Thursday, October 7, 12:30pm - HNB 100
Presentation by Brad Gasser (Arbib Lab)
In this short presentation, I wish to describe the theoretical framework of the Mirror System Hypothesis (MSH; eg., Arbib, 2005) and specific research efforts currently underway in the lab. MSH, a gestural-original description of the evolution of linguistic competency in humans, specifies an evolutionary trajectory of the neural and cognitive structures that support language skill, and the selective pressures that precipitated these brain changes. In particular, I will describe:
- Past efforts to model computationally the parieto-frontal 'mirror system' of macaque cortex involved in manual control, recognition and scheduling
- An experimental paradigm to assess the representational capacities for sequence learning in macaque
- Some preliminary ideas for understanding the social learning skills of monkey, ape and human.
This overview also seeks to introduce the main ideas of the Mirror System Hypothesis and offer a framework for the development of a comprehensive computational neurolinguistics.
