Authors, Titles, Abstracts, Presentations
IMPORTANT:
The ASIC speakers and attendees, whether world famous scientists or graduate students, expect to hear, and are used to hearing state-of-the-art leading-edge research. However: ASIC is an interdisciplinary conference and always has a diverse audience, Thus DO NOT give a talk aimed at your co-authors, laboratory colleagues, or even experts in your research domain: GIVE A TALK ACCESSIBLE TO AND UNDERSTANDABLE BY THE DIVERSE ASIC ATTENDEES.
Please email kmanalo@iu.edu if you need to make edits to your submission.
List of Submissions
| Speaker | Title | Abstract | Author(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
Bruno Nicenboim Department of Cognitive Science & Artificial Intelligence, Tilburg University |
Reading as a continuous flow of information | Traditional models of reading often assume a series of discrete stages in which each level of representation (e.g., orthography, lexical access) is processed separately. Because reading times are too short to accommodate fully serial processing, existing models typically leverage parafoveal preview—partial processing of upcoming words before direct fixation—and posit that some stages operate in parallel (as in E-Z Reader and SWIFT). However, these models focus largely on eye-movement control and struggle to incorporate stages that deal with the higher-order processes supporting comprehension. I propose the CoFI (Continuous Flow of Information) Reader, which replaces strictly sequential stages with a dynamic system of concurrent processing to explain how humans rapidly comprehend text. To demonstrate its ability to capture reading behavior, I implement CoFI Reader as a hierarchical Bayesian model and fit it to self-paced reading data. In this modeling framework, partially completed outputs from lower-level processes continuously feed into higher-level representations, while the final layer inhibits a stochastic timer. Once the timer threshold is reached, the reader is ready to read the next word. Crucially, earlier words continue to influence ongoing linguistic processing even after the reader has moved on. Although the experimental paradigm that is used as reading data precludes parafoveal preview, CoFI Reader successfully replicates both the short latencies and the systematic spillover effects observed in empirical studies—findings that require parafoveal preview. This talk will describe key aspects of the model’s architecture and parameterization, highlight its empirical fit to real-world data, and discuss the broader implications for theories of reading. | Bruno Nicenboim Department of Cognitive Science & Artificial Intelligence, Tilburg University |
Mathieu Servant Université Marie et Louis Pasteur (France) |
Deciding with muscles | Goal-directed behavior requires a translation of our choices into actions through muscle contractions. Research in cognitive psychology and neuroscience has heavily focused on the decision process during the past sixty years, but the articulation between decision and motor systems remains poorly understood. Progressing on this issue is important for several reasons. From the perspective of decision sciences, it is unclear if the motor system simply executes our choices or actively contributes to deliberation. From the perspective of motor sciences, understanding movements requires an understanding of neural inputs to muscles and upstream processes that determine them. Finally, several psychiatric and neurological disorders appear to affect both decision and motor systems, as suggested by apathy and impulse control disorders, psychomotor retardation symptoms, and paradoxical movements, among others. A precise understanding of these alterations and the development of efficient therapeutic strategies requires an integrated theory of decision and motor processes. In the first part of this talk, I will show that the electrical activity of muscles involved in the response during choice laboratory tasks is strikingly consistent with the process of evidence accumulation assumed by sequential sampling decision models. I will then introduce a theoretical framework linking decision and motor processes, the gated cascade diffusion model, which provides a good quantitative account of both behavioral and muscular data. | Mathieu Servant Université Marie et Louis Pasteur (France)Nathan J. Evans University of Liverpool (England)Gordon D. Logan Vanderbilt University (USA)Thibault Gajdos Aix-Marseille Université (France) |
Christoph Huber-Huber University of Trento, Italy |
Active visual perception and the role of prediction across eye movements | In the real world, our eyes move about three to four times per second in a quick and jerky way which divides the seemingly continuous subjective visual experience of the world around us in perpetually changing discrete snapshots. Surprisingly, we are not aware of these particular spatiotemporal dynamics of active visual perception. It has been suggested that the reason for this unawareness is that our brains process sensory information in a predictive way. In this talk, I will present EEG/MEG and eye-tracking coregistration studies that aim at better understanding these predictive aspects of active visual perception. I will arrive at the conclusion that active vision really changes how we see and I will end with some considerations about the neural basis for the temporal structure of active gaze behavior. In sum, this talk will highlight the importance of considering active vision in the neurocognitive study of visual perception. | Christoph Huber-Huber University of Trento, Italy |
Kimele Persaud Rutgers University - Newark |
Bayesian Models of Memory for Expectation-Congruent and Incongruent Items across Development | Bayesian models that assume recall is a mixture of prior knowledge and noisy memory traces have been used to explain memory in children and adults (Persaud et al, 2016; 2021). Yet two challenges to this modeling framework for understanding expectations and memory more broadly, persists: 1) these models have overwhelmingly been applied to recall of items that are congruent or unrelated to people’s prior expectations, and 2) current models fail to capture other factors that influence memory in development, such as attention and inhibitory control. In this talk, we first present empirical data and modeling from past work assessing the influence of prior knowledge on recall of congruent items (i.e., color recall) across development (Persaud, et al., 2021). Based on the limitations of this work, we then present simulations from a new model, akin to Hemmer & Steyvers, 2009, that captures both the impact of executive functions and expectation-incongruence on memory in children and adults. | Kimele Persaud Rutgers University - NewarkCarla Macias Rutgers University - Newark |
Fenna Poletiek Leiden University / Max Planck Institute for Psycholinhuistics, Nijmegen, Netherlands |
Mechanisms of serial recall can explain the preponderance of center embedded syntactic structures | A defining characteristic of human language is hierarchical recursion. Recursive loops (e.g. relative clauses) in sentences can either be embedded in the center of a sentence or cross each other. It is still unknown why in Indo-European languages the possibility for center-embedded (CE) recursion seems ubiquitous as in The boy A1 the dog A2 chases B2 falls B1 (A1A2B2B1), whereas crossed-dependent (CD) orderings of recursion hardly ever occur (A1A2B1B2). In both structures, serially encoded words (e.g. boy and dog) must be retrieved and bound to later upcoming words (chases and falls). The exceptional rarity of CD as compared to CE grammars is surprising considering that the latter produce dependent elements at longer distances than the former. We propose that the preponderance of CE can be explained by item retention and retrieval mechanisms of serial recall combined with word binding operations ( e.g., word A is Subject Noun of word B Verb) specific for language comprehension. Our account explains that backward retrieval (retrieving dog(A2) first, and boy(A1) next, as in CE) optimizes memory performance as compared to forward retrieval, as in CD. We design two Retrieval and Binding Performance (RBP) functions, for CE and CD, and show by numeric comparison that RBP for CE is larger than for CD for a given sentence. Moreover, independent serial recall data support this difference in efficacy between the two strategies, under conditions that mimic sentence processing. We propose that CE is better molded to human memory than CD, which might explain why CE has prevailed during language evolution. | Fenna Poletiek Leiden University , NLPeter Hagoort MPI for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, NetherlandsBruno Bocanegra Erasmus University, Rotterdam, Netherlands |
Philippe Colo University of Bern & ETH Zürich |
Ethical Equilibrium Concepts in Game Theory | Equilibria are the most central concept in game theory. For a given strategic interaction between players, equilibrium concepts determine how their preferences and beliefs will balance each other out. Among existing equilibrium concepts, the Nash equilibrium has an hegemonic and rarely questioned position. While empirically successful, the logic it depicts often leads to normatively questionable outcomes. Scholars have shown that equilibrium concepts in games are equivalent to beliefs players hold regarding the game they are playing and how other players take decisions. I will call these beliefs behavioural beliefs (bbeliefs). In this paper I reflect on the nature and normativity of bbeliefs. I will argue that we can have positive deontological influence on bbeliefs and ought to do so. This will equate to adopting multiple bbeliefs and searching for evidence regarding those held by our coplayers, an attitude that equates to a form of a priori suspension of judgement on bbeliefs. | Philippe Colo |
Geoff Woodman Vanderbilt University |
Models of long-term memory already produce key signatures of visual working memory | The study of working memory and long-term memory diverged decades ago resulting in views about the diagnostic nature of certain measures that might not be valid. Specifically, it is viewed as critical to show a capacity limit to demonstrate that we are measuring visual working memory storage and not the unlimited capacity visual long-term memory store. Although sound logically, it remains to be seen whether these hallmarks of working memory might already fall out of existing models of long-term memory. Here we show that the precision and set size effects that we visual working memory researchers often use to validate our assumption that we are studying visual working memory are also observed as a natural result of the dynamics of contextual models of long-term memory storage and retrieval. Our findings motivate re-examining unified models of human memory, paired with multi-modal empirical studies that target key questions about the nature of visual working memory and long-term memory. | Sean Polyn Vanderbilt UniversityGeoff Woodman Vanderbilt University |
Richard Shiffrin Indiana University |
On the fundamental processes of recognition memory | Three long-term recognition memory studies were carried out to explore the basic processes of recognition memory and the ability of current models to generalize to new settings. Lists of 12 or 24 words, 12 or 24 pictures, or a mixed list of 12 words and 12 pictures were studied. Short-term memory was cleared after study and prior to test. In Experiment 1 memory was tested with two items: both or neither from the list, or one from the list. In 2AFC blocks the more likely old item was to be chosen; in 4WC blocks the two items were to be classified as both old, both new, or left old and right new, or the reverse. Experiment 2 was identical except participants were told to select the more likely new item. Experiment 3a had blocks of single item old-new testing and 2AFC testing; experiment 3b had blocks of single item old-new testing and 4WC testing. The 288 distinct conditions giving probabilities of correct and error responses were predicted very accurately by the simple REM model of Shif | Zainab Mohammed Indiana UniversityConstantin Meyer-Grant University of FreibergRichard Shiffrin Indiana University |
Ghislain Fourny EH Zurich |
Progress report on an extension theory of quantum physics | There are two assumptions behind Bell inequalities, which are broken by nature: free choice and locality. This leaves the door open to proving that Einstein was right about the incompleteness of quantum theory if we accept to weaken the free choice assumption. In this talk, I will give a status update on our recent progress in building this non-Nashian theory of physics, including an AI-based approach for determining underlying formulas based on observed correlations. | Ghislain Fourny ETH Zurich |
Sky Jiawen Liu Cardiff University |
Which violent offense is more serious? Spiking, setting fire or choking? | In this project, we examine how lay individuals assess the severity of violent offenses. Previous literature suggests that the ranking of violent offenses in terms of severity tends to be more consistent across different respondent groups and scenarios compared to numerical ratings of seriousness. However, using a pairwise ordering task, we found that the perceived severity of violent offenses varies depending on the context in which the offense occurs. | Sky Jiawen Liu Cardiff University |
Zainab Mohamed IU Bloomington |
On the fundamental processes of recognition memory | Three long-term recognition memory studies were carried out to explore the basic processes of recognition memory and the ability of current models to generalize to new settings. The experiments varied list length, stimulus type and testing format within and between participants. Response probabilities were predicted accurately by the REM model of Shiffrin & Steyvers (1997). The model ability to generalize and account for data from such a large number of conditions is surprising because REM is missing many components known to play an important role in recognition memory. This suggests that the few components it does include are fundamental and important enough to produce a good approximation to most results from recognition memory studies. These processes include incomplete or error-prone storage, comparing each test probe to memory traces, and computing a likelihood ratio that the trace is old, based on which an old/new recognition decision is made. | Zainab Rajab Mohamed IU BloomingtonConstantin G. Meyer-Grant University of FreibergRichard M. Shiffrin IU Bloomington |
Mark Steyvers University of California, Irvine |
Communicating Uncertainty with Large Language Models | Large language models (LLMs) play a growing role in decision-making, yet their ability to convey and interpret uncertainty remains a challenge. We examine two key issues: (1) how LLMs interpret verbal uncertainty expressions compared to human perception and (2) how discrepancies between LLMs’ internal confidence and their explanations create a disconnect between what users think the model knows and what it actually knows. We identify a calibration gap, where users overestimate LLM accuracy, and a discrimination gap, where explanations fail to help users distinguish correct from incorrect answers. Longer explanations further inflate user confidence without improving accuracy. By aligning LLM explanations with internal confidence, we show that both gaps can be reduced, improving trust calibration and decision-making. | Mark Steyvers University of California, Irvine |
Olgun Sadik Indiana University, Intelligent Systems Engineering |
Exploring Student Interactions with Generative AI in Engineering Education | There has been considerable contemporary interest in using generative AI tools for teaching and learning in K-16 education. Recent research has provided evidence of their effective use in enhancing instructor productivity. However, understanding how students utilize these tools is crucial for educators, especially given concerns related to ethical use. While some instructors have developed policies to limit student reliance on these tools, such measures are not sustainable, as students will inevitably engage with them.To understand student usage and provide a guiding framework, this study employs discourse analysis to explore how students interact with a generative AI in a software systems engineering course. Students were asked to share their conversations with the AI tool, along with reflections on their experiences.The interactions were analyzed to examine both the structural and functional aspects of language use. Additionally, the reflections were analyzed using thematic analysis. | Olgun Sadik Indiana University, Intelligent Systems Engineering |
Nada Aggadi Indiana University Bloomington |
Measuring Factors Associated with Identification Thresholds in Fingerprint Analysts | The goal of this research is to measure and identify factors associated with identification thresholds in fingerprint analysts. Conclusions reached in friction ridge comparisons require the application of an individual threshold. While previous studies have investigated the mechanisms behind value determinations, or on the perceived stress reported by forensic examiners, only a few have focused on the influence of personality traits and environmental factors on identification thresholds. This study measures how individual traits and workplace policies may shape these thresholds. Participants were presented with latent prints and tasked with making value determinations before conducting a latent print comparison. Post-trial, participants responded to a series of survey inquiries focusing on their personalities and interactions within the work environment. Our results demonstrate a significant positive correlation between NFC score and the number of Identification decisions as well as a | Nada Aggadi Indiana University BloomingtonTom Busey Indiana University BloomingtonMeredith Coon AVER, LLC |