There will be no VISCA for 2022.

See you in 2023.

Virtual International Symposium on Cognitive Architecture (VISCA 2021)

June 8-11, 2021: 10/11am-1:30pm EDT

Hosted by the Soar Research Group, University of Michigan

John Laird (laird@umich.edu): Organizer

Zoom link for joining: https://umich.zoom.us/j/98492783670

Over the last forty years, there has been continual research in cognitive architecture – the computational substructure underlying cognition. VISCA is an attempt to bring together leaders in the field to share their current research across the breadth of cognitive architecture, including research on modeling human behavior, neural-cognitive architectures, functional capabilities of cognitive architectures, components of cognitive architectures, and applications. Our goal is to enable anyone in the world to participate. Please share this webpage with colleagues and friends who might be interested.

There are no registration fees or other costs. All that we ask is that you register so we can provide you access to the symposium and the materials we collect. The symposium will be a live event, June 8-11.

All talks will be 25 minutes, followed by 5 minutes of questions taken from the chat. We will not have questions during your talk. Following the talk presentations there will be a panel led by the session chair, which will allow for additional questions. We will try to stay on schedule – we will not skip ahead if there are problems with one of the talks. All talks will be 25 minutes, followed by 5 minutes of questions taken from the chat. We will not have questions during a talk. Following the talk presentations there will be a panel led by the session chair, which will allow for additional questions. We will try to stay on schedule – we will not skip ahead if there are problems with one of the talks.

We will use Zoom Webinar (https://umich.zoom.us/j/98492783670) for the presentations. Email laird@umich.edu if you have questions.

Speakers and Talks

June 8, 10:00am-1:00pm EDT: Greg Trafton Session Chair

AI and Robotic Cognitive Architectures

10:00amKristinn R. ThorissonReykjavik UniversityPractical Seed-Programmed Autonomous General Cumulative LearningVideoSlides
10:30amAntonio ChellaUniversity of PalermoThe Inner Speech of a Cognitive ArchitectureVideoSlides
11:00amMichael CoxWright State UniversityCognition’s interface to the world and to metacognition in MIDCAVideoSlides
11:30amMichael BeetzUniversity of BremenEmbodied Intelligent AgentsVideoSlides
12:00pmAntonio LietoUniversity of TurinFunctional and Structural Models of Commonsense Reasoning in Cognitive ArchitecturesVideoSlides
12:30pmDiscussion

June 9, 11:00am-1:30pm EDT: Andrea Stocco Session Chair

Neuro-Cognitive Architectures, Brain Structure, …

11:00amMatt BotvinickDeep MindThe compositional turn in deep learningVideoSlides
11:30amRandy O’ReillyUC DavisThe central role of the parietal lobe in the neural cognitive architectureVideoSlides
12:00pmOlaf SpornsIndiana UniversityBrain Networks: Structural and Dynamic Substrates of Cognitive Architectures?VideoSlides
12:30pmLucina UddinUniversity of MiamiBrain dynamics and flexible behaviorsVideoSlides
1:00pmDiscussion Video

June 10, 11:00am-1:30pm EDT: Christian Lebiere Session Chair

Cognitive Modeling

11:00amRick Lewis & Andrew HowesUniversity of Michigan & University of BirminghamThe Role of Reinforcement Learning in Cognitive Architecture ResearchVideo
11:30amJohn K. TsotsosYork UniversityThe ‘Why’ and ‘How’ of Attentional Control for Visuospatial BehaviorVideoSlides
12:00pmSean Kugele University of MemphisA theory-driven, incremental approach to constructing mindsVideoSlides
12:30pm Chris DancyBucknell UniversityFrom the physiological to the social: Thinking about the human in human-AI interactionVideoSlides
1:00pmDiscussionVideo

June 11, 11:00am-1:30pm EDT: Robert West Session Chair

Common Model / Theory

11:00amMarcin MiłkowskiPolish Academy of SciencesCognitive Architectures and the Unity of Cognitive ScienceVideoSlides
11:30amPaul RosenbloomUniversity of Southern CaliforniaA Framework for Mapping the Technological Underpinnings of Artificial Intelligence, Cognitive Modeling, and Integrated Systems and ModelsVideoSlides
12:00pmJohn LairdUniversity of MichiganA Formal Analysis of Two Common Model Cognitive Architectures: Act-R and Soar.VideoSlides
12:30pmDiscussionVideo