The Program in Neuroscience is pleased to present

A talk by Joshua W. Brown, Ph.D.Department of Psychological & Brain SciencesProgram in Neuroscience,Cognitive Science Program Indiana University-Bloomington

“Combined functional neuroimaging and computational neural modeling of medial prefrontal cortex in cognitive tasks”

Wednesday, September 23, 2009
4:00 p.m.Psychology Building, Room 101

Hearing-Loss Simulation as a Tool for Understanding the Role of Audibility in Hearing Impairment

Charlotte M. Reed
Ph.D.Senior Research Scientist
Research Laboratory of Electronics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Wednesday, October 7, 2009Time: 4:00 p.m.Location: IU Speech & Hearing Center, Room C141This presentation is part of an Advanced Knowledge Seminar funded by the IU Institute for Advanced Study.

Comparisons of performance between normal-hearing (NH) and hearing-impaired (HI) listeners are intrinsically complicated by the difference in absolute thresholds between the two groups. One approach towards making more valid comparisons between NH and HI listeners is through the use of functional simulations of hearing loss in which stimuli are equated for both sound-pressure level and sensation level in both groups of listeners. This talk will present an overview of a research program using hearing-loss simulation to examine the role of threshold elevation and audibility in the speech-reception and psychoacoustic abilities of HI listeners. The hearing-loss simulation paradigm employs a combination of spectrally-shaped masking noise and multi-band expansion which is applied to stimuli presented to NH listeners. The research includes a study of the release of masking for speech using interrupted versus continuous noise backgrounds, as well as a variety of psychoacoustic measurements addressed towards understanding these results.

MathMatters GrowIndiana Americorps Tutors Wanted!

Call Out Meetings!

Looking for students interested in tutoring Elementary and Middle school students in areas of Math and Science. To gain more information please attend one of our call out meetings at the following times:

Sept. 16 10:00am or 3:00pm (Room 2110 Education Building)
Sept. 18 5:00pm (Room 2110 Education Building)
Sept 21 6:00pm (Ballantime Rm 006)

Please contact Zach Horwitz (zhorwitz@indiana.edu or Andrew Cloran(acloran@indiana.edu)with any questions that you may have. Thank you!

Colloquium: Christopher Kello

You are invited to the following School of Informatics and Computing Colloquium.

Christopher Kello, University of California, Merced, will present, "Critical Branching Neural Computation."

Friday, September 18, 2009
3:00 p.m.
Lindley Hall, Rm. 102

Abstract:
Brain networks transmit and process information via action potentials (i.e. spikes) generated by neurons and transmitted via synapses. Spiking activity, as quantified by sums of spikes over neurons, cannot overly expand or contract over time. Stability is achieved in the balance, and can be expressed in terms of critical branching. I present a spiking neural network model with a local tuning algorithm that converges spiking dynamics to their critical branching point. The model is used as a liquid state machine to examine its computational capacity as defined by the effects of perturbations (e.g. environmental inputs) to spiking dynamics. The model exhibits maximal capacity near the critical branching point, as well as power law distributions and fluctuations in spiking activity. These power laws are observed in various measures of neural and behavioral activities, suggesting that critical branching may indicate and illustrate a general principle of cognition.

The Business Minors

You are cordially invited to a workshop to learn about the various Business minors available to all IUB students.

September 22, 2009
3:00-4:00 p.m.
BU 736

This advising seminar will be presented by the Kelley School Undergraduate Advisors. All students, staff, and faculty are welcome to attend!

Colloquium: Jennifer Lentz

You are cordially invited to the following SPHS colloquium.

Jennifer Lentz, Assistant Professor of Speech and Hearing Sciences at Indiana University, will present, "Temporal Asymmetry in the Auditory System."

September 28
4:00-5:00 p.m.
Speech and Hearing Building, Room C141

Abstract:
In the natural world, many communication and environmental signals are temporally asymmetric in time. One perceptual consequence of this temporal asymmetry is that sounds with a temporally increasing intensity profile (rising) tend to have more perceptual salience than
sounds that decay in time. Using psychophysical data obtained from our lab, I will discuss how behavioral experiments can be used to elucidate the auditory mechanisms responsible for the perceptual differences between rising and decaying sounds. I will also discuss the impact of hearing loss on this perception, which can, but does not always, impair the perception of temporal asymmetry.

Student Academic Center Workshops

Student Academic Center Workshops for the weeks of 9/4 through 09/23/09

All of the workshops are free, and you do not need to register ahead of the scheduled time to attend. However it is wise to arrive 5 to 10 minutes early at some locations because of the limited seating capacity associated with the rooms. All workshops begin at 7:00 p.m and end at 8:00 p.m.

Monday, 9/14, How to Succeed in Accounting A100, Briscoe Academic Support Center, 7:00-8:00 pm

Tuesday, 9/15, Building Bridges, Not Walls: Learn to Communicate with your Instructor, Teter TEF260, 7:00-8:00 pm

Wednesday, 9/16, Building Bridges, Not Walls: Learn to Communicate with your Instructor, Ballantine Hall 109, 7:00-8:00 pm

Monday, 9/21, The Balancing Act: Getting Good Grades and Having Fun Too, Forest Academic Support Center, 7:00-8:00 pm

Tuesday, 9/22, Tips to Get Your Money’s Worth Out of Your Textbooks, Teter TEF260, 7:00-8:00 pm

Wednesday, 9/23, Tips to Get Your Money’s Worth Out of Your Textbooks, Ballantine Hall 109, 7:00-8:00 pm

For further information, contact:
Sharon Chertkoff, Ph.D.,
Basic Skills and Outreach Coordinator
Student Academic Center
Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education
855-7313

Seminar: Kathryn Mari Lenz

You are invited to hear Kathryn Mari Lenz, graduate student in the Sengelaub Laboratory, present her Ph.D. Dissertation talk for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology and Neural Science entitled, "Mechanisms mediating the effects of maternal care on the masculinization of spinal motoneurons."

Monday, September 14
2:00 p.m.
Psychology Building Room 128

Summary:
Early experience shapes the neural and behavioral development of individuals. Early maternal care is one such experience, regulating development and exerting a lifelong impact on the nervous system, behavior, and disease. Maternal care in rodents is known to regulate the development of many neurobehavioral systems, influencing adult stress, anxiety, learning and memory, maternal, and sexual behaviors. Reductions in maternal licking behavior produce deficits in male copulatory behavior or offspring and underlying alterations in the development of the motoneurons controlling penile reflexes. The goal of this dissertation was to explore the mechanisms through which maternal care alters the development of these motoneurons, with a focus on sensory afferents from the licked skin as well as the hormone, oxytocin. Using anatomical, immunohistochemical, and endocrine techniques, it was determined that both sensory afferents and oxytocin are likely mediators of the effects of maternal care on the sexual differentiation of spinal motoneurons in the spinal nucleus of the bulbocavernosus. These results suggest that these mechanisms may act in concert to shape neural and behavioral development of offspring, and illustrate that the sexual differentiation of the nervous system is shaped by early life experience.

Call for Papers: IULCWP Online

Call for Papers
Indiana University Linguistics Club Working Papers Online (vol. 9)
Deadline: October 15, 2009

The IULC will continue to accept submissions for Volume 9 of its Working Papers Online. The deadline for Volume 9 is October 15, 2009.

Undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty members from all departments are encouraged to submit original papers in linguistics. Submissions resulting from term papers written for classes or as a result of independent studies are welcome.

Students are particularly encouraged to submit manuscripts that they intend to publish in a journal in the future and to use the IULC Working Papers Online as a stepping stone to a full-fledged journal submission through the review and revision process.

We accept both paper submission and electronic submission. For detailed instructions on submission, please see our website at:
https://www.indiana.edu/~iulcwp/

If you have any questions, please do npt hesitate to contact us at iulcwp@indina.edu.

Announced by:
Abbie Hantgan
Associate Editor
IULC Working Papers Online
Department of Linguistics
Indiana University
https://www.indiana.edu/~iulcwp/

Cognitive Lunch Abstract for September 16

The next Cognitive Lunch will be held Wednesday, September 16
12:10-1:10 p.m.
Psychology Conference Room (room 128)

"Geometric Figures in the Human Imagination" will be presented by Francisco Lara-Dammer, Center for Research on Concepts and Cognition (CRCC), Indiana University.

Abstract:
This talk proposes a plausible mental representation of simple geometric shapes such as points, lines, and circles when they are imagined by people (as opposed to being drawn on an external medium such as paper). The representation is simulated with a computer program whose purpose is to model geometric discovery. A consequence of the construction of mental figures is that it facilitates some tasks (like analogy making and remembering) but can make other tasks difficult (it makes humans susceptible to illusions and errors). The mental plane, as I call the place in the brain where this imagery occurs, has some similarities to other systems of the brain such as the auditory system. I will give some examples illustrating their similarities.

Lecture: Alessandro Vespignani

You are invited to the following Networks and Complex Systems Talk.

September 14
6:00 p.m.
Wells Library 001

"Predicting the behavior of techno-social systems: Planning for pandemic outbreaks in real time" will be presented by Alessandro Vespignani, Professor of Informatics, Adjunct Professor of Physics and Statistics, Indiana University.

Abstract:
We live in an increasingly interconnected world where infrastructures composed by different technological layers are interoperating with the social component that drives their use and development. Examples are provided by the Internet, the social Web, the new WiFi communication technologies and transportation and mobility infrastructures. The multi-scale nature and complexity of these networks are crucial features in the understanding of techno-social systems and the dynamical processes occurring on top of them. I will review the recent advances and challenge in this area and how we can look forward to new forecasting infrastructures in the context of techno-social systems. As a foremost example I will review the recent development and the major roadblocks in the computational approach to the prediction and control of emerging diseases. In particular I will discuss the global epidemic and mobility (GLEaM) computational platform and its use in the early stages of the recent H1N1 outbreak to provide real-time projections and scenarios on the unfolding of the epidemic.

Undergrad Research Opportunity

If you are still looking for a research opportunity for the current Fall semester or are already thinking about the Spring semester, and are interested in the opportunity described below, please contact alrossi@indiana.edu or colallen@indiana.edu for more information.

We welcome applications from qualified students who are interested in animal cognition research -- specifically, social cognition in dogs. The student will be involved in a broad range of research activities from theoretical work to experimental work; activities may include data coding and entry, data collection and preparation of experiments.

The undergrad research opportunity provides academic credits for research credit hours.

Students will have to take and pass the on-line IACUC test at http://research.iu.edu/rschcomp/BIACUC/Education/educ.html

For more information, please contact:
Alejandra Rossi
Cognitive Science Program
Indiana University-Bloomington
alrossi@indiana.edu

or Professor Colin Allen
Cognitive Science Program
Indiana University-Bloomington
colallen@indiana.edu

Career Development Center News

Here is a complete list of offerings through the Career Development Center. This resources is free to all students. They offer help with interest and skills assessment, resume and cover letter writing, mock interviews, and more. They have an extensive career library, and they have trained advisors to assist you. We encourage you to take advantage of this great resource before your senior year!

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COME VISIT US AT THE MARKETING BLITZ!

The Career Development Center will host various booths on campus during the month of September. Stop by to learn about the services and events being offered by our center for Fall 2009. The first 350 visitors at each booth get a free employer-sponsored t-shirt!

9/9/09, 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m., Student Involvement Fair (Sponsored by Enterprise Rent-A-Car)
9/22/09, 12:30 - 3:30 p.m., Jordan Hall Lobby (Meet employers from Cook Medical)

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RESUME SUBMISSION DEADLINES:

9/10/09: Procter & Gamble (Scientific Research & Development Division)/Ph.D. Level Scientists
9/30/09: Nielsen/Analyst, Professional Services
10/2/09: Blue Vista Capital Management/Real Estate Analyst
10/5/09: General Mills/Business Management Associate, Business Management Associate Internship
10/14/09: WestPoint Financial Group/MassMutual
10/20/09: Walgreen's/Retail Management Internship, Retail Management Trainee
10/21/09: Enterprise Rent-A-Car/Summer Management/Sales Intern, Sales/Management Trainee

Submit your resume and learn more about these and other positions through myIUcareers.

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FEATURED JOB AND INTERNSHIP POSTINGS

Don't forget to check the full-time, part-time, and internship postings on myIUcareers. Below is a preview of what is currently available:

Full-time positions:

* Insight Global, Inc, Sales/Account Manager-Fall 2009
* Taylor Sportswear - A Division of T.I.S., Production Artist
* The Buckle, Management Development Program
* Mesirow Financial, Senior Programmer Analyst

Internships:

* Target Stores, Executive Intern
* WestPoint Financial Group/MassMutual, Financial Services Internship
* Student Conservation Association, Expense Paid Conservation Internships
* BLASTmedia, Media Relations Intern

Part-time positions:

* IU Campus Bus Service, Customer Information Specialist (Non-Work Study)
* Indiana Geological Survey, Publication Layout Assistant (Non-Work Study)
* IU School of Education - Cultural Immersion Projects, Office Assistant (Work-Study)
* IU Swain Hall Library, Library Assistant I (Work-Study)

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PROCTER & GAMBLE CONSUMER & MARKET KNOWLEDGE INFORMATION SESSION
Thursday, September 10, 7:30 p.m.
Kelley School of Business, BU202

Do you have an inherent interest in people, an intense curiosity to understand why people behave as they do...and want to drive those insights to action!

Procter & Gamble's Consumer & Market Knowledge (CMK) function is uniquely responsible for championing the voice of the consumer and being on the forefront of market trends, making CMK people critical leaders on multi-functional business teams. Our core work is the integration of consumer, shopper, and market understanding to catalyze business growth.

P&G CMK is looking for individuals from diverse educational backgrounds who are strong analytical thinkers and creative problem solvers, and are able to influence others via excellence in both verbal and written communication.

Topics will include:

* Internship (Junior) and Full-time employment (Seniors) opportunities
* What is CMK?
* What skills drive success in CMK?
* Careers in CMK
* How to apply

This opportunity is open to all majors.

Registration required through your myIUcareers account.

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GLOBAL CAREER SERIES: EAST ASIA CAREER NIGHT
Tuesday, September 15, 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Career Development Center, 625 N. Jordan Ave.

Join IU Alumni and career professionals who specialized in East Asian studies and now work in careers that draw on their knowledge of East Asian languages and culture! Panelists will share their experiences abroad; provide tips on how to maximize your time here at IU, and offer strategies for Americans seeking international work. There will be time set aside to network with the panelists and other students with similar goals and interests. This night should be especially useful for students in international studies, area studies, languages, journalism, and other majors focused on global careers.

* Kara Abramson, Washington, DC, Congressional Executive Commission on China
* Joe Coleman, Indiana University, Former AP Bureau Chief in Japan
* Jen Pearl, Grad Student, Indiana University, Internship in Public Relations, Beijing, China
* Jim Walsh, Bloomington, Indiana, taught English as a second language in China

Registration required through your myIUcareers account.

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MARKETING YOUR SCIENCE DEGREE, PRESENTED BY ELI LILLY
Tuesday, September 15, 7:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Chemistry Building, CH 122

Join representatives from Eli Lilly and the Career Development Center for an information session/workshop. Gain valuable insight into what employers look for in potential hires, and resume building strategies and techniques. In addition, learn more about Eli Lilly and positions that are available.

Registration required through your myIUcareers account.

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APPOINTMENTS WITH THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY (NSA)
Wednesday, September 16, 8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Career Development Center, 625 N. Jordan Ave.

This is your chance to learn about working for the National Security Agency (NSA). On September 16, a NSA recruiter will hold 15-minute individual appointments to answer your questions and provide information about career opportunities with the NSA.

The National Security Agency is a federal government agency that coordinates certain domestic and foreign communications challenges, including the collection of foreign secure communications and the protection of U.S. secure communications.

Sign up for a time slot through your myIUcareers account under the "On Campus Interviews" tab.

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For more information on these and other events, visit www.iucareers.com and sign in to your myIUcareers account.

When you're looking for jobs, be sure to check the job listings (by using the "search jobs" feature) as well as the Interviews and Events tabs to find jobs that will have on-campus interviews.

BENEFITS OF myIUcareers:

Participate in on-campus interviews for internship and full-time employment/Access online postings for part-time, internship, fellowship, and full-time positions/View the IU Career Development Center and Arts and Sciences Career Services calendar of interviews and events and RSVP for workshops and employer information sessions/ Obtain contact information for employers actively partnered with the Career Development Center and Arts and Sciences Career Services

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Katie Lloyd
Senior Assistant Director, Student Services
Career Development CenterArts & Sciences Career Services
Indiana University Bloomington
625 N. Jordan Avenue
Bloomington, IN 47405
Phone: 812.855.9136Fax: 812.855.2121
lloydk@indiana.eduwww.IUCareers.com

Themester Event: Film Viewing and Discussion

The Indiana University College of Arts And Sciences Presents a Themester 2009 Event Sponsored by the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies.

“(RE)PRESENTING RACE IN AFRICAN AMERICAN FILM”

Free and Open to the Public

“Do the Right Thing”
(20th year anniversary)
Showing: September 17, 2009
7:15 - 10:15 p.m.
A201 (Theatre and Drama Center, Lee Norvelle/Marcellus Neal and Frances Marshall Black Culture Center)
(Discussant: Byron Craig)
Plot: On the hottest day of the year on a street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, everyone's hate and bigotry smolders and builds until it explodes into violence. Runtime: 120 minutes

“The Spook Who Sat by the Door”
Showing: October 8, 2009
7:15 - 10:15 p.m.
A201 (Theatre and Drama Center, Lee Norvelle/Marcellus Neal and Frances Marshall Black Culture Center)
(Discussant: Dr. Michael T. Martin)
Plot: A black man plays Uncle Tom in order to gain access to CIA training, then uses that knowledge to plot a new American Revolution.

“Nothing But a Man”
Showing: November 12, 2009
7:15 - 10:15 p.m.
A201 (Theatre and Drama Center, Lee Norvelle/Marcellus Neal and Frances Marshall Black Culture Center)
(Discussant: Dr. Audrey T. McCluskey)
Plot: A devil-may-care young man is drawn to a grounded young woman. They part. He realizes he prefers stability to freedom. They reconcile. Runtime: 95 minutes

Seminar: Edward Castronova

You are invited to the IU Department of Telecommunications Seminar (T600) Series.

Friday, September 11, 2009
12:30-1:45 p.m.
RTV226

Edward Castronova, IU Department of Telecommunications, will present, "An Evolutionary Theory of Media Effects."

Abstract:
This paper provides several formal models of social change in which media may or may not have an effect. The models are all based on evolutionary theory, which proposes that society changes as people adopt different ?types? or cultural variants on behavior. Such types have fitness that determines whether they grow or fade in the social jungle. When media is introduced into the jungle, we explore three kinds of possible media effects. First, does media affect the system?s state, that is, the number of types? Second, does it change the fitness of different types? Third, does it change the system?s resting point, it?s long-run equilibrium? We find that in introducing media to a general model of cultural evolution changes very little. Specifically, we show that even if a media effect can be demonstrated for individuals, it is generally not the case that these individual effects translate into a major social effect. We then explore two deeper refinements of the general model, one for the case of violence, and another for the case of social norms. We find that media is unlikely to affect violence, but very likely to affect social norms. We conclude with caveats and directions for future research.

New SPHS Master's Degree

The Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences of Indiana University is proud to announce a new master’s degree track, funded by the U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs, focusing on training Spanish-speaking individuals to work with the Latino community as speech-language pathologists. The program is called Speech Therapy Education, Practicum, and Services for Latino Children and Families (STEPS), and more information is available at:
http://www.indiana.edu/~sphs/bilingual.html

Please note that an undergraduate degree in speech-language pathology is NOT necessary. Student funding is available to those who qualify.

For more information, please contact:
Dr. Melanie Mazur, mmazur@indiana.edu, 812-855-3605
or Dr. Raquel Anderson, raanders@indiana.edu, 812-855-4161

Student Involvement Fair

You are invited to the Student Involvement Fair.

September 9, 2009
11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
In the parking lot outside of the IMU hotel

This fall the Office of Service-Learning, Service-Learning Orientation will be combined with the Student Activities Office’s Student Involvement Fair. All 25 Advocates for Community Engagement (ACE) agencies will join other area agencies where students can provide service during the semester. ACE Community Partner tables will receive special identification so that service-learning students will recognize them. ACEs will assist students in completing preliminary paperwork necessary to start their service experience. Students can select site-specific orientation and training dates and can schedule their service hours for the semester around their class and work commitments in consultation with agency representatives.

Colloquium: Edward Castronova

Please join us for the School of Informatics and Computing Colloquium Series.

Speaker: Edward Castronova, Telecommunications, IUB

Date: Friday, September 11, 2009
Time: 3:00 p.m.
Place: Lindley Hall, Rm. 102

Virtual Worlds As Petri Dishes

Abstract: Controlled experiments are an important empirical method and have led to amazing advances in the natural sciences. In the social sciences, controlled experiments are typically possible only at the micro level: 100 college students as subjects, doing things for a couple of hours, in return for pizza money. Yet most of our pressing problems (terrorism, global warming, hunger) live at the macro level. Massively multiplayer online games have a macro level: Millions of people spend years making choices with deep emotional investment, and those choices create clearly visible persistent macro structures, structures that seem quite similar to parallel real-world structures (markets, cities, hierarchies, networks). Early research suggests the similarities are not an illusion. Unlike the real world, but like petri dishes, virtual worlds can be finely tweaked and closely observed. Does this new technology herald the onset of rapid advance in social science, a "golden age" not unlike natural science from 1650 to today? What are the prospects for building virtual worlds for research? Finally, what are the first steps toward testing out such a notion?

Biography: Edward Castronova is Professor of Telecommunications at Indiana University, Bloomington. Castronova is a founder of scholarly virtual world studies and an expert on the societies of large-scale online games. Among his academic publications on these topics are two books: Synthetic Worlds (University of Chicago Press, 2005) and Exodus to the Virtual World (Palgrave, 2007). Professor Castronova teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on the design of games, the virtual world industry, and the management of synthetic societies. He has created two virtual worlds: Arden, a small-scale example of a Shakespearean virtual world, and Greenland, a large-scale futuristic MMOG. Outside his academic work, Professor Castronova makes regular appearances in mainstream media (60 Minutes, the New York Times, and The Economist), gives keynotes at major conferences (Austin Game Conference, Digital Games Research Association Conference, Interactive Software Federation of Europe), and consults for business (McKinsey, Vivendi, Forrester). In the longer run, Professor Castronova aims to develop virtual worlds for studying human society. That is, he is trying to design games that can serve as macro-scale Petri dishes.

Colloquium: Veit Stuphorn

Please join us for the CogSci colloquium next Monday.

Monday, September 14
4:00 p.m.
PY 101

Veit Stuphorn, Johns Hopkins University, will present, "Should I go? Medial frontal cortex and the decision whether or not to act."

Abstract:
Cognitive control of behavior depends on neural mechanisms for initiating and inhibiting movements. Motor-related regions in medial frontal cortex, in particular supplementary and pre-supplementary motor areas (SMA, pre-SMA), are widely considered to play a central role in movement initiation and inhibition. To test this hypothesis, we recorded from neurons in SMA and pre-SMA of monkeys performing a countermanding task. Temporal analysis of neural activity and behavior in this task allowed us to test whether neuronal activity is sufficient to control movement initiation or inhibition. Surprisingly, almost all movement-related neurons in SMA and pre-SMA failed to exhibit time-locked activity changes predictive of movement execution. These cells were therefore not sufficient to initiate movements. Furthermore, the activity of most these cells was contingent on the expectation of reward and therefore was also not necessary for movement initiation. We found a small number of neurons that were more active during successful response cancelation. However, only a minority of these putative inhibitory cells responded early enough to be able to influence the cancelation of the movement. This set of findings suggests that the movement-related activity in pre-SMA and SMA is neither sufficient nor necessary to control movement initiation. These results are remarkably similar to recent findings in the supplementary eye field (SEF), despite a number of mechanical differences in the two effector systems. This suggests that the functional organization of the frontal motor system follows broadly parallel principles. In general, the activity in the medial frontal cortex might represent the motivation to generate a particular action if it is necessary to obtain a reward. This signal would serve as a link between reward representation and action execution and could guide action selection during deliberate voluntary decision making.

Themester Colloquium: Robert Richards

Please join us for one of the opening Themester events through the College of Arts and Sciences! We are pleased to present a Colloquium speaker through the Department of History & Philosophy of Science at Indiana University.

Friday, September 11, 2009
4:00-6:00 p.m.
Ballantine 013

Robert Richards, Morris Fishbien Professor of the History of Science and Medicine, University of Chicago, will present, “Darwin’s Metaphysics of Mind and the Continuity of Nature.”

Abstract:
Prior to publication of Darwin’s Origin of Species, naturalists, whether they were Aristotelians, Cartesians, Kantians, or Associationists assumed a disjunction between man and the rest of the living world. Darwin and many other British naturalists in the Associationist tradition of David Hume and Jeremy Bentham did not believe an insurmountable intellectual barrier existed between animals and man—but humans did exhibit considerably larger intellectual capacity. In the moral sphere, however, virtually all naturalist assumed a deep divide between animal instinct and human moral behavior. Darwin had to demonstrate two propositions for his theory to be successful: that man’s big brain could derive from modest animal antecedents and that moral behavior could arise out of animal antecedents. He solved both problems in a similar way, one that is now being rediscovered in contemporary science. Both Darwin’s conclusion and modern evolutionary science have dramatic implications for any religious solution to his problems.”

Jewish Studies Fall Welcome Dessert

All undergraduate students are invited to the Jewish Studies Fall Welcome Dessert.

Tuesday, September 22
4:30-6:00 p.m.
Hoosier Room on the mezzanine floor (around the corner from the East Lounge)
Indiana Memorial Union

This dessert is an informal gathering of Jewish Studies students, Jewish Studies faculty, and all students interested in Jewish Studies.

No RSVP required; just drop by between 4:30-6:00.

Note: Jewish Studies is the study of the Jews and Judaism. Students from all personal and academic backgrounds are welcome to take Jewish Studies courses and pursue the Jewish Studies major, certificate, and Hebrew minor.

Graduate Program in Developmental Psychology

Graduate student positions in Developmental Psychology are available at Queen’s University.

The core faculty members in the developmental program within the Department of Psychology (Drs. W. Craig, S. Fitneva, T. Hollenstein, E. Kelley, V. Kuhlmeier, M. Sabbagh) have research interests in language, cognitive, emotional, and social development. Each of our program members also has interests that extend beyond the traditional borders of Developmental Psychology into areas such as Animal Cognition, Neuroscience, Psycholinguistics, Psychophysiology, and Applied Developmental Psychology (e.g., autism, bullying, developmental disorders, child eyewitness).

To this end, there is active collaboration with researchers in programs outside of the area, and students in the Developmental Program are encouraged to take part in and initiate these cross-disciplinary collaborations at the Masters and Ph.D. level. Area labs are well funded by university, federal and private grants, and students frequently receive top honours in federal funding competitions.

Please see the Developmental Program Website to find out more about specific research projects happening in the developmental program and the Graduate Studies in Psychology Website for specifics regarding applications and timelines, or contact Dr. Valerie Kuhlmeier by e-mail (vk4@queensu.ca).

Department of Psychology
Queen's University
62 Arch St., H351
Kingston, ON K7L 3N6 CANADA
Phone: 613-533-2491
Fax: 613-533-2499
http://psyc.queensu.ca/asdstudies/index.html

Social Psychology Seminar: Lile Jia

You are cordially invited to join us for a Social Psychology Seminar.

Friday, September 11
3:30 p.m.
Psychology Building, Room 128

This week's talk will be given by Lile Jia, one of our own graduate students. Lile will talk about his recent research that investigates the relation of psychological temporal distance and creative cognition/insight problem solving. This work has been recently blogged by The Atlantic and has attracted a good deal of attention. Below you will find the title and a brief abstract of this talk. I hope that you all can make it to the talk.

Title: Lessons from a Faraway Land: The Effect of Spatial Distance on Creative Cognition

Abstract:
Recent research (Forster, Friedman, & Liberman) has identified temporal distance as a situational moderator of creativity. According to Construal Level Theory (Liberman, Trope, & Stephan, 2007), temporal distance is just one case of the broader construct of psychological distance. In the present research, we investigated the effect of another dimension of psychological distance, namely spatial distance, on creative cognition and insight problem solving. In two studies, we demonstrate that, when the creative task is portrayed as originating from a far rather than a close location, participants provide more creative responses (Study 1) and perform better on a problem solving task that requires creative insight (Study 2). Both theoretical and practical implications of this finding are discussed.

Announced by Professor Steven J. Sherman

Cognitive Lunch Abstract for September 9

The next Cognitive Lunch will be held Wednesday, September 9.
12:10-1:10 p.m.
Psychology Conference Room (room 128)

"Limitations to teaching 2 + 2 = 4: Knowledge of traditional arithmetic hinders understanding of mathematical equivalence" will be presented by Nicole McNeil, Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame.

Abstract:
Why do children sometimes fail to learn new information, even after substantial amounts of experience or instruction? Several prevailing accounts suggest that learning difficulties are caused by something that children lack (e.g., working-memory resources or proficiency with prerequisite skills). In contrast, others argue that difficulties are caused, at least in part, by something that children have--existing knowledge. In this talk, I will focus on children's difficulties with mathematical equivalence (i.e., the concept that the two sides of an equation are equal and interchangeable), and I will present evidence that children's existing knowledge of arithmetic contributes to these difficulties. I will discuss how this evidence informs our understanding of theoretical issues related to cognition and development, as well as practical issues related to learning and instruction in the domain of mathematics.

2009-10 IU Ethics Bowl Team

The Poynter Center Announces Openings for the 2009-10 IU Ethics Bowl Team.

Each year the Poynter Center for the Study of Ethics and American Institutions at IU sponsors one team consisting of five undergraduate students to travel and compete in the Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl. The competition begins with ten regional matches in the fall that feed the national competition, held in the early spring. The Central States regional, in which the IU team competes, will be on Saturday, November 14, 2009 at Marian College in Indianapolis.

The Ethics Bowl competition is presented annually by the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics as a method of involving students in deliberating about and seeking to resolve difficult cases and situations. The national competition, which draws together the top 32 teams from the regional rounds, will be held on March 4, 2010 in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics in Cincinnati, Ohio. IU won the national competition last year and in 2004.

At the national competition, the 32 participating teams compete in three rounds in the morning. The teams are given thirteen complex ethical and policy cases to study in advance of the competition, though they are not told what questions they will be asked about any case. For each match, one team is required to present a view on a case and then respond to questions from the opposing team and judges. Then the roles are reversed, and the opposing team presents an argument surrounding a different case, after which they respond to questions. Teams are evaluated at the end of each match for the quality of their arguments, responses, and counter-responses. The top eight teams advance to the quarterfinals, which are held in the evening.

Interested students should send their name, year, major (or possible major), along with a
statement of interest by e-mail, to:

Prof. Richard Miller (miller3@indiana.edu)
Director, Poynter Center for the Study of Ethics and American Institutions
IUB

Please reference Ethics Bowl in the subject line.

Applications will be reviewed starting on September 21, 2009. Students should include information about their coursework and background in ethics, along with any questions about the Ethics Bowl team that they may have. Team members meet twice a week from around late September until the November regional event. If they are successful in being selected to participate in the national competition, they will again meet twice a week from the time second semester starts until the March 4 event.

See the web site, http://poynter.indiana.edu/ethicsbowl.shtml for more information about the event and about previous teams.

SOCS Call-out Meeting

The Student Organization for Cognitive Science (SOCS) invites all students interested in Cognitive Science and related fields to the call-out meeting on Thursday, September 10, from 5-7 p.m. We'll discuss our semester plans over some free pizza. (Many thanks to the Cognitive Science Program!)

When: Thursday, September 10, 5-7 p.m.
Where: IMU Faculty Room (above the University Club, by Whittenberger Auditorium)
What: Discussion of semester activities and free pizza
Who: Majors and non-majors welcome!

The Student Organization for Cognitive Science (SOCS) organizes a variety of activities including Professor dinners, movie nights, TED parties, and discussions.

For more information, visit http://www.indiana.edu/~iusocs
To be added to our mailing list: send 'subscribe socs-l' to listserv@indiana.edu

Contact:
Jaimie Murdock
SOCS President
jammurdo@indiana.edu

Public Service: Middle Way House

You are invited to consider the following volunteer opportunity within the Bloomington community.

Middle Way House Domestic Violence Training for Volunteers

Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., September 12, September 26, December 5

First United Methodist Church, Room 218-219, 219 E. 4th Street
(4th and Washington Streets; across from the downtown post office in Bloomington)

Middle Way House is seeking take out new volunteers to help maintain the level of service that they provide - change to provided to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. Both women and men are strongly encouraged to attend the training event. There are volunteer opportunities in over 20 take out different program areas including: crisis line, childcare, tutoring, legal advocacy, community reception, and youth mentoring.

This training is a prerequisite for those interested in volunteering with our agency, but it is also very appropriate for anyone interested in learning more about the dynamics of gender and domestic violence.

For more information, please call (812) 337-4510 or send e-mail to desiree@middlewayhouse.org

Career Development Center Events

The Career Development Center offers a variety of resources. We urge students to take advantage of what they provide before becoming seniors.

* COME VISIT US AT THE MARKETING BLITZ!
* UPCOMING CAREER FAIRS
* EMPLOYER IN RESIDENCE – RESUME CRITIQUES WITH TOTAL QUALITY LOGISTICS (TQL)
* RESUME SUBMISSION DEADLINES
* FEATURED JOB AND INTERNSHIP POSTINGS
* REGISTER NOW! NEW ASCS COURSE FOR FALL 2009
* GLOBAL CAREER SERIES
* GRADUATE SCHOOL SERIES
* NETWORKING NIGHT SERIES
* UPCOMING INFORMATION SESSIONS
* MARKETING YOUR SCIENCE DEGREE, PRESENTED BY ELI LILLY
* FINANCIAL SERVICES CAREERS…WHY NOW?!
* FACULTY AND STAFF DIVISION OF IUCAREERS.COM LAUNCHED

For more information, go to:
www.IUCareers.com

Career Development CenterArts & Sciences Career Services
Indiana University Bloomington
625 N. Jordan Avenue
Bloomington, IN 47405
(812) 855-9136

Counseling and Psychological Services

The IU Health Center Counseling and Psychological Services offers a wide variety of health-related services. They will be providing a number of student seminars including topics such as

* Student Success

* Coping Skills

* Homesick Support

* Life Skills.

Please visit or call for more information:
IU Health Center Counseling and Psychological Services
4th floor, 600 N. Jordan Avenue
(812) 855-5711
healthcenter.indiana.edu/caps.html
Division of Student Affairs