You are cordially invited to the Seminar organized by the Psychology Department.
Date & Time: December 20, 2024; Friday at 12:30
Place: A-130
The presentation language will be English.
Presenter: Prof. Tilbe Göksun, Ph.D., Koç University
Title:
Spatial Cognition and Multimodal Language
Abstract:
Reasoning and talking about space go through significant changes throughout an individual’s life. The role of language in these cognitive processes and cross-linguistic differences in encoding space has been a hotly debated and researched area in cognitive scientific research. Language is multimodal. One aspect of multimodality is the hand gestures people produce when they communicate and represent their thoughts. In this talk, I will discuss the links between spatial cognition and multimodal language from a developmental and individual differences perspective. I will first focus on early development and present research on (1) how young children acquire and express spatial concepts multimodally, and (2) how children’s other cognitive processes and use of resources (e.g., parental input, learning from robots, interventions) may interact with their spatial concept formation and learning. Then, I will discuss (3) how experienced language users (i.e., adults) reason, think, and talk about space. Taken together, this talk will emphasize the intricate relations between space and multimodal language, highlighting the importance of taking individual differences into account in examining these relations.
Bio:
Tilbe Göksun is a Professor of Psychology at Koç University and the director of the Language & Cognition Lab (https://lclab.ku.edu.tr/). Her primary research involves language-thought interaction across developmental time, early language learning, and multimodal language processing and production in different populations. Her work employs interdisciplinary perspectives, focusing on multi-method and cross-linguistic research with multilevel analyses. She received many national and international awards, including James S. McDonnell Human Cognition Scholar award, Young Outstanding Scientist Awards of Turkish Academy of Sciences and Science Academy of Turkey, and TÜBİTAK Encouragement Award. She is an Associate Editor for the journals Infancy and Journal of Cognition and Development. She served as the Secretary General in the board of the International Society for Gesture Studies between 2016 and 2022. Since August 2021 she is on the Cognitive Science Society Governing Board and chairs the Outreach committee in the society.