Psychoblog

Dear all,

Prof. Dr. Jennifer Nagel (University of Toronto) will give a virtual talk at the CogSci Colloquium on Thursday, June 23rd, at 14:00 (CEST).

Title: Mindreading as a problem and as a solution

Abstract: Research on mindreading often presents the mental states of others as a problem with potentially enormous computational complexity: what a target agent has in mind is quite possibly at odds with reality, and signalled imperfectly by subtle outward cues. Other agents can seem like particularly difficult patches of the world, demanding the special forces of mindreading on top of the intuitive physics we apply to nature more broadly. But other agents do not always make things harder for us: they often know more than we do, and can serve as concentrated sources of information about reality, both animate and inanimate. On the positive side, mindreading serves the vital function of enabling us to learn selectively from more knowledgeable social partners. Drawing on recent work in conversation analysis, this talk looks at how we can tell when others know more than we do, and why knowledge is generally easier to recognize than true belief.

Prof. Nagel agreed to have few single/small-group meetings after her talk. If you are interested in meeting with her to discuss your own or her research, please register by June 20 by sending an e-mail to Lydia Schidelko (lydiapaulin.schidelko@uni-goettingen.de).

The talk will be held online, via Zoom:
https://uni-goettingen.zoom.us/j/64317217274?pwd=UEZPOTROMHhwbkFRcllpTUpXalV4Zz09
Meeting ID: 643 1721 7274
Passcode: 739614

Best wishes,
Feride