Session 1A - Thursday June 17, 8:30 AM - 9:30 AM

Organizers: David R. Mandel and Robert N. Collins

Speakers: Marie Juanchich, Miroslav Sirota, Dawn Holford, Maria Kyriakou and Margarita Christou; Robert R. Collins and David R. Mandel; Karl Halvor Teigen, Marie Juanchich, Erik Løhre; David R. Mandel, Mandeep K. Dhami, Daniel Irwin, and Serena Tran.

Symposia Abstract: Probability communications are commonplace in modern information- and uncertainty-rich societies. This symposium examines several cognitive effects of receiving communications about probability information in either numeric or verbal formats. In Presentation 1, Juanchich et al. examine the conversationally pragmatic assumption that the framing of verbal probabilities is taken as implicit advice that has implications for credibility assessments of the sender. In Presentation 2, also drawing on a pragmatic account, Collins and Mandel examine how probability format (i.e. verbal vs. numeric) affects inference about unstated recommendations and how these in turn affect decision-making. In Presentation 3, Teigen et al. examine the interpretation of the verbal probability “likely” and find that it is interpreted as the mode of a distribution; namely, as the “most likely” value. Finally, in Presentation 4, Mandel et al. examine accuracy across three formats (verbal, point numeric, and numeric ranges) on arithmetic tasks involving computation of averages and products.

Session 2A - Thursday June 17, 9:45 AM - 10:45 AM

Organizer: Noah D. Forrin

Speakers: Lydia Hicks, Emilie Caron, and Daniel Smilek; Laura J. Bianchi, Serena Tran, Sameera Singh, Michelle Ashburner, and Evan F. Risko; Caitlin Mills, Trish L. Varao-Sousa, and Alan Kingstone; Noah D. Forrin, Simran Kalsi, Faria Sana, Joseph A. Kim, and Colin M. MacLeod

Symposia Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic precipitated a wide-scale transition to online learning, impacting millions of postsecondary students worldwide. The first talk, presenting survey data from an undergraduate psychology course, elucidates an important issue: Following the shift to online learning, students perceive their attentiveness to have decreased. The subsequent talks examine associations between students’ attentiveness and key aspects of online lectures: lecture video speed, the visible presence (vs. absence) of the instructor, and the attentiveness of visible classmates. Lecture video speed can be increased without diminishing attentiveness (second talk). Students are less attentive when watching lecture videos with their peers, but similarly attentive regardless of whether the instructor is visible (third talk). And (in)attentive states can spread “contagiously” between students in a live online classroom (fourth talk). Together, these talks will advance knowledge of factors associated with attention and learning online and will discuss practical implications for instructors and students.

Practical suggestions for incorporating open science practices

Session 3A - Thursday June 17, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Organizer: Erin Quirk, Lena Kremin, Krista Byers-Heinlein

Speakers: Krista Byers-Heinlein, Melanie Soderstrom, & Kiley Hamlin; Léon Franzen; Shaun Y.-S. Khoo.

Symposia Abstract: Open science aims to make research more transparent, accessible, and reproducible. Many researchers understand and value these principles but may not know how to apply them to their own work. This symposium addresses a gap in open science discussions by offering practical suggestions for how researchers can incorporate open science practices into their research pipelines. Paper 1 describes how the ManyBabies consortium built a successful large-scale international collaboration with open science principles and practices at its foundation. Paper 2 introduces the use of open software tools for generating unbiased visual representations and conducting robust inferential statistics. Paper 3 gives a state of the art of open access initiatives in psychology and neuroscience with practical tips for how researchers can effectively use them. This symposium gives concrete steps for researchers to implement open science practices in cognitive psychology and brain science.

Finding social meaning through written and spoken language

Session 3B - Thursday June 17, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Organizers: Mehrgol Tiv & Debra Titone

Speakers: Mehrgol Tiv, Elisabeth O’Regan, Debra Titone; Emiko Muraki, Penny Pexman; Ethan Kutlu, Mehrgol Tiv, Steffi Wulff, Debra Titone; Raheleh Saryazdi, Joanne Nuque, Craig Chambers

Symposia Abstract: Often the scientific study of language occurs in a context-free vacuum. While this approach has shed light on many aspects of language processing, it does not reflect how language is actually used and understood in the real world. Real-world communication is often ambiguous – what exactly someone is trying to say is in no small part influenced by who is saying it, to whom, or in what context. Aside from the content of the utterance, real-world communication also conveys information about the speaker and is affected as well by the perceiver’s own language experience and conceptual representations. This process is further complicated by technological advances that allow non-human agents to use and understand language. How do we navigate these countless cues to find meaning? In this symposium our panel of four speakers will bring diverse perspectives to the question of how social information guides our understanding and perception of language.

Postural Performance in Older Adults

Session 4A - Thursday June 17, 4:45 PM - 5:45 PM

Organizer: Nicole Grant, April Pereira & Berkley Petersen

Speakers: Nicole Grant, Natalie Phillips, Kathy Pichora-Fuller; April Pereira, Kathleen Pichora-Fuller, Huiwen Goy, Christian Giguère; Berkley Petersen, Caitlin Murphy, Aaron Johnson, & Karen Z. H. Li.

Symposia Abstract: Healthy aging is associated with changes in cognitive, sensory, and motor functioning. Approximately one third of all older adults have some degree of hearing loss (HL); thus it is important to understand the underlying mechanisms linking HL to cognitive and postural performance as they are both key factors involved in everyday functioning. The three presenters will describe recent work that examines (1) the effects of HL on patterns of neural functioning and neurodegeneration (2) the role of cognitive status in moderating the association between pure-tone hearing thresholds and speech-in-noise reception thresholds, and (3) the effects of hearing status on cognitive-motor dual tasking, with the added consideration of vision loss. The objectives of the three presentations converge in underscoring the connections between cognitive status, cognitive load and performance on sensory and sensorimotor measures.

Session 5A - Thursday June 17, 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM

Organizer: Sean A. Gilmore

Speakers: Sean A. Gilmore; Jessica Grahn; Frank A. Russo, Emily A. Wood, Joseph Rovetti, Karla Kovacek; Christopher L. Striemer.

Symposia Abstract: The “motor-system” is a network of cortices generally contained – but not isolated to - dorsal parietal and basil ganglia regions of the brain. These regions have been classically defined by their association with motor-based processes and behaviours. However, over the years research has challenged the domain specificity of the motor system, examining the interconnectivity of these cortices and the role they play in non-motor processes. This symposium is aimed at providing a multidisciplinary approach to better understand the role of the motor system. This symposium will span across disciplines such as temporal auditory perception (Jessica Grahn); vocal memory advantages (Frank Russo) and the role of the cerebellum in visual attention (Christopher Striemer). Overall, each talk will present unique evidence for the role that classically defined “motor-systems” have non-motor functions.

The Production, Drawing and Enactment Effects

Session 6A - Friday June 18, 8:30 AM - 9:30 AM

Organizer: Jonathan M. Fawcett

Speakers: Kathleen Hourihan; Jeffrey Wammes; Brady Roberts; Heath Matheson

Symposia Abstract: Our ability to selectively retain information is central to most aspects of our lives. But not all information is worth retaining, at least in the long run. This has driven research identifying encoding strategies through which important information might be highlighted to ensure that it remains accessible over time. The current symposium explores this topic by bringing together talks on three related encoding strategies (production, drawing and enactment) known to improve memory, with an emphasis on understanding their commonalities. Topics will include a discussion of encoding fluency within the production effect; how drawing benefits long-term retention in the brain and in the classroom; a meta-analytic synthesis of the enactment effect; and, finally, an embodied perspective connecting each of the preceding phenomena.

Session 7A- Friday June 18, 9:45 AM - 10:45 AM

Organizer: Dominic Guitard

Speakers: Nelson Cowan; Alicia Forsberg; Jean Saint-Aubin; Valerie Camos

Symposia Abstract: Sometimes you need information for a short period (e.g., when transferring a telephone number manually to your phone) while other times you need information for a longer period (e.g., when learning the names of your colleagues). Despite more than a century of research, we do not understand the relation between short (STM) or working memory (WM), a system for holding mental representations temporarily for use in thought and action, and long-term memory (LTM), a system for indefinite retention of an unlimited amount of information. In this symposium world renown experts will discuss empirical advances motivated by three contrasting theoretical approaches to memory: an embedded-processes approach (Cowan), a feature model approach (Saint-Aubin), and a time-based resource sharing approach (Camos). Forsberg presents new evidence that shows how STM/WM limits strongly predict LTM performance. Discussions will focus on the implications of a range of new evidence for the competing approaches.

Task-Based Brain Networks detectable by fMRI

Session 8A - Friday June 18, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Organizers: Todd S. Woodward, Donna Rose Addis, Maria Natasha Rajah

Speakers: Todd S. Woodward, Donna Rose Addis, Maria Natasha Rajah

Symposia Abstract: The brief history of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) methodology in cognitive neuroscience can be categorized across two dimensions: task vs. rest (experiments), and networks vs. individual regions (analyses). The task/regions approach began in the 1990s, and the rest/networks in the 2000s. The field is now turning to the task/networks approach, which provides evidence for associations of cognition/behaviour with network-level anatomical patterns. Two Canadian software packages for analysis of task/networks for fMRI: Partial Least Squares (PLS) and Constrained Principal Component Analysis for fMRI (fMRI-CPCA). PLS and fMRI-CPCA hold similar underlying assumptions (whole-brain dimensional analysis providing anatomical and temporal information) and were first published circa 2005. This symposium provides updates on the types of behavioural measures and cognitive operations are associated with specific task-based brain networks detectable with fMRI; namely, mental flexibility (Woodward), autobiographical cognition (Addis), and sex differences in aging (Rajah)

Session 9A - Friday June 18, 4:45 PM - 5:45 PM

Organizer: Valerie Thompson

Speakers: Giovanni Quartararo and Valerie Thompson; Ian Newman and Valerie Thompson; Pier-Luc de Chantal & Henry Markovits; Henry Markovits & Valerie Thompson.

Symposia Abstract: The talks in this symposium examine the circumstances under which analytic thinking is engaged, and the consequences of such engagement. We usually conceive of analytic thinking to be processes that enable deliberation and complex problem-solving; however, they are also used to more nefarious ends when they are employed to dismiss evidence and arguments that oppose a firmly held belief. Quartararo examines the role of analytic thinking in argument evaluation, and demonstrates that contrary to motivated reasoning theory, people are able to discriminate strong and weak arguments on emotionally charged topics. Newman examines the metacogntive cues that prompt people to think analytically, showing that many of are unreliable. De Chantal examines the relationship between two seemingly antithetical forms of reasoning: divergent thinking and logical thinking, and argues they are related skills. Finally, Markovits examines the role of strategy in common reasoning task, and demonstrates the difficulty of getting people to change tack.