Efficient representation of our motor memories is essential for developing and deploying the plethora of human motor skills we use every day, yet there is little cohesion in understanding how these representations are organized and develop over time. In this study, we developed a novel behavioral paradigm aimed at probing experience-dependent representational change of a motor skill with training. Across several experiments, participants trained to coordinate novel finger configurations in a speeded reaction time task and performed a similarity judgment task to probe for changes in the psychological representation of the recently acquired skill. We sought to determine if learned representations of action can be found through behavioral methods and if such representations are organized based on similarity and independent reorganization patterns predicted by theories of sensorimotor neuroscience. Together, we propose a novel behavioral measure complementary to neuroimaging capable of observing human representational change of a motor skill over time.

Experience-Dependent Representational Change During Motor Skill Learning

Colexification, or the expression of multiple concepts by the same word, is ubiquitous in language. Colexifications may appear rule-like, as when an artifact is used for an activity ('repair the shower'/'take a shower'), or similarity-based ('child' refers to both 'young person' and 'descendant'). We investigate whether these two modes of generalization (rules and similarity) reflect how people structure new meanings. We propose computational models based on rules, similarity, and a hybrid of the two, and correlate model predictions to human behavior—in a novel task, participants generalized labels across colexified meanings. We found that a model using similarity correlated much better with human behavior than rules. Further, the similarity model was significantly outperformed by a hybrid model of the two mechanisms. However, the difference in correlations was modest, suggesting that a framework which combines rules and similarity largely relies on similarity-based generalization to characterize human expectations about colexification.

Modeling rules and similarity in colexification

A key debate in language learning centers on how people successfully learn the extension of a novel word, despite inherent ambiguity in the input. Across two studies, we tested whether learners reduce ambiguity about a word’s extension by actively sampling the environment. Adult participants were first presented with ambiguous learning situations in which novel words were presented with a set of exemplars that were drawn from a subordinate-level category (e.g., Dalmatians), a basic-level category (e.g., dogs), or a superordinate-level category (e.g., animals). Learners then had the opportunity to sample the label of additional exemplars. Participants systematically adapted their sampling choices as a function of training. Moreover, participants varied in their sampling strategies, pursuing both confirmatory strategies (selecting exemplars similar to the training set) and constraining strategies (selecting exemplars that constrain the word’s extension). Overall, these findings show that learners spontaneously pursue sampling strategies that support generalizing novel word meanings.

Active information-seeking in support of learning extensions of novel words

Language learning emerges from dynamic communicative exchanges characterized by two key dimensions. First, children are not simply passive observers, but instead actively seek new information. Second, caregivers scaffold the learning environment. We will present results from a preregistered study (target N=90; 36-72 mos; preregistration: https://osf.io/s24eb/?view_only=7cbed0ef12354103b5fe7a897d13f694; current sample size: N=51) investigating how caregiver scaffolding and children’s information-seeking mutually contribute to word learning. We introduce a novel word learning paradigm that independently varies whether children and/or their caregivers can structure input in a joint Learning Phase and measure children’s word learning in a pre-post test design. We predict that (1) children and caregivers will actively structure learning events and (2) children will benefit when they themselves and their caregivers can structure the Learning Phase. Our results will provide insight into how children’s information-seeking strategies interact with caregivers’ scaffolding to create informative word learning moments.

The dynamics of child-driven active information-seeking and caregiver scaffolding during word learning

Poster Session 1

poster

The 45th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society will take place in Sydney, Australia as a modified hybrid conference. Presentations from the main-session room will be live-streamed every day for all events. This will include all invited talks and award sessions. Recordings of all CogSci 2023 sessions will be made available for on-demand viewing after the conference.<br>
The in-person component will be held at the International Convention Centre Sydney at Darling Harbour. The Conference will take place Wednesday July 26th – Saturday July 29th, 2023 (Wednesday, July 26th is the Workshops Day).

Join us!

<br>[**The Program at a Glance can be found here**](https://cognitivesciencesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/COgSci-PAAG-V2.pdf)
<br>[**The Detailed Program can be found here**](https://online.fliphtml5.com/ebtyf/mswz/)
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#### **CogSci 2023 Program Book**
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CogSci 2023

The 45th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society presents the latest research across cognitive science and highlights the theme of Cognition in Context.



**For a full list of posters in this session, click the See All link on the right side of the page.**

Poster Session 2 -  A: AI, Computer Science and Computer Models

### Looking for Cogsci 2023? Please [click here](https://underline.io/events/405/reception) to switch to 2023 edition.


**Dear Colleagues,**

Welcome to the 43rd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society! 

This year’s conference brings together the latest research from all Cognitive Science and also highlights this year’s theme **Comparative Cognition: Animal Minds.** 

The program features four plenary speakers: Friederike Range (University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna), Onur Güntürkün (Ruhr University Bochum), Julia Fischer (University of Göttingen), and Erich Jarvis (The Rockefeller University). The keynotes and invited symposia showcase the broad spectrum of ideas that encompass the conference theme of comparative cognition. 

Further, the program includes the Rumelhart Prize keynote presentation by Susan Goldin-Meadow (University of Chicago), and symposia to celebrate the winner of the Elman Prize: Wei Ji Ma (New York University), the Heineken Award winner Robert Zatorre (McGill University), and the Robert J. Glushko Dissertation Prizes session.

The program committee for CogSci 2021 received 1,025 submissions, including 710 full papers, 275 member abstracts, 8 publication-based talks, as well as 15 proposals for symposia, and 17 for workshops and tutorials. After a rigorous review process, the committee selected 152 papers for oral presentation and inclusion in the conference proceedings (14.8%), 332 papers for poster presentation and inclusion in the proceedings (32.4%), and 175 papers for poster presentation with inclusion of abstracts in the proceedings (17.1%) We also selected 275 submitted member abstracts. In addition, we accepted 6 publication-based talks, 12 symposia, and 9 workshops and tutorials to make for an exciting and inclusive program.

We hope that you enjoy the conference this year!<br><br>

**Your Program Chairs,**
![](https://assets.underline.io/uploads/markdown_image/1/image/99984908caba5e6453e5fc5ba34f3507.jpg)

**Learn more about the Vienna Cognitive Science Hub at the University of Vienna, hosts of CogSci 2021**

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To review the proceedings for the conference or review the searchable program, please visit the [website](https://cognitivesciencesociety.org/program/).


CogSci 2021

The Cognitive Science Society brings together researchers from around the world who hold a common goal: understanding the nature of the human mind. The mission of the Society is to promote Cognitive Science as a discipline, and to foster scientific interchange among researchers in various areas of study, including Artificial Intelligence, Linguistics, Anthropology, Psychology, Neuroscience, Philosophy, and Education. The Society is a non-profit professional organization and its activities include sponsoring an annual conference and publishing the journals Cognitive Science and TopiCS.

This session has no scheduled virtual poster presentation time, but attendees will be able to comment and ask questions about your work/research asynchronously throughout the conference.<br>

**If you are a virtual poster presenter**, you can leave a message in your poster area chat space to advise times (and time zone) that you will be available either in the chat box, or by setting up your own online meeting room (Zoom, etc.).<br>
**If you are an attendee**, please check each poster's chat box and arrange time with presenter.<br>



Casey Lew-Williams

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5

Presentations

Experience-Dependent Representational Change During Motor Skill Learning

Modeling rules and similarity in colexification

Active information-seeking in support of learning extensions of novel words

The dynamics of child-driven active information-seeking and caregiver scaffolding during word learning

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