Connectionists: Reminder and time clarification: Sabine Hunnius speaking on April 18 in Developing Minds global online lecture series

[Jochen Triesch]

Dear colleagues,

On April 18, the Developing Minds global online lecture series is proud to host Sabine Hunnius from the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands, speaking on: "Early cognitive development: Five lessons from infant learning“

The live event will take place via zoom at:
Thursday, April 18, 2024
10:00 am EST (Eastern Daylight Time, US)
14:00 UTC (Universal Coordinated Time)
*16:00 CEST (Central European Summer Time)* (there was a mixup with the time and CET vs. CEST)
23:00 JST (Japan Standard Time)

The zoom link/credentials are:
https://uni-frankfurt.zoom-x.de/j/6960577736?omn=68624649565 
Meeting-ID: 696 057 7736

Abstract
Young children develop at a breath-taking rate. Within just a few years, they change from a helpless newborn into a school-ready child who has all the abilities and skills needed to start formal education. In my talk, I will discuss five fundamental principles of infant learning to better comprehend how such rapid cognitive development is at all possible.
Firstly, infants come into this world equipped to learn. From early on, they are sensitive to statistical information in their environment and readily detect and retain statistical structures they observe. Secondly, infants use this information to build predictive models of the world. Moreover, they are able to continuously and flexibly update these models in light of new information. Thirdly, infant learning can be so fast and effective, as it is supported by early-existing attentional biases. Infants allocate attention to and preferably explore stimuli that are informative. Fourthly, adult interaction partners play a crucial role in creating ideal learning opportunities for infants by skillfully adapting their behavior to the infants' attentional preferences and learning capabilities. Lastly, infants' learning is influenced by the development of their bodies and brains, which modifies how they engage with their environment. As such, their early learning changes the way they learn later, providing them with new learning experiences. 
In summary, the intricate interplay of infants' basic learning mechanisms, attentional and exploration biases, and social exchanges gives rise to the astonishing developmental changes observed in early childhood.

Short Bio:
Sabine Hunnius is Director of the Baby & Child Research Center in Nijmegen and Professor of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience at Radboud University. Her research focuses on early cognitive and social-cognitive development. Her aim is to understand the initial makeup of the human mind and the information processing and learning mechanisms infants are equipped with. Ultimately, she strives to understand the complex interconnection between infants' learning mechanisms and their social interactions, aiming to gain insight into the fundamental processes underlying early childhood development.

The talk will be recorded and made available for later viewing. For more information on the talk series and recordings of previous events, please visit: https://sites.google.com/view/developing-minds-series/home 

Best regards,
Jochen Triesch

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Prof. Dr. Jochen Triesch
Johanna Quandt Chair for Theoretical Life Sciences
Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies and
Goethe University Frankfurt
http://fias.uni-frankfurt.de/~triesch/
Tel: +49 (0)69 798-47531
Fax: +49 (0)69 798-47611