9th International Symposium of Cognition, Logic and Communication "Perception and Concepts" public opening keynote lecture by Andy Clark (University of Edinburgh, UK)
Showing posts with label Language and Mind. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Language and Mind. Show all posts
August 23, 2013
Perceiving as Predicting by Andy Clark
9th International Symposium of Cognition, Logic and Communication "Perception and Concepts" public opening keynote lecture by Andy Clark (University of Edinburgh, UK)
March 21, 2013
"The Contribution of SLA to the Language Sciences," by Lourdes Ortega
Read her article: SLA for the 21st Century: Disciplinary Progress, Transdisciplinary Relevance, and the Bi/multilingual Turn
Language Learning, Volume 63, Issue Supplement s1, pages 1-24, March 2013
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2012.00735.x/full
May 22, 2012
April 25, 2012
February 12, 2012
Michael Gazzaniga: Your Brain is Automatic. You Are Free.
From Big Think
"The way I sum it up is that brains are automatic, but people are free because people are joining the social group and in that group are laws to live by. We can understand brains to the nth degree, but it’s not going to, in any way, interfere with the fact that taking responsibility in a social network is done at that level."
http://bigthink.com/ideas/42384
February 7, 2012
November 12, 2011
October 4, 2011
September 20, 2011
September 8, 2011
September 1, 2011
Power of Music (Foreign languages & hip hop). Anthony Pineda & Susanna Zaraysky on NBC.
Songs, TV and other media help us learn foreign languages. Hip-hop music can keep at-risk kids in school and out of trouble. Susanna Zaraysky and Anthony Pineda discuss how they were inspired by Dr. Oliver Sacks' book, Musicophilia（Paperback, Kidle edition）, about the power of music. Interview with Damian Trujillo on Comunidad del Valle on NBC station KNTV in California. http://www.languageismusic.com
August 4, 2011
July 4, 2011
David Eagleman on his book "Incognito": What's hiding In The Unconscious Mind
Below is some excerpts from the NPR site (http://www.npr.org/2011/05/31/136495499/incognito-whats-hiding-in-the-unconscious-mind)
The cells are connected to one another in a network of such staggering complexity that it bankrupts human language and necessitates new strains of mathematics. A typical neuron makes about ten thousand connections to neighboring neurons. Given the billions of neurons, this means there are as many connections in a single cubic centimeter of brain tissue as there are stars in the Milky Way galaxy.
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Ours is an incredible story. As far as anyone can tell, we're the only system on the planet so complex that we've thrown ourselves headlong into the game of deciphering our own programming language. Imagine that your desktop computer began to control its own peripheral devices, removed its own cover, and pointed its webcam at its own circuitry. That's us.
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The first thing we learn from studying our own circuitry is a simple lesson: most of what we do and think and feel is not under our conscious control. The vast jungles of neurons operate their own programs. The conscious you ? the I that flickers to life when you wake up in the morning ? is the smallest bit of what's transpiring in your brain. Although we are dependent on the functioning of the brain for our inner lives, it runs its own show. Most of its operations are above the security clearance of the conscious mind. The I simply has no right of entry.
Your consciousness is like a tiny stowaway on a transatlantic steamship, taking credit for the journey without acknowledging the massive engineering underfoot. This book is about that amazing fact: how we know it, what it means, and what it explains about people, markets, secrets, strippers, retirement accounts, criminals, artists, Ulysses, drunkards, stroke victims, gamblers, athletes, bloodhounds, racists, lovers, and every decision you've ever taken to be yours.
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The brain is a complex system, but that doesn't mean it's incomprehensible. Our neural circuits were carved by natural selection to solve problems that our ancestors faced during our species' evolutionary history. Your brain has been molded by evolutionary pressures just as your spleen and eyes have been. And so has your consciousness. Consciousness developed because it was advantageous, but advantageous only in limited amounts.
Consider the activity that characterizes a nation at any moment. Factories churn, telecommunication lines buzz with activity, businesses ship products. People eat constantly. Sewer lines direct waste. All across the great stretches of land, police chase criminals. Handshakes secure deals. Lovers rendezvous. Secretaries field calls, teachers profess, athletes compete, doctors operate, bus drivers navigate. You may wish to know what's happening at any moment in your great nation, but you can't possibly take in all the information at once. Nor would it be useful, even if you could. You want a summary. So you pick up a newspaper ? not a dense paper like the New York Times but lighter fare such as USA Today. You won't be surprised that none of the details of the activity are listed in the paper; after all, you want to know the bottom line. You want to know that Congress just signed a new tax law that affects your family, but the detailed origin of the idea ? involving lawyers and corporations and filibusters ? isn't especially important to that new bottom line. And you certainly wouldn't want to know all the details of the food supply of the nation ? how the cows are eating and how many are being eaten ? you only want to be alerted if there's a spike of mad cow disease. You don't care how the garbage is produced and packed away; you only care if it's going to end up in your backyard. You don't care about the wiring and infrastructure of the factories; you only care if the workers are going on strike. That's what you get from reading the newspaper.
Your conscious mind is that newspaper. Your brain buzzes with activity around the clock, and, just like the nation, almost everything transpires locally: small groups are constantly making decisions and sending out messages to other groups. Out of these local interactions emerge larger coalitions. By the time you read a mental headline, the important action has already transpired, the deals are done. You have surprisingly little access to what happened behind the scenes. Entire political movements gain ground-up support and become unstoppable before you ever catch wind of them as a feeling or an intuition or a thought that strikes you. You're the last one to hear the information.
However, you're an odd kind of newspaper reader, reading the headline and taking credit for the idea as though you thought of it first. You gleefully say, "I just thought of something!", when in fact your brain performed an enormous amount of work before your moment of genius struck. When an idea is served up from behind the scenes, your neural circuitry has been working on it for hours or days or years, consolidating information and trying out new combinations. But you take credit without further wonderment at the vast, hidden machinery behind the scenes.
July 1, 2011
June 28, 2011
June 4, 2011
Short videos of Noam Chomsky: From politics to language, and to love!
Chomsky on Democracy in America
Democracy: America's Oldest Spectator Sport
Noam Chomsky on Language's Great Mysteries
Noam Chomsky on Love: "Life's Empty Without It"
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Democracy: America's Oldest Spectator Sport
Noam Chomsky on Language's Great Mysteries
Noam Chomsky on Love: "Life's Empty Without It"
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March 10, 2011
March 8, 2011
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