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DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20181008T000000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20181008T000000
DTSTAMP:20260508T122702
CREATED:20200922T220908Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T005115Z
UID:4400-1538956800-1538956800@bec.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Michael Rescorla - Foundations of Cognitive Science: Mental Representation
DESCRIPTION:Michael Rescorla: University of California\, Los AngelesJust as the heart serves to pump blood and the stomach serves to digest food\, one of the mind’s principal functions is to represent the world. For instance\, I have various beliefs about Barack Obama: that he was once president of the United States\, that he is married to Michelle Obama\, and so on. These beliefs represent Barack Obama as being a certain way. Thus\, the mind somehow reaches beyond itself to external reality\, depicting the world as having certain features. In that sense\, the mind is a representational organ. Traditionally\, philosophers have emphasized the mind’s representational capacity as among its most important properties. Cognitive science builds upon this tradition\, assigning a foundational role to mental representation when constructing theories of perception\, motor control\, navigation\, reasoning\, decision-making\, planning\, linguistic communication\, and other core mental activities. Cognitive scientists elaborate the traditional picture of the mind as a representational organ into rigorous\, empirically well-confirmed theories.
URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/michael-rescorla-foundations-of-cognitive-science-mental-representation/
CATEGORIES:2018,Past Presentation,Presentation
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20181015T000000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20181015T000000
DTSTAMP:20260508T122702
CREATED:20200922T220950Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T005115Z
UID:4401-1539561600-1539561600@bec.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Sarah Benson-Amram - Individual\, Social\, and Ecological Influences on Problem-Solving Abilities
DESCRIPTION:Sarah Benson-Amram: University of WyomingAs urban centers all over the world have grown\, biologists have struggled to explain why some species can invade and thrive despite human-induced environmental change whereas others suffer often to the point of extinction. One potential explanation is that the evolution of advanced cognitive abilities has enabled some species to exhibit more flexible behavioral responses to anthropogenic disturbances. Empirical evidence for this hypothesis is lacking\, however\, as it is difficult both to assess cognition in wild animals and to standardize assessments of cognition across multiple species in differing environments. The main goals of my research program are: 1) to understand the selection pressures driving the evolution of intelligence\, 2) to clarify how the expression of behavioral flexibility and other cognitive abilities changes depending on the individual’s personality\, the presence and identity of conspecifics\, and the ecological environment\, and 3) to investigate how cognition might facilitate successful adaptation to human-altered environments. In this talk\, I will touch upon all three of these areas of research. I will first discuss my work examining the evolution of brain size and problem-solving abilities in a large comparative study of zoo-housed carnivores. I will then describe results from our research examining cognitive abilities in wild and captive populations of two highly successful carnivores\, the spotted hyena and the raccoon. Finally\, I will briefly describe some current research in our lab examining the interaction between personality and problem-solving performance in the monogamous zebra finch.
URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/sarah-benson-amram-individual-social-and-ecological-influences-on-problem-solving-abilities/
CATEGORIES:2018,Past Presentation,Presentation
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20181022T000000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20181022T000000
DTSTAMP:20260508T122702
CREATED:20200922T221037Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T005115Z
UID:4424-1540166400-1540166400@bec.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Eduardo Guerra Amorim - Migration and social organization in medieval Europe: a paleogenomic approach
DESCRIPTION:Eduardo Guerra Amorim: University of California\, Los AngelesDespite centuries of research\, much about the barbarian migrations that took place between the fourth and sixth centuries in Europe remains hotly debated. To better understand this key era that marks the dawn of modern European societies\, we obtained ancient genomic DNA from 63 samples from two cemeteries (from Hungary and Northern Italy) that have been previously associated with the Longobards\, a barbarian people that ruled large parts of Italy for over 200 years after invading from Pannonia in 568 CE. Our dense cemetery-based sampling revealed that each cemetery was primarily organized around one large pedigree\, suggesting that biological relationships played an important role in these early medieval societies. Moreover\, we identified genetic structure in each cemetery involving at least two groups with different ancestry that were very distinct in terms of their funerary customs. Finally\, our data are consistent with the proposed long-distance migration from Pannonia to Northern Italy.
URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/eduardo-guerra-amorim-migration-and-social-organization-in-medieval-europe-a-paleogenomic-approach/
CATEGORIES:2018,Past Presentation,Presentation
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20181029T000000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20181029T000000
DTSTAMP:20260508T122702
CREATED:20200922T220953Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T005115Z
UID:4405-1540771200-1540771200@bec.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Daniel Benyshek -  Human Maternal Placentophagy: evolutionary roots\, cross-cultural occurrence\, and an emerging post-industrial health trend
DESCRIPTION:Daniel Benyshek: University of Nevada Las VegasMaternal placentophagy\, the mother’s consumption of the ‘afterbirth’ following parturition\, is a ubiquitous behavior among terrestrial mammals – including non-human primates. Despite myriad hypothesized fitness-enhancing consequences of the behavior\, including predator avoidance\, improved lactation\, enhanced care-taking behaviors\, maternal analgesic effects\, and the replenishment of maternal nutrients\, among others\, human maternal placentophagy is unknown in the cross-cultural ethnographic literature. The conspicuous absence of placentophagy in humans as a traditional cultural practice\, raises interesting questions relative to its evolution in other mammals\, the reasons for its apparent absence among historic and contemporary human populations\, and its implications for maternal and child health in the context of an emerging placentophagy ‘alternative health’ practice among some women in post-industrial societies.
URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/daniel-benyshek-human-maternal-placentophagy-evolutionary-roots-cross-cultural-occurrence-and-an-emerging-post-industrial-health-trend/
CATEGORIES:2018,Past Presentation,Presentation
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