Symposia                                              

Symposium 1: The Information Exchange Between Working Memory and Long-Term Memory
Friday, November 5, 10 AM - 12 PM CT
Chairs: Lea Bartsch (University of Zurich), Vanessa Loaiza (University of Essex), and Eda Mizrak (University of Zurich)

A fundamental and enduring question since the beginning of memory research concerns the overlap and reciprocal impacts of briefly keeping information active in mind (working memory) and the durable retention of that information (long-term memory). Much research has addressed this question by considering how working memory processes constrain and shape subsequent long-term memory, and, concomitantly, how stored information in long-term memory may enhance or interfere with working memory. This work has significant theoretical implications for many models of memory regarding whether working memory and long-term memory are dissociable systems and to what extent. In this symposium, we consider the latest findings that speak to the bidirectional relationship between working memory and long-term memory in an effort to bring consensus to a field that has been wrought with debate for over 100 years. (Full Description)

Symposium 2: Beyond the Button Press: Studying the Mind Through Drawings
Friday, November 5,  1:30 - 3:30 PM CT
Chairs: J. Brendan Ritchie (National Institutes of Health) and Benjamin van Buren (The New School)

Researchers often study visual cognition by asking participants to view stimuli and press keys on a computer keyboard. By contrast, in this symposium, we highlight recent discoveries which have been made possible by considering a higher-dimensional measure — namely, drawings. By collecting drawings from study participants, our speakers have found new answers to questions such as, “What do we remember about a visual scene?”, “How is visual input segmented into discrete objects and events?”, “How do different communicative purposes determine the amount of abstraction used in a drawing?”, and “What are the perceptual and cognitive differences that distinguish a drawing expert from a non-expert?” This symposium is a celebration of methodological innovation in behavioral research. Thus, in addition to discussing our findings, we will provide practical advice for those interested in using drawings to study the mind. We will also discuss the theoretical challenges and opportunities that arise from incorporating cultural artifacts into basic research on human perception and cognition. (Full Description)

Symposium 3: Moving Beyond Cognitive Universals (Special Symposium)
Co-Sponsored by the SPARK Society
Friday, November 5, 3:45 - 5:45 PM CT 
Chair: Belem G. López (The University of Texas at Austin)
Co-Organizers: Angela Gutchess (Brandeis University) and Ayanna Thomas (Tufts University)

Though it is well documented that race plays a role in how we perceive, remember, think, and navigate the world, much of research in Cognitive Psychology has ignored race. One reason may be that we have approached the study of human cognition from the perspective of cognition as universal, as being explained using species-typical mechanisms. Such a perspective has influenced how the field values specific research questions focused on diversity within cognition. Structural factors also play an important role as to why race is ignored in our field. The lack of racial diversity in the publication process and the field may leave us unprepared to engage in impactful science relevant to an increasingly diverse society. The panel of experts will present research that highlights why race should be consider in understanding human cognition, and how we as field may eliminate structural barriers that have prevented this important consideration. (Full Description)

Symposium 4: Advancing Cognition Through Adversarial Collaboration: The Case of Working and Long-Term Memory (Leading Edge Workshop)
Saturday, November 6, 10 AM - 12 PM CT
Chair: Robert H. Logie (University of Edinburgh)

One of the long-standing debates in cognition concerns how temporary representations and ongoing mental activity are related to the formation and retrieval of more lasting records of events and the accumulation of knowledge. This debate continues and was highlighted in the 2021 Psychonomic Society Leading Edge Workshop on how adversarial collaboration in research between opponents in debate might lead to resolution of those debates rather than perpetuating debate indefinitely. This symposium highlights key areas of research that offer pathways to progress in understanding the relationship between temporary and longer-lasting representations, both as the psychological constructs, working memory and long-term memory, and in terms of neurobiology. (Full Description) 

Symposium 5: The Reliability Paradox: Current Issues, Partial Solutions, and Future Directions
Saturday, November 6, 1:30 - 3:30 PM CT 
Chairs: Brandon Turner (The Ohio State University) and Mark Pitt (The Ohio State University) 

Recent evidence suggests that many robust group-level behavioral effects derived from attention, self-regulation/impulsivity, learning, and implicit bias paradigms are poorly suited for making reliable person-level inference (termed the “reliability paradox”). The same basic pattern is also observed in neuroimaging contexts, wherein contrasts derived from task-based functional MRI show poor test-retest reliability despite many participants showing an effect. Often attributed to the measurement properties of the task or measurement instrument, such findings have led researchers to conclude that behavioral and neural measures should not be used to study trait-like individual differences. However, (mis)measurement is a property determined by multiple factors beyond the task itself, including data pre-processing and other statistical methods used to draw inference from data. In this symposium, we will discuss issues with traditional approaches to statistical inference in the social, behavioral, and brain sciences, highlighting how generative models can mitigate such issues. (Full Description)