Date: October 16, 2019 3:00pm-4:30pm
Location: Dunton Tower: Room 2203
Speaker: Sean Riley:
Title: Modelling Mental Imagery
Abstract:
The “mind’s eye” has long been of interest to cognitive science, yet despite decades of research
spanning philosophy, neuroscience, and cognitive psychology, a formal understanding of mental
imagery’s neural underpinnings has yet to emerge. I will present initial steps in this direction,
focusing on merging prevailing findings from neuroscience and cognitive psychology into a
single model. Topics will include mental map scanning, mental rotation, and future challenges
facing the field.
Speaker’s profile:
Sean Riley is a PhD student at Carleton University’s Institute of Cognitive Science, and
alongside Dr. Jim Davies in the Science of Imagination Lab, works on understanding how mental
imagery and related cognitive processes manifest themselves in the brain. Prior to his graduate
studies, Sean worked with Dr. Liane Gabora in the Studies of Creative and Evolutionary
Processes Lab, and with Dr. Zach Walsh and Dr. Stephen Porter at the Centre for the
Advancement of Psychological Science and Law