31ST ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE COGNITIVE SCIENCE SOCIETY

[Tim Rogers]

The Cognitive Science Society is pleased to announce its 31st Annual 
Conference. The Society brings together researchers from many fields 
that hold a common goal: understanding the nature of the human mind. The 
Society promotes scientific exchange among researchers in disciplines 
comprising the field of Cognitive Science, including Anthropology, 
Artificial Intelligence, Education, Linguistics, Machine Learning, 
Neuroscience, Philosophy, and Psychology.

The conference will be held in Amsterdam, at the Free University, from 
Wednesday, July 29th to Saturday, August 1st (Wednesday, July 29th, is a 
day of tutorials and workshops). The conference produces a digital 
proceedings of all papers and posters. All sessions will be accessible 
for those with disabilities.

The submission deadline is February 1, 2009. For more information, visit 
the conference website at: 
http://cognitivesciencesociety.org/conference2009/index.html.

In recent years The Society has continued its tradition of hosting 
symposia, workshops and conference streams featuring cutting-edge 
cross-disciplinary research presented by leading scientists. In 2006, 
2007 and 2008, topics included: Psychocomputational models of language 
acquisition; How language affects thought; Integrating human and machine 
vision; Complex systems and the cognitive sciences; Cognitive science of 
games and gameplay; Cultural impacts on cognition ; Statistical learning 
in language, vision, and comparative cognition; Situated and embodied 
cognition; Building and evaluating models of human-level intelligence; 
and many more. Tutorial sessions have included: Computational models of 
spoken language processing, Embodied cognition and robotics, Cognitive 
science in the design of graphical images and interfaces, Computational 
cognitive neuroscience modeling using LEABRA in pdp++, Bayesian models 
of inductive learning, ACT-R, SOAR, Quantum information processing 
theory, and many more; and plenary speakers in the last three years have 
included John Anderson, Jeff Elman, Walter Kintsch, Jay McClelland, John 
Laird, David Plaut, Shimon Ullman, and other scientists whose work spans 
cognition, computation, language, and neuroscience. The 2009 program 
promises to be similarly diverse!

The 31st Annual Conference will feature three plenary speakers, Joshua 
Tenenbaum, Randall O'Reilly and Nicola Clayton. In addition, we will 
announce the 2009 Rumelhart Prize winner, Susan Carey, and the winner of 
the Heineken 2008 prize, Stanislas Dehaene.

Amsterdam is the capital of The Netherlands, and its largest city. 
Incorporated in the 14th century, Amsterdam is a liberal and vibrant 
city, rich with historical attractions, natural beauty, a multitude of 
shops and restaurants, and a thriving nightlife. Take an evening canal 
tour and see the enchanting lights of the beautifully illuminated 
bridges and canal houses; visit The Hague; see the vast collection of 
classic Dutch art at the Rijksmuseum; and explore the labyrinthine “Red 
Light” district. Amsterdam is also one of the most bicycle-friendly 
cities in the world and also boasts an excellent public transportation 
system.