<html><head></head><body><div style="font-family: Verdana;font-size: 12.0px;"><div>Dear colleagues,</div>
<div>the below talk by Tecumseh Fitch, organised by the Vienna Cognitive Science platform, might be of interest to linguists too.</div>
<div>Best,</div>
<div>Jakob Steixner</div>
<div>
<div>
<div style="margin: 10.0px 5.0px 5.0px 10.0px;padding: 10.0px 0 10.0px 10.0px;border-left: 2.0px solid rgb(195,217,229);">
<div style="margin: 0 0 10.0px 0;"><b>Gesendet:</b> Montag, 18. Mai 2015 um 14:47 Uhr<br/>
<b>Von:</b> "Cognitive Science Research Platform" <cogsci@univie.ac.at><br/>
<b>An:</b> cogsci.all@lists.univie.ac.at<br/>
<b>Betreff:</b> [cogsci.all] THURSDAY | CogSci Talk | Tecumseh Fitch | The Syntax of Mind | May 21, 6:15pm | HS 3D, NIG</div>
<div>
<div style="margin: 0;padding: 0;background-color: rgb(242,242,242);height: 100.0%;width: 100.0%;">
<center>
<table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" height="100%" id="bodyTable" style="border-collapse: collapse;margin: 0;padding: 0;background-color: rgb(242,242,242);height: 100.0%;width: 100.0%;" width="100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td align="center" id="bodyCell" style="margin: 0;padding: 20.0px;border-top: 0;height: 100.0%;width: 100.0%;" valign="top">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" id="templateContainer" style="border-collapse: collapse;border: 0;" width="600">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td align="center" valign="top">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" id="templatePreheader" style="border-collapse: collapse;background-color: rgb(255,255,255);border-top: 0;border-bottom: 0;" width="600">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="preheaderContainer" style="padding-top: 9.0px;" valign="top">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnTextBlock" style="border-collapse: collapse;" width="100%">
<tbody class="mcnTextBlockOuter">
<tr>
<td class="mcnTextBlockInner" valign="top">
<table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnTextContentContainer" style="border-collapse: collapse;" width="366">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="mcnTextContent" style="padding-top: 9.0px;padding-left: 18.0px;padding-bottom: 9.0px;padding-right: 0;color: rgb(96,96,96);font-family: Helvetica;font-size: 11.0px;line-height: 125.0%;text-align: left;" valign="top"> </td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnTextContentContainer" style="border-collapse: collapse;" width="197">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="mcnTextContent" style="padding-top: 9.0px;padding-right: 18.0px;padding-bottom: 9.0px;padding-left: 0;color: rgb(96,96,96);font-family: Helvetica;font-size: 11.0px;line-height: 125.0%;text-align: left;" valign="top"><a href="http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=2cb037252f08c3c99bf785ee1&id=4050c0e9dd&e=9440f43795" style="color: rgb(96,96,96);font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">View this email in your browser</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center" valign="top">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" id="templateHeader" style="border-collapse: collapse;background-color: rgb(255,255,255);border-top: 0;border-bottom: 0;" width="600">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="headerContainer" valign="top">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnImageBlock" style="border-collapse: collapse;" width="100%">
<tbody class="mcnImageBlockOuter">
<tr>
<td class="mcnImageBlockInner" style="padding: 9.0px;" valign="top">
<table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnImageContentContainer" style="border-collapse: collapse;" width="100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="mcnImageContent" style="padding-right: 9.0px;padding-left: 9.0px;padding-top: 0;padding-bottom: 0;" valign="top"><img align="left" alt="" class="mcnImage" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/2cb037252f08c3c99bf785ee1/images/header_cogsci_talk.png" style="max-width: 544.0px;padding-bottom: 0;display: inline;vertical-align: bottom;border: 0;outline: none;text-decoration: none;" width="544"/></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center" valign="top">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" id="templateBody" style="border-collapse: collapse;background-color: rgb(255,255,255);border-top: 0;border-bottom: 0;" width="600">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="bodyContainer" valign="top">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnTextBlock" style="border-collapse: collapse;" width="100%">
<tbody class="mcnTextBlockOuter">
<tr>
<td class="mcnTextBlockInner" valign="top">
<table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnTextContentContainer" style="border-collapse: collapse;" width="600">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="mcnTextContent" style="padding-top: 9.0px;padding-right: 18.0px;padding-bottom: 9.0px;padding-left: 18.0px;color: rgb(96,96,96);font-family: Helvetica;font-size: 15.0px;line-height: 150.0%;text-align: left;" valign="top">
<div style="font-family: helvetica , helvetica neue , arial , sans-serif;color: rgb(96,96,96);">
<p style="margin: 1.0em 0;padding: 0;color: rgb(96,96,96);font-family: Helvetica;font-size: 15.0px;line-height: 150.0%;text-align: left;"><strong>Dear colleagues,</strong><br/>
<br/>
We cordially invite you to our next <a href="http://univie.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2cb037252f08c3c99bf785ee1&id=b522b1202a&e=9440f43795" style="color: rgb(109,198,221);font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">CogSci Talk</a> coming up on <strong><em>THURSDAY EVENING.</em></strong><br/>
<br/>
This time Tecumseh Fitch (University of Vienna) will give his talk "The Syntax of Mind: Dendrophilia and Human Cognition".<br/>
<br/>
<span style="line-height: 1.6em;">Looking forward to seeing you!</span><br/>
<br/>
<span style="line-height: 1.6em;">Best regards,</span><br/>
<em style="line-height: 1.6em;">CogSci Team</em><br/>
</p>
<hr/>
<h2 style="text-align: center;margin-bottom: 10.0px;margin: 0;padding: 0;display: block;font-family: Helvetica;font-size: 26.0px;font-style: normal;font-weight: bold;line-height: 125.0%;letter-spacing: -0.75px;color: rgb(64,64,64);">Tecumseh Fitch</h2>
<h3 style="text-align: center;font-size: 90.0%;font-weight: normal;margin-bottom: 5.0px;margin: 0;padding: 0;display: block;font-family: Helvetica;font-style: normal;line-height: 125.0%;letter-spacing: -0.5px;color: rgb(96,96,96);">Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna</h3>
<h1 style="text-align: center;margin-bottom: 25.0px;margin: 0;padding: 0;display: block;font-family: Helvetica;font-size: 40.0px;font-style: normal;font-weight: bold;line-height: 125.0%;letter-spacing: -1.0px;color: rgb(96,96,96);">The Syntax of Mind: Dendrophilia and Human Cognition</h1>
<div style="text-align: center;">May 21, 2015 | 6:15 pm<br/>
NIG<br/>
Hörsaal 3D<br/>
Universitätsstraße 7 | 1010 Wien</div>
<br/>
<strong>About the talk</strong>
<div style="text-align: justify;">A fundamental observation about human cognition is that we make “infinite use of finite means,” using a limited number of rules and principles to generate unbounded sets of behaviors and to recognize unbounded sets of patterns. In many cases this involves a capacity to both generate and perceive tree structures in stimuli of various types (language, music, social cognition, etc.). Human language in particular requires computational resources that go beyond simple string generation to allow the inference and generation of complex, flexible tree structures. This entails supra-regular (above finite state) computational mechanisms that augment standard finite state mechanisms with a flexible, multi-purpose memory store (a "stack" or equivalent). I review comparative research gathered over the past decade suggesting that such computational resources are poorly developed or absent in most nonhuman animal species. This body of empirical research implies that the human proclivity for producing and perceiving tree-structured stimuli -- our "dendrophilia" -- represented a key cognitive innovation during recent human evolution. Both brain imaging and comparative research suggest that Broca's area (Brodmann Areas 44 and 45) is an important computational hub for human tree processing, suggesting that this core prefrontal region was harnessed, and its computational role expanded, during the evolution of dendrophilia and human cognitive abilities in general.<br/>
</div>
<span style="line-height: 1.6em;"><strong>About the speaker</strong></span><br/>
<br/>
<em>Education</em><br/>
<br/>
1981 | Graduation Washington High School (Washington, PA, USA)<br/>
1981 - 1986<span style="color: rgb(96,96,96);font-family: helvetica , helvetica neue , arial , sans-serif;line-height: 20.8px;"> | </span>Bachelor (Honours) Biology & Medicine, Brown University, USA<br/>
1989 - 1994<span style="color: rgb(96,96,96);font-family: helvetica , helvetica neue , arial , sans-serif;line-height: 20.8px;"> | </span>PhD Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences, Brown University<span style="color: rgb(96,96,96);font-family: helvetica , helvetica neue , arial , sans-serif;line-height: 20.8px;">, USA</span><br/>
<br/>
<em>Career</em><br/>
<br/>
1996 - 1999<span style="color: rgb(96,96,96);font-family: helvetica , helvetica neue , arial , sans-serif;line-height: 20.8px;"> | </span>Post-doctoral Fellow MIT/Harvard (Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA)<br/>
1999 - 2002<span style="color: rgb(96,96,96);font-family: helvetica , helvetica neue , arial , sans-serif;line-height: 20.8px;"> | </span>Lecturer, Harvard University (Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA)<br/>
2002 - 2003<span style="color: rgb(96,96,96);font-family: helvetica , helvetica neue , arial , sans-serif;line-height: 20.8px;"> | </span>Fellow, European Institute for Advanced Study, Berlin, Germany<br/>
2003 - 2009<span style="color: rgb(96,96,96);font-family: helvetica , helvetica neue , arial , sans-serif;line-height: 20.8px;"> | </span>Senior Lecturer and Reader, School of Psychology, University of St. Andrews, UK<br/>
2005 - 2006<span style="color: rgb(96,96,96);font-family: helvetica , helvetica neue , arial , sans-serif;line-height: 20.8px;"> | </span>Leibniz Professor & Visiting Scholar, Max Planck Institute EVA, Leipzig<br/>
2009 – present<span style="color: rgb(96,96,96);font-family: helvetica , helvetica neue , arial , sans-serif;line-height: 20.8px;"> | </span>Professor of Evolutionary Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna</div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center" valign="top">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" id="templateFooter" style="border-collapse: collapse;background-color: rgb(255,255,255);border-top: 0;border-bottom: 0;" width="600">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="footerContainer" style="padding-bottom: 9.0px;" valign="top">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnTextBlock" style="border-collapse: collapse;" width="100%">
<tbody class="mcnTextBlockOuter">
<tr>
<td class="mcnTextBlockInner" valign="top">
<table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnTextContentContainer" style="border-collapse: collapse;" width="600">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="mcnTextContent" style="padding-top: 9.0px;padding-right: 18.0px;padding-bottom: 9.0px;padding-left: 18.0px;color: rgb(96,96,96);font-family: Helvetica;font-size: 11.0px;line-height: 125.0%;text-align: left;" valign="top"><em style="line-height: 20.8px;">Copyright © 2015 Forschungsplattform Cognitive Science. All rights reserved.</em><br style="line-height: 20.8px;"/>
<span style="line-height: 20.8px;">You are receiving this email because you subscribed to the newsletter of the Cognitive Science Research Plattform at the University of Vienna.</span><br style="line-height: 20.8px;"/>
<br style="line-height: 20.8px;"/>
<strong style="line-height: 20.8px;">Our mailing address is:</strong>
<div class="vcard"><span style="line-height: 20.8px;"><span class="org fn">Forschungsplattform Cognitive Science</span></span>
<div class="adr">
<div class="street-address"><span style="line-height: 20.8px;">Universitaetsstrasse 7</span></div>
<span style="line-height: 20.8px;"><span class="locality">Vienna</span>, <span class="region">Wien</span> <span class="postal-code">1010</span></span></div>
<br/>
<span style="line-height: 20.8px;"><a class="hcard-download" href="http://univie.us2.list-manage1.com/vcard?u=2cb037252f08c3c99bf785ee1&id=996b8e41bd" target="_blank">Add us to your address book</a></span></div>
<span style="line-height: 20.8px;"> </span><br style="line-height: 20.8px;"/>
<br style="line-height: 20.8px;"/>
<span style="color: rgb(238,238,238);font-size: 8.0px;"><a class="utilityLink" href="http://univie.us2.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=2cb037252f08c3c99bf785ee1&id=996b8e41bd&e=9440f43795&c=4050c0e9dd" style="line-height: 20.8px;color: rgb(96,96,96);font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">unsubscribe from this list</a><span style="line-height: 20.8px;"> </span><a class="utilityLink" href="http://univie.us2.list-manage1.com/profile?u=2cb037252f08c3c99bf785ee1&id=996b8e41bd&e=9440f43795" style="line-height: 20.8px;color: rgb(96,96,96);font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">update subscription preferences</a><span style="line-height: 20.8px;"> </span></span><br style="line-height: 20.8px;"/>
<br style="line-height: 20.8px;"/>
<span style="line-height: 20.8px;"><a href="http://www.mailchimp.com/monkey-rewards/?utm_source=freemium_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=monkey_rewards&aid=2cb037252f08c3c99bf785ee1&afl=1" target="_blank"><img alt="Email Marketing Powered by MailChimp" border="0" height="54" src="http://cdn-images.mailchimp.com/monkey_rewards/MC_MonkeyReward_20.png" title="MailChimp Email Marketing" width="139"/></a> </span></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</center>
_______________________________________________ cogsci.all mailing list cogsci.all@lists.univie.ac.at <a href="https://lists.univie.ac.at/mailman/listinfo/cogsci.all" target="_blank">https://lists.univie.ac.at/mailman/listinfo/cogsci.all</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div></div></body></html>