SPEAKER SERIES

Vanderbilt University is committed to principles of equal opportunity and affirmative action. Vanderbilt® and the Vanderbilt logos are registered trademarks of The Vanderbilt University. © 2019 Vanderbilt University.

To RSVP for one or both lectures, please visit

vu.edu/eduneuroseries

Thursday, April 11 • NoonHobbs Building, Room 105

Math and Logic in Monkeys, Children, and Remote Cultures

with JESSICA CANTLON, PH.D.Ronald J. and Mary Ann Zdrojkowski Professor of Developmental Neuroscience, Associate Professor of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University

Primitive logical and perceptual processes form the basis of human cognitive development. My research focuses on the origins of human mathematical

cognition. The research tests the relative influences of evolution, culture, and human development on mathematical cognition through comparative studies from multiple populations and methods including non-human animal research, developmental fMRI, and cross-cultural research. The results reveal culturally-shared, universal numerical processes in innumerate Amazonian adults and Western populations, human evolutionary homologs of mathematical thought in non-human primates, models of the primitive logic of mathematics, and evidence of its neural origin in humans. This research, conducted at multiple levels of analysis, is essential for disentangling the evolutionary influences on human cognition from the more proximal influences of culture and individual learning.

Wednesday, April 24 • 4:10pmMRB III, Room 1220

Brain Imaging Studies of Reading and Dyslexia

with GUINEVERE EDEN, D.PHIL.Director, Center for the Study of Learning Professor, Department of Pediatrics Georgetown University Medical Center

This presentation will review our work using MRI to reveal brain areas that are involved in word processing in typical readers, and how these differ in children

and adults with reading disability (dyslexia). I will discuss the neural correlates of successful reading intervention in dyslexia. Brain imaging can also play an important role in testing different theoretical frameworks that have been put forward to explain the etiology of dyslexia and in distinguishing between cause and consequence of this reading disability. Finally, this presentation will make a connection with math disability.

SPONSORED BY