Médias et Internet

Communiqués de presse

Montreal, June 9, 2003 - The UQAM Social Science Faculty is organizing its first Cognitive Sciences Summer Institute, on the subject of "categorisation", from June 30 to July 11, 2003. Bringing together researchers in six different disciplines to address a single subject, each from a specific point of view, constitutes a world first. This event is intended for professors, researchers, graduate students and professionals.

"Categorisation" is the most fundamental mental operation by which the mind classifies objects and persons, enabling us to sort the data of the external world and to name the events and objects that surround us. Without categorisation, we would not be able to agree on how to name whatever exists in the world or to communicate among ourselves. Thought and language themselves are thus based on the capacity to categorise.

"Categorisation" is studied in the following disciplines: cognitive anthropology (how categories vary from one culture to another), cognitive computer science (how machines categorise), linguistics (the source of words and syntactic categories), cognitive neurosciences (how the brain sorts data), philosophy (do the categories existing in the world determine how we categorise or is it our way of categorising that determines how we perceive the world), psychology (how we acquire categories) and biology (are categories innate; how do animals categorise).

This event will bring together sixty speakers of international reputation, affiliated with major universities, such as Berkeley, Boston, Washington, Cambridge, Glasgow, Bologna and Paris. Participants from a number of countries will attend the Summer Institute. Each of the ten days of the event will focus on a specific topic. Each presentation will be addressed to participants from every discipline, allowing them to interact at all times. The program will comprise lectures, courses, group discussions and a poster session.

Bringing together researchers from the social sciences, the neurosciences and the computer sciences, the Cognitive Sciences Summer Institute will stimulate intellectual exchange through a multiplicity of points of view. Given the scope of this scientific event, the organisers hope to make a significant contribution to the promotion of knowledge on the subject and to the disciplines involved.

Credits and fees

It is possible for students to earn credits for their participation in the Summer Institute, according to current UQAM standards and MEQ and CREPUQ requirements. Information on credited activities, fees and registration is available on the Institute's web site: www.unites.uqam.ca/sccog

Information

The Director of the Summer Institute is Claire Lefebvre, Ph. D., SRC, Professor in the Department of Linguistics at UQAM.

The Summer Institute will be held in the J.-A. DeSève Building, 320 Saint Catherine Street East (corner of Sanguinet), in Montreal.

Registration Information: (514) 987-3000, ext. 8208#, registration.cogsci@uqam.ca

Additional information: cogsci@uqam.ca

- 30 -

Source : Huguette Lucas, agente d'information
Division des relations avec la presse et événements spéciaux
Service des communications
Tél. : (514) 987-3000, poste 6832#
Téléc. : (514) 987-3251
Lucas.huguette@uqam.ca

03-101