Reporter Volume 25, No.25 April 21, 1994 By ELLEN GOLDBAUM News Bureau Staff The study of the human mind is no longer the solitary, academic exercise it once was. Partly as a result of advances in technologies that require information about how the mind processes information, scientists at UB's Center for Cognitive Science and a handful of other centers in the U.S. are crossing disciplinary boundaries to make sense of the human mind. "We're at a unique point in history," said Leonard Talmy, the UB center's director and associate professor of linguistics. "We are now able to study the nature of the mind from many different disciplines, whose findings are converging." This summer, UB will be the site of a milestone event in this developing science. From July 5-30, some of the most esteemed cognitive scientists from around the world will be in Buffalo to attend the First International Summer Institute in Cognitive Science, which has the theme, "Multidisciplinary Foundations of Cognitive Science." "Interactions between the different disciplines concerned with mental activity have been increasing over the last 15 years," Talmy said. "This is the right time in history to crystallize these interactions." To some extent, computers have prompted this convergence of different fields. "Artificial intelligence is constantly involved with how human cognition works," he said. At the same time, he added, certain elements in traditional disciplines have been increasingly concerned with the nature of the mind. Cognitive science brings together those elements from linguistics, anthropology, neuroscience, psychology, philosophy and computer science. Talmy noted that the UB center is unusual among these centers in that it also draws on participation from researchers in medicine, communications sciences, geography and industrial engineering. UB's scientists have been particularly adept at crossing disciplinary boundaries to uncover the mysteries of the mind. Many of their projects are advancing technology, while at the same time deepening understanding of how humans perceive the world and behave in it. The following is a sampling of the research being done by the 35 faculty members affiliated with the UB Center for Cognitive Science: Computer vision and the information superhighway Deborah Walters, associate professor of computer science, is trying to understand how humans perceive images in order to make possible the electronic interpretation of images. One goal is to find out how to store and transmit computerized images more efficiently, knowledge that is key to the development of an information superhighway. Experiments involving human subjects and computer science techniques are used to understand visual processing. "We are trying to find out what goes on in the human visual system and use that as inspiration in designing algorithms for improving computer vision," Walters said. Where do our words come from? Robert D. Van Valin, Jr., professor and chair of linguistics, is trying to pinpoint the parts of the brain involved in language processing. Together with Alan Lockwood, professor of neurology and nuclear medicine, and Jeri Jaeger, assistant professor of linguistics, he uses a PET (positron emission tomography) scanner to try to image these processes in the human brain. How well we work depends on the information we have Valerie L. Shalin, assistant professor of industrial engineering, is interested in how people's performance in the workplace is influenced by the information that is available to them while they are working. To design better display panels for airline pilots, she uses a flight simulator and local pilots to determine what information is needed during flight. To understand the influence of technology and personal interactions on mental workload, she videotapes doctors as they work in intensive-care units. Improving conversations between computers and people Jeffrey Higginbotham, assistant professor of communicative disorders and sciences, studies how individuals with serious speech disorders using computers to communicate organize their discourse to converse with those who do not have such disorders. "Conversations between a listener and a person using one of these devices are very different from natural conversations," he said. "We're trying to document the discourse processes and technical factors contributing to the conversational differences to improve the success rate of their communications." It's not what kids say, it's what they don't say Louann Gerken, assistant professor of psychology, is interested in how children learning to talk acquire elements of language. Her work focuses more on what they do not say, than on what they do say. "If a young child wants a drink, he or she often says 'Want drink' instead of 'I want a drink,'" she explained. Her research shows that even though children may not say the words 'I' and 'a,' they are thinking them. "It's difficult for children just learning to talk to alternate between making strong syllables like 'want' or 'drink' and weak ones like 'a' and 'the.' It's a matter of getting the rhythm of language." Mental mapmaking David Mark, professor of geography and an associate with UB's National Center for Geographic Information Analysis, is studying the ways that people perceive and communicate spatial relationships. In one project, he is looking at how Los Angeles drivers have changed their commuting behavior since the recent earthquake. "We're looking at how people's mental maps of Los Angeles have changed and allowed them to decide on alternate routes," he said. How those maps influence mundane decisions such as where to shop on the way home is also being examined. The culture of health care Donald K. Pollock, assistant professor of anthropology, looks at how culture influences health-care systems. "According to our culture, illness is something located in the body or the brain," he said. "This perception ignores the wide range of social, cultural and political issues that shape whether or not you are considered ill." He has shown how patients hospitalized for any medical reason are often diagnosed with "reactive depression" after they have been in the hospital for a long period, a diagnosis that he says may be more reflective of the hospital as a social environment than anything happening to the patient.