Cog Sci Speaker Series: Being alive: Agency, biology, and core knowledge
Speaker: Lilia Rissman
Title: Being alive: Agency, biology, and core knowledge
Abstract: What are the building blocks of human cognition? Drawing on evidence from crosslinguistic comparisons and child homesign, I will argue that the concept of agency (individuals acting to achieve their goals) is universal and may be part of innate core knowledge. I will then show that dimensions of agency are part of essential biological notions such as being alive. Although agency and biology have been argued to be part of distinct cognitive modules, I will discuss the possibility that they are tightly integrated in humans’ foundational understanding of the natural world.
Bio: Lilia Rissman is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at RIT and is the director of the Meaning, Language, and Cognition Lab. She investigates how cross-linguistic diversity reflects cultural and cognitive diversity, and how, by contrast, people conceptualize and communicate about the world in similar ways despite their linguistic differences. Her research is broadly interdisciplinary and collaborative, integrating cognitive psychology, psycholinguistics, theoretical semantics, child development, and language evolution.
Event Snapshot
When and Where
Who
Open to the Public
| Cost | FREE |
Interpreter Requested?
Yes