtual Event
The Big Ten Neuroscience Seminar Series highlights trainees and junior faculty from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in neuroscience. We meet virtually once each month—featuring one Big Ten institution—for presentations and discussion/networking. Seminars are scheduled for afternoons on the third Friday of each month. Zoom link is provided by the host institution. If not added in the event listing, please email iowa-neuroscience-institute@uiowa.edu the week of the seminar to receive the link.
Wednesday, January 26, 2022
12:30pm-01:30pm
B70 Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
Toward a Mechanistic Understanding of Human Inhibitory Control
Darcy Diesburg
In this practice post-doctoral job talk, I will summarize the research I’ve conducted during my graduate career on a fronto-basal ganglia (FBg) network that underlies human motor and cognitive control, namely: the FBg’s recruitment following infrequent stimuli, the inhibitory role of subcortical and cortical beta bursts in this network, and causal perturbations of FBg with transcranial magnetic stimulation and deep brain stimulation. I’ll discuss potential future directions for post-doctoral research, such as using biophysical computational modeling approaches to gain insight into the neuronal mechanisms that produce beta bursts, and explain how that research fits within my broader career goals of using mechanistic insight to bolster cognitive theory in control.
For those that wish to join virtually here is a zoom link: https://uiowa.zoom.us/j/91280986222
Friday, January 28, 2022
Wednesday, February 02, 2022
12:30am-01:30am
For those who wish to join virtually, please contact amy-rood@uiowa.edu. Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
Please join us next Wednesday (2/2, 12:30pm) for a special brown bag presentation from Drs. Lane Strathearn and Ted Abel, co-directors of the Hawkeye Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (https://iddrc.uiowa.edu/). They will introduce this newly funded center. For those who wish to join virtually, please contact amy-rood@uiowa.edu.
Friday, February 04, 2022
09:00am
318 Phillips Hall
This presentation will provide an overview of the new Hawk-IDDRC, an NIH-funded P50 Center aimed at promoting and disseminating interdisciplinary, cross-campus research in the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities. Examples will be provided of cores and services available to IDDRC members, and how these are being utilized in the Autism Genetics and Epigenetics Study (AGES) through the Hawk-IDDRC.
Website: iddrc.uiowa.edu
PBS Graduate Student Recruiting Weekend -- Friday February 4 & Saturday February 5, 2022
TBA
TBA
Friday, February 11, 2022
09:00am
Virtual Event
As adults, speaking appears effortless; yet the functional muscle groups involved are many and their interactions complex. Nonetheless, human infants master this control and coordination while their body is rapidly changing. In this talk, I will first discuss the evolutionary foundation for the role of the body in the production of vocalizations by describing my previous work in marmoset monkeys. Call production in marmosets depends on the dynamic control of heart rate and respiration. I demonstrate how their typical cardiorespiratory activity is maintained within a stable range and the production of species-specific contact calls require cardiorespiratory activity to exit this stable range. The control of body movements around these contact calls also appear to be a key part of the mechanisms enabling them. Similarly, to produce the many different and highly complex sounds that will eventually give way to speech, human infants must learn to successfully control and coordinate their body and its internal states. I present new findings on how bodily movements around the production of sounds become more tightly coordinated with the timing of sound onset from 9 to 24 months of age. I will then present initial evidence and hypotheses on the role of body movement coordination in producing more complex speech sounds. I conclude with a consideration of why understanding the body and the control of its internal states is crucial to understanding the development of cognition. I will provide an overview of my future work, which builds on these initial findings and will consider the role of mature social partners and infant directed speech in influencing the internal states relevant to vocalizations and other cognitive achievements such as visual attention.
Tuesday, February 15, 2022
04:30pm
Virtual Event
Uncovering Hawkeye History: The Stories That Define Us
Since 1847, the University of Iowa has broken barriers and blazed new trails as a beacon for learning, creativity, and collaboration. Join university archivist and storyteller David McCartney and leading experts from multiple fields to uncover the hidden stories that define Iowa.
Don’t miss this interactive, four-part online series exploring the University of Iowa’s widespread impact.
Endless Innovation: An R1 Research Institution (1948–1997)
February 15
4:30 p.m. (CST)
Zoom Webinar
From using robots that assist with inner ear surgery to breaking space exploration frontiers, the UI has spearheaded innovative ways to approach all aspects of our society.
Bruce Gantz (68BS, 74MD, 80MS, 80R), otolaryngology and neurosurgery professor and world’s first doctor to perform a robot-assisted cochlear implant surgery
Kevin Washburn, College of Law dean
Ed Wasserman, experimental psychology professor whose recent book identifies the secrets to innovation
Thursday, February 17, 2022
12:00pm-01:00pm
Wild Bill's (321) North Hall
University of Iowa students:
Learn “How to Library” from a friendly UI librarian!
Dan Gall, the UI Librarian for Social Work & Distance Education, takes time to help you understand the myriad resources (and people) available at the UI to help you find the information you need. From finding the right books and how to check them out, to research concepts, ethics, and citations, Dan is your personal guide to the UI Libraries system.
Open to all students, regardless of major. Sessions meet in Wild Bill’s (321 North Hall) and concurrently via Zoom.
Dan’s presentations take place from noon to 12:30 p.m., with office hours following until 1 p.m.
SESSION 6:
Keeping sources and citations organized to improve your academic writing and stay sane.
Social Work Ph.D. students Kara Carter, Megan Ronnenberg and Morgan Stangl share their methods for organizing the articles, books and other sources they cite – with and without Endnote!
Join Zoom Meeting:
https://uiowa.zoom.us/j/96423320102
Friday, February 18, 2022
12:00pm-01:30pm
Virtual Event
The Big Ten Neuroscience Seminar Series highlights trainees and junior faculty from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in neuroscience. We meet virtually once each month—featuring one Big Ten institution—for presentations and discussion/networking. Seminars are scheduled for afternoons on the third Friday of each month. Zoom link is provided by the host institution. If not added in the event listing, please email iowa-neuroscience-institute@uiowa.edu the week of the seminar to receive the link.
PBS Graduate Research Symposium 2022
TBA
TBA
Thursday, February 24, 2022
04:00pm
Virtual Event
All normal children in normal environments acquire language. However, all normal children in normal bilingual environments do not acquire two languages. Focusing on data from studies of second- generation immigrant children and young adults from Spanish-speaking homes in the U.S., this talk asks why the acquisition of two languages is more difficult than the acquisition of one. The evidence points to multiple ways in which the environmental supports that language acquisition requires are not equally available for both languages in minority-majority language bilingual communities.
Friday, February 25, 2022
09:00am
Virtual Event
All normal children in normal environments acquire language. However, all normal children in normal bilingual environments do not acquire two languages. Focusing on data from studies of second- generation immigrant children and young adults from Spanish-speaking homes in the U.S., this talk asks why the acquisition of two languages is more difficult than the acquisition of one. The evidence points to multiple ways in which the environmental supports that language acquisition requires are not equally available for both languages in minority-majority language bilingual communities.
Friday, March 04, 2022
09:00am
Virtual Event
Come prepared to share ideas about how to make both our science and our scientists better reflect the diversity of people and backgrounds in the world.
We’ll drop into small breakout rooms in five minute increments to share ideas. At the end, we’ll gather to highlight the best ideas.
https://uiowa.zoom.us/j/98229132946
Wednesday, March 09, 2022
Brown Bag (Cognition): Dina Popovkina, University of Washington
11:30am-12:30pm
Virtual Event
Multiple objects limit object recognition
Abstract: Our daily environment contains many diverse objects, and hidden image games such as "Where's Waldo?" illustrate the challenge of recognizing multiple simultaneously viewed objects. In this talk, I assess how multiple objects limit recognition performance, characterize whether the limiting processes are serial, and propose how such processes might be reflected in underlying brain activity. In the first part of the talk, I present evidence that judgments of multiple objects substantially limit recognition. These findings help establish which aspects of object-based tasks contribute to the observed performance limits. Interestingly, there are conditions in which the limits are consistent with serial processes; that is, processing is limited to only one object at a time. In the last part of the talk, I propose a study pursuing how brain activity in regions subserving visual object recognition might correlate with serial processing.
Thursday, March 10, 2022
12:00pm-01:00pm
Wild Bill's (321) North Hall
University of Iowa students:
Learn “How to Library” from a friendly UI librarian!
Dan Gall, the UI Librarian for Social Work & Distance Education, takes time to help you understand the myriad resources (and people) available at the UI to help you find the information you need. From finding the right books and how to check them out, to research concepts, ethics, and citations, Dan is your personal guide to the UI Libraries system.
Open to all students, regardless of major. Sessions meet in Wild Bill’s (321 North Hall) and concurrently via Zoom.
Dan’s presentations take place from noon to 12:30 p.m., with office hours following until 1 p.m.
SESSION 6:
Keeping sources and citations organized to improve your academic writing and stay sane.
Social Work Ph.D. students Kara Carter, Megan Ronnenberg and Morgan Stangl share their methods for organizing the articles, books and other sources they cite – with and without Endnote!
Join Zoom Meeting:
https://uiowa.zoom.us/j/96423320102
Friday, March 18, 2022
12:00pm-01:30pm
Virtual Event
The Big Ten Neuroscience Seminar Series highlights trainees and junior faculty from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in neuroscience. We meet virtually once each month—featuring one Big Ten institution—for presentations and discussion/networking. Seminars are scheduled for afternoons on the third Friday of each month. Zoom link is provided by the host institution. If not added in the event listing, please email iowa-neuroscience-institute@uiowa.edu the week of the seminar to receive the link.
Wednesday, March 23, 2022
12:30pm-01:30pm
Virtual Event
Psychological and Brain Sciences BCN Area Brown Bag
Dr. Anastasia Kiyonaga, Assistant Professor, Department of Cognitive Science, University of California San Diego
(Zoom link will be provided.)
Friday, March 25, 2022
03:30pm
B70 Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
Psychological and Brain Sciences Colloquium
Stephen Maren, University Distinguished Professor and Charles H. Gregory '64 Chair in Liberal Arts, Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Texas A&M University
"Covert Capture and Attenuation of Hippocampus-Dependent Fear Memory"
Thursday, March 31, 2022
04:00pm-05:00pm
106 Gilmore Hall
What algorithms power animal intelligence? How can we reproduce these algorithms in machines? To address these questions, I developed an interdisciplinary approach at the intersection of psychology, artificial intelligence, and video games. Using a video game engine, we raise newborn animals and ‘newborn’ artificial agents in the same virtual worlds, then test their behavior with the same tasks. Since the animals and agents are tested in the same video game environments, we can directly compare the learning abilities of brains and machines. In this talk, I will describe how my lab is using this approach to reverse engineer object perception and collective behavior. By modeling animals as “runnable” artificial agents raised in realistic virtual worlds, we can build engineering-level models of the brain’s learning mechanisms, capturing enough causal structure in the mechanisms to reproduce them in machines. These learning algorithms are an untapped goldmine for next-generation artificial intelligence systems and can serve as rigorous computational models for studying the origins and computational foundations of intelligence.
Friday, April 01, 2022
09:00am-10:30am
318 Phillips Hall
What algorithms power animal intelligence? How can we reproduce these algorithms in machines? To address these questions, I developed an interdisciplinary approach at the intersection of psychology, artificial intelligence, and video games. Using a video game engine, we raise newborn animals and ‘newborn’ artificial agents in the same virtual worlds, then test their behavior with the same tasks. Since the animals and agents are tested in the same video game environments, we can directly compare the learning abilities of brains and machines. In this talk, I will describe how my lab is using this approach to reverse engineer object perception and collective behavior. By modeling animals as “runnable” artificial agents raised in realistic virtual worlds, we can build engineering-level models of the brain’s learning mechanisms, capturing enough causal structure in the mechanisms to reproduce them in machines. These learning algorithms are an untapped goldmine for next-generation artificial intelligence systems and can serve as rigorous computational models for studying the origins and computational foundations of intelligence.
Friday, April 15, 2022
12:00pm-01:30pm
Virtual Event
The Big Ten Neuroscience Seminar Series highlights trainees and junior faculty from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in neuroscience. We meet virtually once each month—featuring one Big Ten institution—for presentations and discussion/networking. Seminars are scheduled for afternoons on the third Friday of each month. Zoom link is provided by the host institution. If not added in the event listing, please email iowa-neuroscience-institute@uiowa.edu the week of the seminar to receive the link.
Thursday, April 21, 2022
12:00pm-01:00pm
Wild Bill's (321) North Hall
University of Iowa students:
Learn “How to Library” from a friendly UI librarian!
Dan Gall, the UI Librarian for Social Work & Distance Education, takes time to help you understand the myriad resources (and people) available at the UI to help you find the information you need. From finding the right books and how to check them out, to research concepts, ethics, and citations, Dan is your personal guide to the UI Libraries system.
Open to all students, regardless of major. Sessions meet in Wild Bill’s (321 North Hall) and concurrently via Zoom.
Dan’s presentations take place from noon to 12:30 p.m., with office hours following until 1 p.m.
SESSION 6:
Keeping sources and citations organized to improve your academic writing and stay sane.
Social Work Ph.D. students Kara Carter, Megan Ronnenberg and Morgan Stangl share their methods for organizing the articles, books and other sources they cite – with and without Endnote!
Join Zoom Meeting:
https://uiowa.zoom.us/j/96423320102
Friday, April 22, 2022
03:30pm
B70 Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
Psychological and Brain Sciences Spence Lecture
Regina M. Carelli, Stephen B. Baxter Distinguished Professor and Associate Chair, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina
The Spence Lecture Series is sponsored by the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences in honor of the late Professor Kenneth W. Spence, chair of the department from 1942-1964.
Wednesday, April 27, 2022
Cancelled
08:30am-09:30am
Virtual Event
Title TBD
Michael Burton, PhD
Assistant Professor, Behavioral and Brain Sciences
University of Texas-Dallas
Thursday, April 28, 2022
03:30pm-05:00pm
106 Gilmore Hall
The DeLTA Center and Matthew Lira (Educational Psychology and Learning Sciences) invite you to join us for an embodied programming experience where faculty and students collaborate to build a simple robot and discuss the classic problem of embodiment in cognitive science. The robot will be built with magnetic blocks called Cubelets—these blocks are pre-programed to either Sense, Think, or Act (see the video “Meet Cubelets”). So, they are modular, but when we combine them in unique configurations they can display increasing complexity.
Each of 4 teams will receive their own 6 blocks plus 1 battery. Our builds will be guided by the question: “What makes the robot’s cognition (or computation if you prefer) embodied or not compared to that of a human (or non-human organism if you prefer)?”
The Cubelets are intended to be a way to ground (eh hem) our conversation—one that connects back to the Turing test and the innovative Spivey test! In sum, if the Turing test asked an AI system to fool a human that it too was human, then the Spivey test asks a human to fool another human that they are an AI system! So, in the spirit of this intellectual debate, we want to discuss what criteria, if any, would allow us humans to grant embodiment to robots?
Readings (optional … for context)
Ziemke, T. (2001, September). Are robots embodied. In First international workshop on epigenetic robotics Modeling Cognitive Development in Robotic Systems (Vol. 85, pp. 701-710).
Spivey, M.J. (2000) Turning the tables on the Turing test: The Spivey test. Connection Science, 12:1, 91-94, DOI: 10.1080/095400900116212
Friday, May 06, 2022
Cancelled
03:30pm
B70 Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
Psychological and Brain Sciences Colloquium
Elizabeth Brannon, Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Term Chair in the Natural Sciences, Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania
[Dr. Brannon's colloquium has been moved to the Fall Semester.]
Tuesday, May 17, 2022
PBS Departmental Picnic (Rain date: Thursday May 19)
12:00pm-01:00pm
Green space behind PBSB, Iowa City, IA 52242
Friday, May 20, 2022
12:00pm-01:30pm
Virtual Event
The Big Ten Neuroscience Seminar Series highlights trainees and junior faculty from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in neuroscience. We meet virtually once each month—featuring one Big Ten institution—for presentations and discussion/networking. Seminars are scheduled for afternoons on the third Friday of each month. Zoom link is provided by the host institution. If not added in the event listing, please email iowa-neuroscience-institute@uiowa.edu the week of the seminar to receive the link.
Friday, June 17, 2022
12:00pm-01:30pm
Virtual Event
The Big Ten Neuroscience Seminar Series highlights trainees and junior faculty from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in neuroscience. We meet virtually once each month—featuring one Big Ten institution—for presentations and discussion/networking. Seminars are scheduled for afternoons on the third Friday of each month. Zoom link is provided by the host institution. If not added in the event listing, please email iowa-neuroscience-institute@uiowa.edu the week of the seminar to receive the link.
Wednesday, September 07, 2022
Brown Bag (BCN): Data Blitz
12:30pm-01:30pm
B70 Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
Friday, September 09, 2022
09:00am
B70 Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
As developmental science seeks greater cultural sensitivity in measures, theories, findings, and so on, it is easy to lose sight of general learning principles that cut across all communities of developing children. If everything boils down to relativism, we can winnow ideas and findings down to the level of individuals in a way that says nothing about how development works. However, if we ignore cultural specificity and context, we are left with perhaps overly global and broad generalizations that may not apply. This roundtable discussion will reflect on these issues that cut across a range of studies to address several broad issues. First, much thinking in culturally relative processes relies on the assumption of mean differences in a phenomenon across populations or communities. However, a difference in the mean of two cultural communities does not mean the associations with other variables are any different (or processes of learning). Averages are not the same as association. Second, the quest for differences means we often rely on p values <.05, without realizing the null has important insights (e.g., the fact that processes and mechanisms may cut across communities and therefore do not differ statistically.) Finally, a study is defined as "cultural" ONLY if it is conducted in a non-white, non-English speaking, non-middle class group. We all do work on culture. every day. And yet, only certain studies receive badges of cultural honor. This roundtable will engage in an open discussion around all these issues to explore how to make developmental science both more culturally sensitive and more rigorous.
03:30pm
B70 Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
Psychological and Brain Sciences Spiker Memorial Lecture
Catherine Tamis-LeMonda, Professor of Applied Psychology, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, New York University
The Mountain Stream of Learning and Development in Context
Abstract: Researchers of infant development are committed to advancing science on processes of early learning. But they also confront unique challenges in identifying valid approaches for studying babies—the unruly participants who do whatever they wish, rather than what researchers ask. Notably, how researchers do science (approach) depends on how they think about learning (theoretical orientation). And so, I begin by presenting the developmental systems theory that guides my work: Learning is an active, dynamic, and socially embedded process. I then raise a few questions that are core to advances in developmental science: (1) How do we generate our research questions? (2) Where do we conduct our studies? (3) How do we conceptualize behavior? (4) How can we best study the whole child? (5) And how can researchers share science to accelerate discovery about learning and development? In addressing these questions, I apply a mountain stream metaphor to illustrate key findings from studies of infant play and language interactions in social and cultural contexts. As infants navigate the spaces, places, and activities of everyday life, they generate rich perceptual and social inputs that are vital to learning. In turn, each new skill opens up new opportunities: Behaviors in the moment affect behaviors in other domains, elicit timely, multimodal inputs from caregivers, and cascade to learning. I close by encouraging researchers to embrace discovery science; observe learning in ecologically valid settings; flip the narrative from that of an immature child moving toward a mature end state to that of an exuberant, adaptive child; engage in collaborative research; and adopt full transparency at all stages of research.
Wednesday, September 14, 2022
Brown Bag (Cognition): Data Blitz - Part 1
12:30pm-01:30pm
B70 Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
Friday, September 16, 2022
03:30pm
B70 Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
Psychological and Brain Sciences Colloquium
Ryan LaLumiere, Associate Professor, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences
Multiple Memory Systems: Historical Tour to Current Work in the Laboratory
The nature of “memory” has been contemplated for millennia by those interested in the human mind, including ancient philosophers who suggested the existence of different aspects of memory. Over the centuries, the idea of different types of memories persisted and eventually led to early debates in the burgeoning field of psychology as to the nature of learning. In the mid-20th century, new findings provided concrete neurobiological evidence not only of multiple types of memories but also of specific and dissociable brain systems mediating them. Such work has continued to this day, leading to a rich field of research investigating multiple memory systems. In fact, these concepts have been foundational for our own ongoing studies where we have focused on how the amygdala modulates many different kinds of memories and the particular systems mediating these influences. To accomplish this, we have used a variety of behavioral procedures combined with brain-based manipulations to gain insight into the multiple components and types of memories. Our findings point to critical pathways that are dissociably involved in influencing the consolidation of different kinds of information.
Wednesday, September 21, 2022
Brown Bag (BCN): Ryan Glanz
12:30pm-01:30pm
B70 Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
Thursday, September 22, 2022
12:00am-12:00am
Graduate Iowa City
This workshop is free for all UI faculty, staff, students and will feature both UI and invited guest speakers. Agenda will be posted when finalized: https://iniworkshop.conference.uiowa.edu/general-information
12:30pm
B70 Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
Psychological and Brain Sciences Colloquium
Emily Myers, Professor, Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, University of Connecticut
Varieties of Language Experience
Canonical views of language development have assumed that “typical” learners arrive at adulthood with essentially the same shared language architecture for a given language. Yet since the beginning of psycholinguistic research, it has been obvious that adult language users show substantial variability in aspects of language behavior, for instance in non-native sound learning, perception of speech in noise, and in vocal imitation. The task of separating measurement noise from meaningful variation in language skills can be daunting, but an ideal model of the language would capture the individual differences in underlying domain-general skills and traits (perception, motor ability, memory), as well as potentially language-specific processing strategies. In this talk, I will discuss some of the methodological challenges of doing individual differences work in language, and report on a collection of studies that demonstrate the diversity of language abilities and processing strategies, and will attempt to account for this variation by appealing to differences in some component skills supporting language (some of which can be traced to individual differences in brain structure.) This work points to the need for models of language production and comprehension that can capture the varieties of language experience and use, with the goal of better understanding of the spectrum of language abilities.
Friday, September 23, 2022
09:00am
B70 Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
Dr. Emily Myers, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Services
Department of Psychological Services
University of Connecticut
Saturday, September 24, 2022
Friday, September 30, 2022
PBS Chair's Annual State of the Department Address 2022
03:30pm-04:30pm
B70 Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
PBS Annual Welcome Reception 2022
05:30pm-07:30pm
Big Grove Brewery and Taproom, 1225 S Gilbert St, Iowa City, IA 52240
Friday, October 14, 2022
09:00am
2520D University Capitol Centre
Abstract:
Open science practices, such as pre-registration and data sharing, increase transparency and may improve the rigor and replicability of developmental science. However, developmental science faces unique challenges and considerations, particularly for longitudinal studies, or studies using special populations. This may require a new model or new guidelines. Isaac Petersen, Bob McMurray and Keith Apfelbaum will lead a discussion about the challenges and pitfalls faced by developmental scientists. The discussion starts from a new model they have developed for their laboratories. This model uses a serial approach that separates registration and data sharing for difference pieces of the project, and allows both registration and data sharing to be conducted at multiple points before, during and after the project is complete. The hope is that this broader discussion will encourage creative thinking about how to preserve and enhance the best open science tools, while supporting the unique needs of longitudinal research.
Tuesday, October 18, 2022
05:30pm-06:30pm
401 Hardin Library for Health Sciences
This talk begins with a brief survey of the history of scientific discourse on mental health, then focuses on the intellectual and professional dilemma faced by early modern physicians: either repeat Greek psychology and suppress one’s own originality or challenge the giants of Greek medicine along with their scientific and cultural weight. The lecture tells the story of how some authors in the John Martin Rare Book Room collection grappled with the authority of the past against the backdrop of an area of medicine that is of great concern in our own time.
Thursday, October 20, 2022
12:30pm
B70 Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
Psychological and Brain Sciences Colloquium
Luke Hyde, Professor of Psychology, University of Michigan
The Long Reach of Parents and Neighborhoods on Brain and Behavioral Development
This talk will describe two lines of research examining how parents and neighborhood impact development. First, I will describe an ecological neuroscience approach to understanding how poverty “gets under the skin” to impact brain development. Specifically, the talk will describe research linking parenting and neighborhood risk to neural function in emotion and regulatory regions of the brain using representative samples with enrichment for exposure to disadvantage. Second, I will describe the role of parenting in the development of early antisocial behavior, particularly callous-unemotional traits, using genetically informed designs. Collectively these studies highlight how “nature,” “nurture,” and their interaction influence brain and behavioral development from the toddler period into adolescence.
Saturday, October 22, 2022
PBS Diversity Visitor's Weekend 2022
TBA
B70 Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
Thursday, October 27, 2022
01:30pm-02:30pm
101 Spence Labs
Work with code to analyze and manage data?
Want help with your coding?
Wish to learn new computational skills?
Hacky Hour provides a dedicated space and community for individuals to do just that! We are open to all, whether you are a beginner or an expert. All fields and backgrounds are welcome!
Thursday, November 03, 2022
01:30pm-02:30pm
101 Spence Labs
Work with code to analyze and manage data?
Want help with your coding?
Wish to learn new computational skills?
Hacky Hour provides a dedicated space and community for individuals to do just that! We are open to all, whether you are a beginner or an expert. All fields and backgrounds are welcome!
12:30pm
B70 Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
Psychological and Brain Sciences Colloquium
James Cavanagh, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico
Thursday, November 10, 2022
01:30pm-02:30pm
101 Spence Labs
Work with code to analyze and manage data?
Want help with your coding?
Wish to learn new computational skills?
Hacky Hour provides a dedicated space and community for individuals to do just that! We are open to all, whether you are a beginner or an expert. All fields and backgrounds are welcome!
Friday, November 11, 2022
09:00am
2520D University Capitol Centre
Hello everyone. We will be hosting a roundtable discussion with Gerta Bardhoshi from the Scanlan Center for School Mental Health on Friday, Nov. 11. Below you will find information on the center as well as https://scsmh.education.uiowa.edu/about-us/. We hope you will be able to join us to learn more about the Center and the work they are doing.
Our Purpose
The purpose of the Center is to provide social, emotional, behavioral, and psychological services to all of Iowa’s schools, not only to aid in COVID-19 recovery but to build state capacity for immediate and future delivery of mental health supports across the state. The Center will bring together educational partners, policymakers, and mental health professionals to serve as Iowa’s hub for research-to-practice related to mental health.
Thursday, November 17, 2022
12:00pm-01:00pm
Wild Bill's (321) North Hall
University of Iowa students:
Learn “How to Library” from a friendly UI librarian!
Dan Gall, the UI Librarian for Social Work & Distance Education, takes time to help you understand the myriad resources (and people) available at the UI to help you find the information you need. From finding the right books and how to check them out, to research concepts, ethics, and citations, Dan is your personal guide to the UI Libraries system.
Open to all students, regardless of major. Sessions meet in Wild Bill’s (321 North Hall) and concurrently via Zoom.
Dan’s presentations take place from noon to 12:30 p.m., with office hours following until 1 p.m.
SESSION 6:
Keeping sources and citations organized to improve your academic writing and stay sane.
Social Work Ph.D. students Kara Carter, Megan Ronnenberg and Morgan Stangl share their methods for organizing the articles, books and other sources they cite – with and without Endnote!
Join Zoom Meeting:
https://uiowa.zoom.us/j/96423320102
01:30pm-02:30pm
101 Spence Labs
Work with code to analyze and manage data?
Want help with your coding?
Wish to learn new computational skills?
Hacky Hour provides a dedicated space and community for individuals to do just that! We are open to all, whether you are a beginner or an expert. All fields and backgrounds are welcome!
Thursday, November 24, 2022
01:30pm-02:30pm
101 Spence Labs
Work with code to analyze and manage data?
Want help with your coding?
Wish to learn new computational skills?
Hacky Hour provides a dedicated space and community for individuals to do just that! We are open to all, whether you are a beginner or an expert. All fields and backgrounds are welcome!
Thursday, December 01, 2022
01:30pm-02:30pm
101 Spence Labs
Work with code to analyze and manage data?
Want help with your coding?
Wish to learn new computational skills?
Hacky Hour provides a dedicated space and community for individuals to do just that! We are open to all, whether you are a beginner or an expert. All fields and backgrounds are welcome!
Friday, December 02, 2022
03:30pm
B70 Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
Psychological and Brain Sciences Colloquium
Elizabeth Brannon, Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Term Chair in the Natural Sciences, Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania
Thursday, December 08, 2022
01:30pm-02:30pm
101 Spence Labs
Work with code to analyze and manage data?
Want help with your coding?
Wish to learn new computational skills?
Hacky Hour provides a dedicated space and community for individuals to do just that! We are open to all, whether you are a beginner or an expert. All fields and backgrounds are welcome!
Friday, December 09, 2022
Cancelled
03:30pm
B70 Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
Psychological and Brain Sciences Colloquium
Karyn Frick, Distinguished Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Thursday, December 15, 2022
01:30pm-02:30pm
101 Spence Labs
Work with code to analyze and manage data?
Want help with your coding?
Wish to learn new computational skills?
Hacky Hour provides a dedicated space and community for individuals to do just that! We are open to all, whether you are a beginner or an expert. All fields and backgrounds are welcome!
Friday, January 20, 2023
PBS Graduate Research Symposium 2023
TBA
B70 Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
Friday, February 10, 2023
03:30pm
B70 Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
Psychological and Brain Sciences Colloquium
Bruce Cuthbert, Head, Research Domain Criteria Initiative, NIMH
Research Domain Criteria: Toward Objective Measures for Precision Mental Health
Abstract: Mental disorders continue to be regarded as discrete categories that are defined almost exclusively in terms of presenting symptoms and signs. However, the 21st century has seen an increasing consensus that current nosologies hamper research and treatment due to a lack of validity. This has in turn resulted in extensive debate about new ways to conceptualize and study mental illness. The National Institute of Mental Health initiated the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) program in 2009 as a translational project to study psychopathology in terms of impairments in basic functions (such as cognitive control or reward valuation) as examined by multiple types of data. This talk will review the RDoC rationale and its principles, clarify some of the misconceptions, and present data that exemplify RDoC-oriented studies that integrate behavioral, biological, and self-report measures. New directions for the future will include computational analyses that involve both theory-driven studies of behavioral tasks and machine-learning algorithms for precision clinical phenotypes.
Friday, March 24, 2023
03:30pm
B70 Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
Psychological and Brain Sciences Colloquium
Patricia Janak, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University
Friday, April 28, 2023
03:30pm
B70 Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
Psychological and Brain Sciences Spence Lecture
A. David Redish, Distinguished McKnight University Professor, Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota
The Neurophysiology of Precommitment to Avoid Sunk Costs: Evidence from Mice, Rats, and Humans
Abstract: People often make decisions based on the time and costs they have already spent rather than the time and costs they expect to have to spend. With a carefully designed task, we've found that mice and rats do as well. Bringing together studies from mice, rats, and humans on a series of parallel economic foraging tasks, we have elucidated neurophysiological mechanisms that underlie how mice, rats, and humans all learn to precommit to choices so as to avoid situations where those sunk costs might disrupt their decision-making. Along the way, we'll look at the neurophysiology that underlies prospection, deliberation, and regret, and why it takes multiple decision-making algorithms to explain behavior.
The Spence Lecture Series is sponsored by the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences in honor of the late Professor Kenneth W. Spence, chair of the department from 1942-1964.
Friday, May 05, 2023
03:00pm-04:30pm
Stanley Museum of Art
What is forgotten? What is remembered? How reliable are our recollections? What ethical questions could or should guide how we engage with others’ memories? Join us at the Stanley Museum of Art as six scholar-artists reflect on memory from the perspective of various disciplines.
This is the second gathering in the UI's new Wide Lens series, in which researchers, scholars, and artists from across the university briefly present their work on a shared topic of interest, pecha kucha–style, at the Stanley Museum of Art.
Wide Lens is sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies, the Office of the Vice President for Research, and the Stanley Museum of Art. These events are free and open to all.
Free and open to all; no RSVP necessary.
20 slides per presenter, 20 seconds per slide
Presenters:
Paula Amad, Cinematic Arts, CLAS — The Cloud in the Archive
Isabel Muzzio, Psychological and Brain Sciences, CLAS; and Neuroscience Institute, Carver College of Medicine — Remembering Our Past: Emotions Matter
Mercedes Bern-Klug, Social Work, CLAS — When Memory Fades: Tap into Imagination
Amber Brian, Spanish & Portuguese, CLAS — Memories of the Conquest of Mexico
Marie Kruger, English and GWSS, CLAS — Curating Women's Memories of Apartheid
Cory Gundlach, Stanley Museum of Art — Making Time: A Memory Board from the Congo in Iowa
Moderator: Nandakumar Narayanan, Juanita J. Bartlett Professor in Neurology Research; Associate Professor and Vice Chair for Basic and Translational Research, Neurology; Associate Director, Iowa Neuroscience Institute; Assistant Director, Clinical Neuroscience Training Program; Carver College of Medicine
Tuesday, May 09, 2023
PBS Departmental Picnic 2023
12:00pm-01:00pm
Green space behind PBSB, Iowa City, IA 52242
Friday, September 08, 2023
03:30pm
B70 Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
Psychological and Brain Sciences Spiker Memorial Lecture
Yuko Munakata, Professor, Department of Psychology, Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis
Context Matters: The Case of Developing Inhibitory Control
Abstract: The development of inhibitory control over our thoughts, actions, and emotions is essential in life. Decades of research have illuminated the cognitive and neural processes that lead to remarkably low levels of inhibitory control in children and to increases in inhibitory control with development. However, targeted intervention efforts have shown limited success. I will present an alternative framework that emphasizes the temporal and social context in which inhibitory control emerges. This framework integrates multiple lines of research and provides a novel perspective on why children may struggle with inhibitory control, why childhood inhibitory control predicts life outcomes, and how to effectively support the engagement and development of inhibitory control.
Friday, September 15, 2023
12:00pm-01:30pm
Virtual Event
The Big Ten Neuroscience Seminar Series highlights trainees and junior faculty from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in neuroscience. We meet virtually once each month — featuring one Big Ten institution — for presentations and discussion/networking. Seminars are scheduled for afternoons on the third Friday of each month. Zoom link is provided by the host institution. If not added in the event listing, please email iowa-neuroscience-institute@uiowa.edu the week of the seminar to receive the link.
The September 2023 seminar is hosted by Iowa Neuroscience Institute with speakers:
Georgina Aldridge, MD, PhD, assistant professor of neurology: “Prefrontal cortex in Lewy Body Dementia; mouse models and human disease.”
Bengi Baran, PhD, assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences: “Thalamocortical NREM Sleep Oscillation Deficits in Psychotic Disorders.”
Friday, September 22, 2023
PBS Chair's Annual State of the Department Address 2023
03:30pm-04:30pm
B70 Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
PBS Annual Welcome Reception 2023
05:30pm-07:30pm
Big Grove Brewery and Taproom 1225 S Gilbert St, Iowa City, IA 52240
Friday, September 29, 2023
12:15pm-01:15pm
2117 (Urmila Sahai) Medical Education Research Facility
Carrie Bearden, PhD, will present a lecture on Sept. 29 at 12:15 p.m. Dr. Bearden is a Professor of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences and Department of Psychology in the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.
"PATHWAYS TO PSYCHOSIS IN CLINICAL AND GENETIC HIGH RISK YOUTH"
Co-Sponsored by the Nancy C. Andreasen Lecture in the Department of Psychiatry and the Iowa Neuroscience Institute
The Distinguished Biomedical Scholar Lecture Series features top-tier scientists and physicians performing high-impact research in a variety of areas. Most lectures, with few exceptions, will be held on the third Thursday of each month during the academic year. The seminars will be of broad interest and are open to the public, all University faculty, staff and students. The schedule of current speakers can be found on our website.
Friday, October 20, 2023
12:00pm-01:30pm
Virtual Event
The Big Ten Neuroscience Seminar Series highlights trainees and junior faculty from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in neuroscience. We meet virtually once each month — featuring one Big Ten institution — for presentations and discussion/networking. Seminars are scheduled for afternoons on the third Friday of each month. Zoom link is provided by the host institution. If not added in the event listing, please email iowa-neuroscience-institute@uiowa.edu the week of the seminar to receive the link.
The September 2023 seminar is hosted by Iowa Neuroscience Institute with speakers:
Georgina Aldridge, MD, PhD, assistant professor of neurology: “Prefrontal cortex in Lewy Body Dementia; mouse models and human disease.”
Bengi Baran, PhD, assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences: “Thalamocortical NREM Sleep Oscillation Deficits in Psychotic Disorders.”
03:30pm
B70 Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
Psychological and Brain Sciences Dewey B. and Velma E. Stuit Lecture
Edward A. Wasserman, Stuit Professor of Experimental Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Iowa
The Pigeon as an Associative Machine
Never known for its smarts, the pigeon has proven to be a prodigious classifier of complex visual stimuli. What explains its surprising success? Does it possess elaborate executive functions akin to those deployed by humans? Or does it effectively use an unheralded, but powerful associative learning mechanism to realize its prowess? In a series of experiments, we first show using tightly controlled visual stimuli that pigeons can learn a variety of category structures, some devised to foil the use of advanced cognitive processes. We then contrive a simple associative learning model to see how effectively and similarly the model learns the same tasks given to pigeons. The extremely close fit of the associative model to pigeons’ categorization behavior provides unprecedented support for associative learning as a viable mechanism for mastering complex category structures and for the pigeon’s using this mechanism to adapt to a rich and varied visual world.
Friday, November 03, 2023
03:30pm
B70 Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
Psychological and Brain Sciences Colloquium
Duane Watson, Professor of Psychology and Human Development, Frank W. Mayborn Chair in Cognitive Science, Vanderbilt University
Language Experience Drives Language Understanding
The language environment is critical for language learning and vocabulary growth in children and in predicting the difficulty of processing words and sentences in adults. However, psycholinguists have traditionally measured language experience by aggregating over populations. In this talk, I will share experimental evidence suggesting that an individual’s specific experience with language is linked to their specific preferences for different constructions. By using NLP tools to analyze the linguistic properties of participants’ favorite websites, we compare effects of internet reading habits to effects of cognitive factors such as working memory and inhibitory control on reading difficulty. Consistent with statistical models of language comprehension, we find that prior experience with language is an important predictor of language comprehension.
Friday, November 17, 2023
12:00pm-01:30pm
Virtual Event
The Big Ten Neuroscience Seminar Series highlights trainees and junior faculty from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in neuroscience. We meet virtually once each month — featuring one Big Ten institution — for presentations and discussion/networking. Seminars are scheduled for afternoons on the third Friday of each month. Zoom link is provided by the host institution. If not added in the event listing, please email iowa-neuroscience-institute@uiowa.edu the week of the seminar to receive the link.
The September 2023 seminar is hosted by Iowa Neuroscience Institute with speakers:
Georgina Aldridge, MD, PhD, assistant professor of neurology: “Prefrontal cortex in Lewy Body Dementia; mouse models and human disease.”
Bengi Baran, PhD, assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences: “Thalamocortical NREM Sleep Oscillation Deficits in Psychotic Disorders.”
Friday, December 01, 2023
Cancelled
03:30pm
B70 Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
Psychological and Brain Sciences Graduate Student Colloquium
Nick Turk-Browne, Professor, Department of Psychology, Yale University
Friday, December 15, 2023
12:00pm-01:30pm
Virtual Event
The Big Ten Neuroscience Seminar Series highlights trainees and junior faculty from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in neuroscience. We meet virtually once each month — featuring one Big Ten institution — for presentations and discussion/networking. Seminars are scheduled for afternoons on the third Friday of each month. Zoom link is provided by the host institution. If not added in the event listing, please email iowa-neuroscience-institute@uiowa.edu the week of the seminar to receive the link.
The September 2023 seminar is hosted by Iowa Neuroscience Institute with speakers:
Georgina Aldridge, MD, PhD, assistant professor of neurology: “Prefrontal cortex in Lewy Body Dementia; mouse models and human disease.”
Bengi Baran, PhD, assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences: “Thalamocortical NREM Sleep Oscillation Deficits in Psychotic Disorders.”
Friday, January 19, 2024
12:00pm-01:30pm
Virtual Event
The Big Ten Neuroscience Seminar Series highlights trainees and junior faculty from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in neuroscience. We meet virtually once each month — featuring one Big Ten institution — for presentations and discussion/networking. Seminars are scheduled for afternoons on the third Friday of each month. Zoom link is provided by the host institution. If not added in the event listing, please email iowa-neuroscience-institute@uiowa.edu the week of the seminar to receive the link.
The September 2023 seminar is hosted by Iowa Neuroscience Institute with speakers:
Georgina Aldridge, MD, PhD, assistant professor of neurology: “Prefrontal cortex in Lewy Body Dementia; mouse models and human disease.”
Bengi Baran, PhD, assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences: “Thalamocortical NREM Sleep Oscillation Deficits in Psychotic Disorders.”
Friday, February 16, 2024
12:00pm-01:30pm
Virtual Event
The Big Ten Neuroscience Seminar Series highlights trainees and junior faculty from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in neuroscience. We meet virtually once each month — featuring one Big Ten institution — for presentations and discussion/networking. Seminars are scheduled for afternoons on the third Friday of each month. Zoom link is provided by the host institution. If not added in the event listing, please email iowa-neuroscience-institute@uiowa.edu the week of the seminar to receive the link.
The September 2023 seminar is hosted by Iowa Neuroscience Institute with speakers:
Georgina Aldridge, MD, PhD, assistant professor of neurology: “Prefrontal cortex in Lewy Body Dementia; mouse models and human disease.”
Bengi Baran, PhD, assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences: “Thalamocortical NREM Sleep Oscillation Deficits in Psychotic Disorders.”
Friday, March 15, 2024
12:00pm-01:30pm
Virtual Event
The Big Ten Neuroscience Seminar Series highlights trainees and junior faculty from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in neuroscience. We meet virtually once each month — featuring one Big Ten institution — for presentations and discussion/networking. Seminars are scheduled for afternoons on the third Friday of each month. Zoom link is provided by the host institution. If not added in the event listing, please email iowa-neuroscience-institute@uiowa.edu the week of the seminar to receive the link.
The September 2023 seminar is hosted by Iowa Neuroscience Institute with speakers:
Georgina Aldridge, MD, PhD, assistant professor of neurology: “Prefrontal cortex in Lewy Body Dementia; mouse models and human disease.”
Bengi Baran, PhD, assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences: “Thalamocortical NREM Sleep Oscillation Deficits in Psychotic Disorders.”
Friday, March 29, 2024
03:30pm
B70 Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
Psychological and Brain Sciences Colloquium
Paul Frankland, Professor, Departments of Psychology and Physiology and Institute of Medical Science and Senior Scientist, Program in Neurosciences & Mental Health, Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, University of Toronto
The Ontogeny of Hippocampus-dependent Memory
Memories for events (i.e., episodic memories) formed in early development differ from those in adulthood in at least two regards. First, these memories tend to be rapidly forgotten (i.e., infantile amnesia). Second, they tend to be less precise than those formed in adulthood (i.e., infantile generalization). My talk will focus on the neurobiological mechanisms that account for these different operating characteristics of episodic memory in the developing brain. With respect to infantile amnesia, our studies have shown that maturation of hippocampal and cortical circuits is necessary for the formation of enduring event memories. With respect to infantile generalization, our studies reveal that maturation of inhibitory microcircuits in the hippocampus are necessary for the formation of adult-like, precise memories for events.
Friday, April 12, 2024
02:30pm-05:30pm
101 BBE, Kollros Auditorium Biology Building East
Every year to mark Charles Darwin’s birthday, Iowa City Darwin Day organizes a two-day celebration of science designed to promote scientific literacy and increase public awareness of the contributions of science to society. The featured speakers for the 2024 events on April 12 and 13 are Joseph Graves Jr. and Harmit Malik. All talks are free and open to all.
Joseph Graves Jr. is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. Dr. Graves’ research focuses on the evolution of adaptation and evolutionary theories of aging. He has risen to international prominence as the author of two books that address myths of race in American society, The Emperor’s New Clothes: Biological Theories of Race at the Millennium and The Race Myth: Why We Pretend That Race Exists in America. Dr. Graves will give a seminar talk on Friday, April 12, called “Race, Health, and the Built Microbiome.” On Saturday, April 13, he will give a public talk based on his most recent book, A Voice in the Wilderness: A Pioneering Biologist Discusses How Evolution Can Help Us Solve Some of Our Biggest Problems.
Harmit Malik is a member of the USA National Academy of Sciences and a Howard Hughes Medical Investigator who is well known as a leader in evolutionary biology. His research focuses on genetic conflict and has direct implications for understanding human disease. Dr. Malik will give two talks, a seminar presentation titled “Rules of Engagement: Molecular Arms Races Between Primate and Viral Genomes" on Friday, April 12, and a talk for the public, “Paleovirology: Ghosts and Gifts of Ancient Viruses,” on Saturday, April 13.
Heather Sander is Associate Professor in the Department of Geographical and Sustainability Sciences at the University of Iowa. Her research combines field work, GIS, and ecological modeling to explore questions related to urban ecosystems. It is highly interdisciplinary, integrating the natural and social sciences to understand human-environment interactions with a particular focus on the utilization of spatial models and analysis techniques to better understand the relationships between urban human well-being, biodiversity, ecosystem structure and function, and land use. She will give a talk on Saturday called "Getting Wild In the Cities: Cities for Biodiversity and Human Well-Being."
Saturday, April 13, 2024
10:00am-12:30pm
100 Phillips Hall
Every year to mark Charles Darwin’s birthday, Iowa City Darwin Day organizes a two-day celebration of science designed to promote scientific literacy and increase public awareness of the contributions of science to society. The featured speakers for the 2024 events on April 12 and 13 are Joseph Graves Jr., Harmit Malik and Heather Sander. All talks are free and open to all.
Joseph Graves Jr. is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. Dr. Graves’ research focuses on the evolution of adaptation and evolutionary theories of aging. He has risen to international prominence as the author of two books that address myths of race in American society, The Emperor’s New Clothes: Biological Theories of Race at the Millennium, and The Race Myth: Why We Pretend That Race Exists in America. Dr. Graves will give a seminar talk on Friday, April 12, called “Race, Health, and the Built Microbiome.” On Saturday, April 13, he will give a public talk based on his most recent book, "A Voice in the Wilderness: A Pioneering Biologist Discusses How Evolution Can Help Us Solve Some of Our Biggest Problems."
Harmit Malik is a member of the USA National Academy of Sciences and a Howard Hughes Medical Investigator who is well known as a leader in evolutionary biology. His research focuses on genetic conflict and has direct implications for understanding human disease. Dr. Malik will give two talks, a seminar presentation titled “Rules of Engagement: Molecular Arms Races Between Primate and Viral Genomes" on Friday, April 12, and a talk for the public, “Paleovirology: Ghosts and Gifts of Ancient Viruses,” on Saturday, April 13.
Heather Sander is Associate Professor in the Department of Geographical and Sustainability Sciences at the University of Iowa. Her research combines field work, GIS, and ecological modeling to explore questions related to urban ecosystems. It is highly interdisciplinary, integrating the natural and social sciences to understand human-environment interactions with a particular focus on the utilization of spatial models and analysis techniques to better understand the relationships between urban human well-being, biodiversity, ecosystem structure and function, and land use. She will give a talk on Saturday called "Getting Wild In the Cities: Cities for Biodiversity and Human Well-Being."
Friday, April 19, 2024
12:00pm-01:30pm
Virtual Event
The Big Ten Neuroscience Seminar Series highlights trainees and junior faculty from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in neuroscience. We meet virtually once each month — featuring one Big Ten institution — for presentations and discussion/networking. Seminars are scheduled for afternoons on the third Friday of each month. Zoom link is provided by the host institution. If not added in the event listing, please email iowa-neuroscience-institute@uiowa.edu the week of the seminar to receive the link.
The September 2023 seminar is hosted by Iowa Neuroscience Institute with speakers:
Georgina Aldridge, MD, PhD, assistant professor of neurology: “Prefrontal cortex in Lewy Body Dementia; mouse models and human disease.”
Bengi Baran, PhD, assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences: “Thalamocortical NREM Sleep Oscillation Deficits in Psychotic Disorders.”
03:30pm
B70 Psychological and Brain Sciences Building
Psychological and Brain Sciences Colloquium
Mark D'Esposito, Professor, Distinguished Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology, University of California, Berkeley
The Neural Architecture of Cognitive Control: From Bench to Bedside
A fundamental question in cognitive neuroscience is how we can flexibly guide our behavior. Cognitive control involves the interplay between top-down and bottom-up processes. Bottom-up processes are responsible for guiding automatic behavior and are influenced by sensory input, whereas top-down processes are shaped by internal states like knowledge from previous experiences, intentions, and goals. In this talk, I will share a series of human studies that utilize diverse approaches to explore the neural mechanisms responsible for cognitive control. Furthermore, I will discuss potential strategies for remediating cognitive control deficits that are observed in a wide range of clinical conditions.
Friday, May 17, 2024
12:00pm-01:30pm
Virtual Event
The Big Ten Neuroscience Seminar Series highlights trainees and junior faculty from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in neuroscience. We meet virtually once each month — featuring one Big Ten institution — for presentations and discussion/networking. Seminars are scheduled for afternoons on the third Friday of each month. Zoom link is provided by the host institution. If not added in the event listing, please email iowa-neuroscience-institute@uiowa.edu the week of the seminar to receive the link.
The September 2023 seminar is hosted by Iowa Neuroscience Institute with speakers:
Georgina Aldridge, MD, PhD, assistant professor of neurology: “Prefrontal cortex in Lewy Body Dementia; mouse models and human disease.”
Bengi Baran, PhD, assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences: “Thalamocortical NREM Sleep Oscillation Deficits in Psychotic Disorders.”
Friday, June 21, 2024
12:00pm-01:30pm
Virtual Event
The Big Ten Neuroscience Seminar Series highlights trainees and junior faculty from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in neuroscience. We meet virtually once each month — featuring one Big Ten institution — for presentations and discussion/networking. Seminars are scheduled for afternoons on the third Friday of each month. Zoom link is provided by the host institution. If not added in the event listing, please email iowa-neuroscience-institute@uiowa.edu the week of the seminar to receive the link.
The September 2023 seminar is hosted by Iowa Neuroscience Institute with speakers:
Georgina Aldridge, MD, PhD, assistant professor of neurology: “Prefrontal cortex in Lewy Body Dementia; mouse models and human disease.”
Bengi Baran, PhD, assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences: “Thalamocortical NREM Sleep Oscillation Deficits in Psychotic Disorders.”