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Phd Defense - Nader Noori
Tue, Oct 15, 2013 @ 02:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
University Calendar
PhD Candidate: Nader Noori
Laurent Itti (Chair)
Michael Arbib
Lisa Azzi-Zadeh (Outside member)
10/15/13
EEB 248
2pm-4pm
Title : The Symbolic Working Memory System
Subtitle: Deriving an Embodied Working Memory Machinery for the Symbolically-Intelligent Mind from Sensorimotor Resources of the Brain
Abstract
Dominant theoretical paradigms for describing the functioning of the brain's short-term memory management systems in the domains of low-level/perception-action and and high-level/intellectual functions follow drastically different principles: embedded and distributed in the low-level domain, disembodied and centralized in the high-level domain. Given that the human cognitive system functions at both levels in different contexts simultaneously this question arises whether indeed there are two types of working memory systems running in parallel under two different operational principles in human brain or, a more parsimonious account can explain all different manifestations of working memory in all domains.
Theoretical inconsistencies and biological/evolutionary implausibility of centralized paradigms of the intellectual domain was a motivation for theorizing about a working memory framework for high-level/intellectual functions based upon control theoretic principles of the low-level functional domain.
The proposed framework demonstrates how novel assemblage of embedded schemas in existing sensorimotor systems may supply a system for management of symbolically represented sensory and motor information serving intellectual tasks. In the
proposed framework, strategic and evolutionarily-constrained reuse of sensorimotor resources for management of respectively spatially-organized and temporally-sensitive information support random access and serial access schemas for management of
symbolic information. Through grounding access schemas for management of symbolic information in sensorimotor systems we are able to predict ramifications of working memory management during the performance of mental tasks at behavioral and neural levels. A detailed example in applying this methodology in well-studied cases of forward and backward recall tasks will be presented with additional computational modeling and the results of simulations.
Our systematic approach in mapping spatial/temporal characteristics of sensorimotor systems onto access modes provides a symbolic interface to other frameworks and
architectures for describing the symbolically-intelligent mind. Proposed framework provides for the first time a neurally-grounded and sensorimotor-based account for management of symbolic information with embodied cognition prospects with opportunities for experimental validations and applications.
In addition to theoretical and computational discussions the result of some experimental studies including eye-tracking during mental sorting tasks will be presented as the supporting evidence for the propose theory.
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Lizsl De Leon
