Linguistics and Philosophy. A specialist in the philosophy of language, formal semantics, and philosophical logic, his interests also range over issues in metaphysics and the philosophy of mind. He is the author of Reference to Abstract Objects in Discourse: A Philosophical Semantics for Natural Language Metaphysics and Epistemology (1993), as well as dozens of articles. Professor Asher is especially well-known for his Segmented Discourse Representation Theory (SDRT). He has received several grants from the National Science Foundation. He has taught at the Stuttgart Institute for Computational Linguistics and has been a member of the Centre National de Recherche Scientifique of France. He serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Semantics and is Associate Editor of Linguistics and Philosophy.

email | webpage

Linguistics. Computational Linguistics, Machine Learning of Natural Language, Parsing, Syntactic Theory, Discourse Structure.

email | webpage

Computer Sciences. Dr. Ballard's main research interest is in computational theories of the brain with emphasis on human vision. In 1985 Chris Brown and him led a team that designed and built a high speed binocular camera control system capable of simulating human eye movements. The system was mounted on a robotic arm that allowed it to move at one meter per second in a two meter radius workspace. This system has led to an increased understanding of the role of behavior in vision. The theoretical aspects of that system were summarized in a paper ``Animate Vision,'' which received the Best Paper Award at the 1989 International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence. Currently Dr. Ballard is interested in pursuing this research by using model humans in virtual reality environments. In addition, Dr. Ballard is interested in models of the brain that relate to detailed neural codes. A position paper on this work appeared in the Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

email | webpage

Linguistics. Primary language acquisition, statistical models of language learning.

email | webpage

Linguistics and Philosophy. I work on formal semantics and pragmatics of natural language. My major interests are presupposition and intonational meaning, and I also work on anaphora resolution, temporal connectives and Optimality Theoretic Semantics. Further interests include computational linguistics, specifically the emergent fields of computational semantics and what might be termed “computational evolutionary linguistics” - the study of emergent language and communication in artificially simulated systems. I am the author of Presupposition and Assertion in Dynamic Semantics (CSLI Publications, 2001) as well as a number of journal articles and book chapters (mostly available for electronic download from my publications page).

email | webpage

Psychology. Research in our lab focuses on self-processes, emotion processes and social cognition. We're interested in how these processes contribute to appropriate social functioning. For example, how do self-perceptions and emotions influence decisions in social interactions? To address these questions, we use behavioral methods such as behavioral observation (e.g., FACS coding, reaction times, self and peer-report in addition to neuroscience methods such as neuroimaging (fMRI) and studies of patient populations.

email | webpage

French and Italian. Second Language Acquisition.

email | webpage

Germanic Studies. Syntax, Lexical Semantics, Computational Lexicography, Language Contact and Variation, Pragmatics, Morphology, Phonology, Documentary Linguistics, Contrastive Linguistics, Corpus Linguistics, Endangered Languages and Dialects, Foreign Language Education, Intercultural Communication, and History and Philosophy of Linguistics.

email | webpage

Philosophy. Metaphysics, philosophical logic, and ethics.

email | webpage

Psychology. Historically, Dr. Cormack's research interest has been in contrast processing in stereoscopic vision, which is a good model system in which to study how the brain combines signals in general. Recently, he and Scott Stevenson (of the University of Houston) have been explicitly generalizing models of contrast processing in stereopsis to the domains of spatial vision and motion perception. Dr. Cormack is also exploring some properties of motion perception via a novel illusion discovered in his laboratory. Recently however, Dr. Cormack, in collaboration with fellow CPS member Alan Bovik, has been investigating the image properties that attract gaze when viewing natural scenes and when searching for targets imbedded in naturalistic noise. Dr. Cormack teaches mostly graduate statistics, and an advanced undergraduate statistics course.

email | webpage

Psychology. Randy Diehl is a Professor in the area of Cognition and Perception and is a member of the Center for Perceptual Systems. Diehl's research focuses on the perception and production of speech sounds and on auditory category learning. Various methods are used including: acoustic analysis of natural speech, perceptual identification and discrimination of synthetic speech stimuli and of analogous non-speech stimuli, computational modeling of the representation of speech sounds in the auditory nerve and estimation of auditory distances among sounds, simulations of preferred speech sound inventories using a criterion of maximal auditory distance. We are currently applying Bayesian statistical decision theory in the analysis of tasks that involve learning of novel auditory categories (including both non-speech categories and second language sound categories) as well as tasks that involve recognition of sounds from one's first language.

email

Psychology. Dr. Echols research explores a number of issues related to the acquisition of language. The general focus of her research is with two questions fundamental to language development: (a) how infants identify words and other linguistic units in the speech stream and (b) how they associate words to appropriate real world referents. She is investigating the first question by assessing whether infants can use prosodic cues-such as stress, intonation or rhythm to identify words in speech. In relation to the second question, she is investigating whether infants can use linguistic context to determine the meanings of novel words. Additional projects pertain to the acquisition of grammar and children's understanding of various functions of language (e.g., irony and sarcasm). This research is funded through a grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Dr. Echols is in the Developmental and Cognition & Perception areas in Psychology, and is head of the Developmental area.

email | webpage

Linguistics. Computational linguistics, lexical semantics, statistical models, automatic wide-coverage semantic analysis, lexical acquisition, corpus linguistics.

email | webpage

Psychology. Vision, visual perception and the evolution of perceptual systems.

email | webpage

Psychology. Cognition, perception.

email | webpage

Psychology. Language production and understanding through eye-tracking and other analysis techniques.

email | webpage

Psychology. Vision naturally occurs in the context of voluntary information gathering movements involving the eyes, head, and hand. However, much work in vision is dominated by trying to understand the events occurring within a single view of a scene, and we have only limited understanding of the consequences of eye and head movements for vision and visuo-motor coordination. The technology to look at performance in more natural circumstances now exists, and Dr. Hayhoe is currently developing a human sensory-motor lab, in collaboration with Dana Ballard in Computer Science, for measuring unconstrained eye, head, and hand movements in the performance of natural tasks, and for developing a virtual reality display to allow controlled but visually complex stimulation. We also have the capability of providing force feedback for two finger grasping. The new instrumentation allows a large range of experiments not previously possible. Dr.Hayhoe's objective is to understand the demands placed on vision and motor systems by natural behavior and the nature of the representations that are required for visually guided tasks.

email | webpage

Neuroscience. Research in our lab focuses on how the visual system processes motion. We rely on visual motion as a model system to understand how neurons transform simple sensory signals into representations used during perception, cognition, and action. We employ a variety of psychophysical and physiological techniques to address these issues. Specifically, we focus on (1) how motion and depth information is combined to represent the 3D direction of motion, (2) how visual motion signals are accumulated and remembered to inform perceptual decisions, and (3) how visual imagery and expectations about motion interact with low-level sensory processing.

email | webpage

Computer Sciences. Dr. Kuipers investigates the representation of commonsense and expert knowledge, with particular emphasis on the effective use of incomplete knowledge. His research accomplishments include developing the TOUR model of spatial knowledge in the cognitive map, the QSIM algorithm for qualitative simulation, the Algernon system for knowledge representation, and the Spatial Semantic Hierarchy model of knowledge for robot exploration and mapping.

email | webpage

Psychology. Categorization, Human and Machine Learning, and Similarity. Love has a number of interests in the general area of cognition. He is particularly interested in developing process models of human learning that address the full range of our abilities. Human learners often engage in complex decision making, utilize prior knowledge in clever ways, and uncover non-obvious similarities. One goal of his research is to develop computational models of these processes. Such models, along with findings from cognitive psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and computer science, may provide insight into the nature of the information processing algorithms our brains use during learning and categorization.

email | webpage

Psychology. Cognitive neuroscience, categorization, identification, decision-making, attention, and mathematical modeling.

email | webpage

Psychology. Dr. Markman is interested in the way people see things to be similar, and how they process similarity and analogy comparisons. While the study of similarity is interesting for its own sake, it is also interesting because of what it can tell us about other psychological processes. In order to look at the way that our ability to make comparisons affects our cognitive processing, Dr. Markman also does research on category learning and decision making.

email | webpage

Psychology. Dr. McFadden's research interests are sensation and perception, audition, sex differences in the auditory system, prenatal hormonal effects on the auditory system, and the effects of drugs on the auditory system.

email | webpage

Linguistics. First language acquisition, the linguistic structure of signed languages, the acquisition of ASL as a first language

email | webpage

Computer Sciences. The goal of my research is to understand how cognitive abilities emerge through evolution and learning. To this end, I build computational models of cognitive processes such as sentence and story processing, lexicon, episodic memory, pattern and object recognition, and sequential decision making. The research involves developing new methods for self-organization and evolution of neural networks, as well as verifying them experimentally on human subjects, often in collaboration with experimentalists and medical professionals. Examples of current work include impaired story telling in schizophrenia, rehabilitation in bilingual aphasia, understanding and inferring the semantics of realistic spoken sentences, and evolution of communication in simulated agents.

email | webpage

Computer Sciences. Artificial intelligence and machine learning. Natural language processing.

email | webpage

Psychology. James W. Pennebaker is Bush Professor of Liberal Arts and the Departmental Chair in the Psychology Department at the University of Texas at Austin, where he received his Ph.D. in 1977. He has been on the faculty at the University of Virginia, Southern Methodist University, and, since 1997, The University of Texas. He and his students are exploring the links between traumatic experiences, expressive writing, natural language use, and physical and mental health. His studies find that physical health and work performance can improve by simple writing and/or talking exercises. His most recent research focuses on the nature of language and emotion in the real world. The words people use serve as powerful reflections of their personality and social worlds. Author or editor of 8 books and over 200 articles, Pennebaker has received numerous awards and honors.

email | webpage

Neuroscience. Our lab uses computational and statistical tools, along with experiments in human perception, to build mathematical models of neural systems and the computations they perform. We want to understand how visual information is represented by neural populations, and to discover the theoretical principles underlying the brain's unique perceptual capabilities.

email | webpage

Computer Sciences. Knowledge acquisition, automated reasoning, explanation generation.

email | webpage

Neurobiology. High spatial resolution functional MRI of visual cortex.

email | webpage

Psychology. Dr. Schnyer research is focused on understanding the functional and neural basis of two dimensions of memory functioning that lie at the opposite ends of the awareness spectrum. The first is implicit memory, or alterations in behavior that are not dependent on explicit awareness of a prior processing event. The second is metamemory: specifically, what is the basis for self-reflective evaluations of memory performance and how do these evaluations guide efforts at memory retrieval. The basic approach Dr.Schnyer has employed within each of these areas is to test well founded cognitive theories using several complimentary research methodologies including, (a) task dissociations in neurologically damaged patients and healthy controls, (b) human electro and magneto encephalograhic recordings (EEG and MEG), © functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), and (d) the multimodal integration of fMRI and MEG.

email | webpage

Neurobiology. Cortical mechanisms of visual perception.

email | webpage

Communication Sciences and Disorders and Linguistics. Neurolinguistics, Experimental Phonetics.

email

Philosophy. Philosophy of mind and the foundations of cognitive science, metaphysics.

email | webpage

Computer Sciences. I work on evolutionary history methodology and algorithms in Biology and Historical Linguistics.

webpage