Colloquium: Judy Fan – Cognitive Tools

Colloquium: Judy Fan – Cognitive Tools for Learning and CommunicationHow does the human mind transform a cascade of sensory information into meaningful knowledge? As humans, we employ a variety of powerful tools to actively reformat our experiences and generate new ones. We choose what to look at, bring certain memories to mind, produce pictures to share, and compose stories to tell. My research aims to develop a computational theory of how we employ such cognitive tools to learn and communicate effectively. My recent work focuses on visual communication both because of this transformative impact and because it represents a key challenge for understanding how core cognitive systems interact to support complex, natural behaviors. This talk will highlight recent progress towards understanding the contribution of perceptual, action, and social reasoning systems to effective visual learning and communication.