The Centre for Cognitive and Brain Sciences (CCBS) of the University of Macau has initiated a series of neuroscience seminar in 2021.
You are cordially invited to join the 4th talk of the series, with guest speaker Prof. Lusha ZHU from Peking University sharing her research with us via zoom.
All are welcome to join via zoom.
Zoom ID: 946 460 4823
Password: 021193
Date: 14/12/2021 (Tuesday)
Time: 14:45-15:40
Language: English
Guest speaker: Prof. Lusha ZHU, Peking University
Topic: Communication as strategic, goal-directed decision-making
Abstract: Pragmatic interpretation––how the human brain understands what is and is not being said by conservational partners––is a topic of tremendous importance and disciplinary breadth. Yet our knowledge about its neurocognitive mechanisms remains in its infancy. The challenge relates to not only the inherent complexity in human communication, but also the lack of quantitative instruments capable of decomposing the complex mental processes underlying communication in a principled way, to probe the related neural activity. Here we propose to examine inferences and choices in intentional communication through the lens of goal-directed, strategic decision-making, bringing together strands of decision neuroscience, game theory, computational linguistics, and machine learning. In this talk, I will first sketch recent fMRI findings on the neurocomputation underlying pragmatic interpretation in a referential communication game, and then present new data on how information serves as a basic computational unit and is associated with shared neural codes across communicative partners.
